The Public Enterprise for National Parks of Montenegro (JPNPCG) has received a permit from the Environmental Protection Agency of Montenegro to carry out actions and activities to combat bark beetles in spruce forests and rehabilitate degraded areas in the Prokletije National Park in the form of marking trees that are potential sources of infection and trees that were attacked by bark beetles last year, the JPNPCG announced.
"The consent was obtained based on the JPNPCG Elaborate, which describes the hotspots affected by the bark beetle with a proposal for the designation and sanitary felling of trees," said the National Parks.
It is stated that in the coming period, in cooperation with the Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Northern Development, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Directorate for Forest and Hunting Management, activities will be intensified so that the transfer can be implemented as soon as possible, and the possibility of implementing administrative procedures in an abbreviated manner will also be considered in order to carry out sanitary felling and the extraction of dry trees in a timely manner, this public company announces.
In parallel with the above activities, it is planned to reactivate pheromone traps at locations that were identified as critical points in the previous period.
"After obtaining the necessary permits for sanitary felling, a Commission for the Control of the Removal of Infected Trees will be established, consisting of representatives of competent institutions, forestry experts, and representatives of the civil sector," said the JPNPCG.
This public company said that since the bark beetle problem was identified at the beginning of 2023, the public company has been actively working and undertaking all activities within its jurisdiction to find an adequate solution.
"An inter-institutional commission was also formed with the task of determining the necessary protection measures against bark beetles, and a large number of domestic and foreign experts in this field from France, Sweden, Austria, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina were involved," the national parks announced.
The national parks pointed out that an Action Plan for the fight against bark beetles in the Prokletije National Park was adopted, the implementation of which began immediately, and one of the first activities was the placement of 163 pheromone traps in the most endangered locations with pronounced symptoms of drying caused by bark beetles.
"Monitoring of the forests of the Prokletije National Park and determination of the presence of bark beetles were carried out, samples were collected (14 million individuals) and their analysis was carried out. According to the plan, a map with the locations of the hotspots was created, the area of the hotspots was estimated, the dry wood mass was estimated by location, and the ownership of the selected locations was determined," said the JPNPCG.
This public company said that in order to prevent the spread of the infection, JPNPCG, in cooperation with various socially responsible companies, implemented projects that included the procurement of pheromone traps, pheromones and other equipment necessary for the protection of forests in the Prokletije National Park.
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