Oaks Get Killed, Don�t They?

Cut down oak in Slavonia

An ecocide committed on the last centuries old Slavonia oaks was discovered this week near Poganovci, in the Podgorac Municipality in the Osijek-Baranja District.

The Inspectorate for Environmental Protection determined that, on several localities, several dozens of ancient oaks were cut down by �anonymous� perpetrators.

According to Zeljko Vukovic, M.Sc., Chief Environmental Protection Inspector with the Bureau for Protection of Nature of the Ministry of Culture, the damage is immeasurable, having in mind that these oaks are not just an important part of the natural heritage, but are the last remaining witnesses of the long history in these parts.

In order to discover and identify the perpetrators, the Inspectorate will seek assistance from the competent Police Department in Nasice, to be able to sanction the illegal destruction of natural heritage.

To avoid the same fate on befalling the remaining oaks, the environmental movement from Djakovo announced the initiative to put the oaks under protection, as natural heritage monuments.

User comments

"Thomas Jefferson and trees"

Author: George DeCarlo

Time: 02.05.2005 04:32

Comment: http://www.monticello.org/gardens/grounds/trees.html

While serving as Minister to France between 1784 and 1789 Thomas Jefferson proudly distributed seeds of choice North American trees to friends in Europe, continuing a tradition begun with the earliest European explorers in the New World. He has been described as "the father of American forestry" for an 1804 planting of white pine and hemlock. His commitment to tree preservation was strongly suggested by a statement he allegedly made during a dinner conversation at the President's House: "I wish I was a despot that I might save the noble, beautiful trees that are daily falling sacrifice to the cupidity of their owners, or the necessity of the poor. . . . The unnecessary felling of a tree, perhaps the growth of centuries, seems to me a crime little short of murder."