As it became known from social media, yesterday in the city centre, an unknown man poured salt under trees on the streets and in the Franko Park.
Employees of the Halychyna District Administration and the Green Lviv Municipal Utility Company checked the locations indicated on social media and found the substance under a tree in the park and three more on Lepkoho and Hrebinka streets.
Since there was no precipitation and the salt was promptly removed by the utility company, the root system of the trees remained intact. But in other circumstances, the trees could have died.
“Sprinkling salt is the most harmful for young trees because the root system is still small. If it rains and this salt gets into the soil, it can be fatal for the tree. Mature trees will be less affected, but in any case, soil salinity is harmful and has a negative impact.
It is for young trees that it is critically harmful and can lead to the death of the tree, and for older trees it will still be harmful, maybe even drying out of branches, depending on the amount of salt and the duration of exposure.
Therefore, it is important to remove the salt before precipitation, before the water dissolves it, because saline soil cannot be cleaned, only replaced,” said Oksana Lutsko, Deputy Head of the Department of Ecology and Natural Resources at Lviv City Council.
Therefore, residents are urged not to do so, and in case of such cases, call the city’s hotline (15-80) and the police (102), as it is a matter of damage to the property of the city community.
“Even now, despite the situation in the country and limited expenditures, we continue to green our streets. And as part of the “Give the City a Tree” initiative, we do this together with caring residents. Therefore, we ask everyone to appreciate it, to be conscious and not to destroy green spaces. At the same time, we are grateful to the concerned resident who reported this incident so that we could respond promptly,” the Galician Regional Council stressed.