It was with total disbelief that we heard this week that many 100-year old oak trees were ignominiously chopped down to facilitate better access for cars close to Gamiz Bidea. And now we learn that the property developers responsible for urban development in the area hadn`t even official planning permission to do it!!! When will we learn that a 100 year oak tree in a town has an incalculable value from the point of view of biodiversity and also as an element of great tranquility and aesthetic beauty. In his book “Bringing Nature Home,” Douglas Tallamy claims that a single mature oak-tree can support over 4000 species of insects and animals. Whether that is true or not there are few biologists who would deny that the oak-tree is the most diversity rich of all European trees.
It seems incredible that only two years ago BBT had a motion passed unanimously by all the political parties with representation in the town council in which we asked for greater protection for our trees and adequate replacement of trees that have been cut down. We would like to know just how many trees have been cut down in Mungia in the last few years and what has been done to compensate for their loss. In Barakaldo, thanks to a proposal by Ekologistak Martxan, it was agreed that 100 year old trees should be compensated with the planting of 100 similar species of trees as some form of compensation as well as affording these new trees protection in the first few years of their lives. And if they say that there isn`t enough land for the planting of such trees, though in BBT we feel that Mungia should be looking at planting a new native wood as part of the Green Belt citizen initiative for Mungia. Of course, in the meantime Lurgaia would gladly appreciate a donation towards the creation of the Undabaso forest in Muxika.
