They are looking for a cure for elm in Podgorica: In Kolašin, they have given up on cutting down what is probably the oldest tree

The Kolasin authorities have abandoned their intention to cut down the elm tree on Sibirska Street, probably the oldest tree in the city, and will try to save it.

The Secretariat for Environmental Protection has invited experts from the Biotechnical Institute to propose measures to possibly save the elm from further deterioration, said Secretary Milovan Vlahović, explaining that until then the tree will be temporarily protected.

"We urgently requested from the Biotechnical Institute (located in Podgorica) that their team go out into the field and propose remediation measures. We will see what exactly these measures entail and whether they are even useful. Until then, the Municipality will find a way to protect the elm temporarily. The tree will not be cut down until the experts give their opinion," said the Secretary for Environmental Protection.

Previously, in the middle of last week, the Commission for the Improvement of Green Areas was almost unanimously close to deciding to cut down the tree. Only the president Mikan Medenica, who is also the executive director of the NGO Natura, was against such a decision. He left the Commission due to the attitude of his colleagues, and now, according to the procedures, it takes time for the Commission to be supplemented with a new member. Until then, the Commission, as they explained to "Vijesti", cannot make a decision.

As they unofficially stated, all members, except Medenica, believe that the tree is too worn out and damaged, and that it can endanger passers-by. They explain that this attitude was preceded by several previous reports from owners or users of nearby establishments. They remind that last year, part of the trunk was damaged by fire. Allegedly, one of the passers-by threw a cigarette butt, which ignited the leaves in the hollow of the tree.

The suggestion that the elm might be cut down was met with violent reactions from environmental activists.

The Green Kolašin initiative announced on social media that the NGO Natura offered a method of protection and a rehabilitation project that would include a static assessment. The intention was reportedly to complete the work of securing the tree and landscaping the area where it is located.

"To make the irony even greater, this Commission was established a few years ago at the initiative of Medenica precisely to prevent similar actions by the authorities, so that such illogical and environmentally harmful decisions would not be made. Medenica and the NGO Natura have been working for decades to protect the nature of Kolašin, offering knowledge and resources, cooperating with institutions, trying to improve processes and public policies, and yet all this knowledge and experience is not taken seriously in municipal decisions. We feel sorry for the tree, for us, and for the city, that's all," said the Green Kolašin initiative.

After such reactions, news came from the Municipality that the elm tree would not be removed until experts said whether it could be saved.

Three centuries of shade

And the Kolašin elm has suffered a lot over the years. According to unofficial and never confirmed information, one of the owners of a nearby restaurant repeatedly poured recycled motor oil on the tree, trying to cause it to dry out.

According to local chroniclers, the elm was part of the first urban avenue in Kolašin, and according to this information, it was most likely planted in 1894.

Most of the tree lines in Sibirska are linden trees, some of which were destroyed during the bombing in 1944, during World War II, but new ones were planted later. One tree, the same age as the elm, was cut down 10 years ago, on the orders of a municipal police officer, because it allegedly posed a safety risk to passersby. This led to protests in Kolašin, which led to the idea, which was never realized, to protect the Kolašin tree lines as an environmental value of the city.

Then a group of young people from Kolašin shared a photo montage with their fellow citizens, showing what the popular Sibirska would look like without trees.

The linden tree line in Sibirska is part of Kolašin's heritage and image, and despite the fact that it is not a protected species, it represents immeasurable environmental value, civil activists claim.

The inner city center has been left without several trees in recent years. In April last year, two linden trees were cut down in Buda Tomovića Street, on the edge of Kolašin's Trg boraca, because they were allegedly rotten. Earlier, several trees were also cut down in Boška Rašovića Street. There have been a number of cases of cutting down outside the city center. In the Dulovine Forest Park, on November 13 last year, eight black pine trees and three poplar trees were illegally cut down on a private plot. The plot is in the immediate vicinity of the Botanical Garden, the legacy of the late Danijel Vincek. It has not been officially announced so far who cleared the forest in Dulovine and what sanctions, if any, those who did it suffered.

In Lug, a few hundred meters from the city center, half a year earlier, 44 trees were also cut down on a private plot of land where a hotel was planned to be built. It was also announced that at least some of the several dozen wild alder trees in Lug, near the Tara River, would most likely disappear due to the tourist facilities.

The Green Kolašin Initiative has repeatedly warned that the city is “running out of green spaces day by day.” Smaller green spaces in the city, which are not private, the NGO claims, could be degraded at any moment. They remind us that Kolašin does not have a cadastre of green spaces. The Commission for the Improvement of City Green Spaces, they say, exists, but it deals exclusively with public green spaces, and there are very few of them in the city.

Planting was a budget item as early as 1901

According to local chronicler Branislav Jeknić, the first purpose-built tree in the town of Kolašin was a fir tree, planted on September 22, 1879, in the upper town square. It was planted “with the blessing of Mitrofan Ban, on the anniversary of the liberation of Kolašin from the Turks, during the captaincy of Jevrem Simov Dragović.”

"The first tree rows in the town were planted, most likely in 1894, after the town was planned according to the plan of Sava Ivo Andrić from Njeguš. Trees were also planted around the main square (Gornji trg), and at the same time, elm trees were also planted around the church of St. Dimitrije," Jeknić previously told "Vijesti".

The municipal authorities, as he explained, were then taking care of the maintenance and construction of new tree-lined avenues. In documents preserved in the State Archives in Cetinje, there is information that the municipal administration allocated funds (as a separate budget item) for planting trees “on the streets of the town and in the square”. For example, Jeknić recalls, in the budget for 1901, the amount of 58,88 kronor was allocated for this purpose, and in the budget for 1903, 60 kronor.