In Sevastopol they intend to plant more than 4 thousand seedlings of the Red Book juniper

In March–April this year, a large-scale compensatory planting of more than 4 thousand deltoid juniper seedlings, a species listed in the city’s Red Book, will take place in the Mekenzievsky district forestry. The plants were grown by specialists from the nursery and afforestation department of the Directorate of Specially Protected Natural Areas.

Compensatory plantings are carried out as part of environmental compensation for the removal of rare plants from the natural environment during the implementation of infrastructure projects. This approach makes it possible to preserve the region’s biodiversity even with the development of urban infrastructure.

We grow seedlings ourselves, which takes four years. The full cycle includes: obtaining permission to collect cones, processing them, sending seeds to a forest seed station to assess germination, and then two years of directly growing seedlings in a nursery— said the head of the nursery and afforestation department, Yuri Plakhtiy.

Of particular value is the effectiveness of the process; for example, from 100 kilograms of collected cones, specialists managed to grow more than 8 thousand viable plants. This testifies to the high professionalism of the employees and the proven technology for cultivating rare species.

In addition to deltoid juniper, the nursery grows about 40 species of plants — ash, maple, pine, broom, cypress, thuja and other crops adapted to the climate of Sevastopol.

source: press service of the Government of Sevastopol