The forest company cleared Europe's most species-rich wooded meadow

Laelalat wood thread. Peeter Vissak

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Forestry machines messed up one of the most species-rich, protected Laelatu wooded meadows in Europe and the whole world, which is split by ruts half a meter deep.

The ruts were discovered by the former head of the Puhtu-Laelatu nature reserve, nature guide and photographer Peeter Vissak, who was shocked by the sight, in the wooded meadow under the nature reserve next to Virtsu. Hundreds of meters of the mowing chamber are messed up, the rails together with the edge ramparts are sometimes half a meter deep. “The mud is out,” said Vissak. “Apparently, the landowner ordered some forestry company to do the work. Some of the rails, it seems, have been driven in recently.”

On Wednesday, the Environmental Board started misdemeanor proceedings to find out the circumstances of the case, although it knew about the violation already in January, but did not take any action.

Leelo Kukk, the deputy director general of the Environmental Board, told Lääne Elu that the agency’s “responsible specialist” had established during a routine review in January that the wood meadow restorer had caused soil damage during the removal of the forages and had stopped the restoration work. “The employee planned to check the full extent of the violation and the possibilities of remediation when the snow has completely melted and the overview of the situation is clear,” Kukk told Lääne Elu on Wednesday.

The rooster himself found out about the violation of the wood meadow on March 25 – two months after the environmental officer discovered it. “The 25th. In March, I received information that deep damage has been caused to the ground in the Laelatu wood meadow near Virtsu,” Kukk told Lääne Elu. “So far, the Environmental Board’s supervisory officers have made an on-site inspection there. No ruts have been found other than on the delivery lanes.”

The devastation has been done on private land. The thinning work itself did not damage the meadow, but the removal on wet ground at the wrong time did. The mixed silos border the most species-rich and valuable part of the wood meadow, where 76 species of vascular plants have been counted on one square meter.