Scientists and experts in the preservation of secular trees have recently gathered in the farmstead of Buda. It is already the second time when an international scientific and practical seminar “Technological features of protection, conservation and treatment of the centuries-old historical tree Maksym Zalizniak’s Oak” was conducted there.
As the director of “Kholodny Yar” branch of the National Historical and Cultural Reserve “Chyhyryn” Bohdan Lehoniak told The Day, the event was held in collaboration with the National University of Bioresources and Nature Management of Ukraine and the Arborist Federation of Poland. The Polish specialists have quite actively helped the Chyhyryn people to look after the oak for a long time. Yes, the head of the Arborist Federation of Poland Witoslaw Grygerchyk first came to see the millennial tree back in 2002. Then he presented the reserve two “Cobra” systems (special cables for fastening the branches). He last arrived two years ago in order to attend a seminar. He said that since that time, the tree became wider up to 10 centimeters in the place of control measurements (the oak’s diameter is 9 meters). But one should not rush to make sure it is true and try to embrace the giant. The growth of the tree was positively influenced by the professionals’ advice to limit access to the oak by installing a fence.
According to Lehoniak, the reserve is conducting all works on conservation and recovery of the tree for sponsorship money. The state did not assign a penny for these measures in many years. Following the advice of Polish experts, six “Cobra” systems have already been installed on the oak. There was much trouble with it, as these systems could be bought only in Germany, so patrons provided the funds, which were given to the Poles, who traveled to Germany and ordered everything needed and then brought it to Kholodny Yar. Then the work was handed over to Kyiv arborists (alpinists that work with trees), who set the synthetic ropes and fastened the branches. Thus, two “Cobra” systems were installed in 2002 at the expense of the Arborist Federation of Poland. Then, the purchase of two more systems was financed by the frontman of Tartak band Sashko Polozhynsky in 2007. Today, with the help of the “Mystetsky Arsenal” National Art and
Culture Museum complex director Natalia Zabolotna, several more branches were fastened on Zalizniak’s oak by installing two “Cobra” systems. Lehoniak assured that in two years Kholodny Yar will conduct not a seminar, but a scientific-practical conference devoted not only Zalizniak’s oak, but also to the care of secular trees of Ukraine.
