August 8, 2019 - Split's 'green lungs,' Marjan hill, has been under treatment since March. A look at the forest park before and after the rehabilitation to remove the bark beetle infestation.
At the July session of the Split City Council, Mayor Andro Krstulović Opara, Nenad Ružić, Mate Omazić, and Dragan Brtan informed the councilors about the rehabilitation of the Marjan Park Forest since it has been under treatment for the infestation of the bark beetle. The president of the Marjan Task Force, Nenad Ružić, then revealed details of the first phase of rehabilitation, reports Dalmacija Danas.
“I can say that the works on Marjan are over. Everything was cut down that needed to be cut. Now we are waiting for the situation to be monitored and observed. The bark beetle in most of the landscape is in a drastic decline, though it is still in some areas.”
After the summer, when the bark beetle is calmed, we will see the real situation. Technically speaking, the Matima company has established 90 wire lines. That’s how many were needed to get to every tree. Exactly 12,790 cubic meters of wood, or 38,000 trees, were removed, both dry and infected. In addition to Matima, city services and companies were also involved,” said Nenad Ružić, among others.
Summer is slowly nearing its end, and in a few months, we will know if this significant intervention in the Marjan forest did indeed result in the eradication of the pest. However, in the meantime, we are left wiht the last aerial shots of Split thanks to Google Earth.
Zooming in on the Marjan Park Forest area, it's not hard to notice the impact the rehabilitation has had in the last few months, giving us a look into the reality of the figures spoken by Nenad Ružić.
Below, you can find a comparison of the forest before and after the first rehabilitation phase.
Before
After
Recall, before the rehabilitation, Marjan had more than 120,000 trees, 30 percent of which have been cut. Many people in Split believe that Marjan will never be the same again.
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