The member of the Seimas in Juodkrante was concerned about the felled trees, the mayor reassured her

Member of the Seimas A. Gedvilienė, who visited Juodkrante with her family, shared her observations from a walk in the pine forests.

“While circling the traditional walking circle, when we “emerged” to the Green Path, we were amazed to see countless young and old pines, birches, all kinds of bushes marked for cutting and stakes marking the border of the new road. 3-4 meters from the border of the current road towards the sea. After starting to explain, they say that the bike path will be aligned with the road as it is now (logical), and further on is a sandbar and a footpath. I don’t know if a footpath is needed there. For me – no, but maybe for someone – yes”, the member of the Seimas, a conservative, shared her impression.

A. Gedvilienė hoped that the work analysis had been completed.

“But a strip of sand between the current road and the future footpath sounds completely absurd. Are there really plans to cut down hundreds of trees, tear up moss and natural bedding to create a stretch of sand separating the street from the track? And why are the existing trees not suitable? The alley of trees that is now forming gives the opportunity to hide in the shade from the heat, so it is even more difficult to understand why to make a clearing?” – asked the member of the Seimas.

However, as the mayor of Neringa, Darius Jasaitis, said, the path reconstruction project was prepared with special responsibility, giving priority to preservation. The project initially proposed one wide path, but due to the “uniqueness of the Curonian Spit territory, it was the nature conservationists who took the initiative to divide the object into smaller parts by introducing a sand strip,” said the mayor.

And he emphasized that the sandbar and the separate pedestrian flow are only on the Green Road, because there is a higher flow of people due to the adjacent official beach. The directorate of the Curonian Spit National Park also proposed separating the sand strip.

Photo by Erika Ovčarenko/BNS/Opening of the bicycle path

The leader of Neringa reminded that a dozen years ago, scientists and specialists said that the value of Neringa is not the forest (except for old-growth forest), but the primitive landscape of the open spaces of the Curonian Spit.
In line with this, more than 300 hectares of forest have been cleared in the last five years as part of landscaping works.

“And it was these works that were difficult for local residents to understand. The discussion that is taking place today seems simply unfair – when implementing the necessary infrastructure management works, we are angry that a few trees will be cut, when we are cutting down thousands very close to them”, said D. Jasaitis.