Czech nature initiative puts down roots in foreign soil
A thousand-year-old lime tree from a small village of Tatobity in north Bohemia is representing the Czech Republic in the annual European Tree of the Year competition. The contest was established by the Czech Environment Partnership Foundation, Nadace Partnerství, in the city of Brno in the 1990s and gradually expanded to now include 15 European countries. I spoke to Miroslav Kundrata of the Czech Environment Partnership Foundation about this year’s Czech participant, but I first asked him to tell me more about the history of the competition:
“The Czech Environment Partnership Foundation saw the opportunity to scale up the local contest to the national level and in 2002 we started to organise a national Czech contest, which has been running successfully for 15 years.
“One of our board members, former environment minister Ladislav Miko, who worked for the EC, was present at the announcement of the Czech award and saw the potential to develop the concept on the European level.
“So in 2011 we started to organize the European Tree of the Year contest which has been running for five years and we now have 15 countries participating in the contest. It goes very well and enjoys large public attention.”
“I see three major purposes. One is to highlight the importance of grown-up trees in our environment, in the context of the climate change by cooling the e atmosphere and providing oxygen. But it is also a symbol of our relation to our homeland and our community.
“It is also a tool for mobilising the community to look after their environment. Sometimes the participation at the competition puts people together to do more for their community.”
“It is always organised first on the national level. In the Czech Republic we organise the nomination process on the first spring day, March 21, and everybody can nominate any tree. What is important is not only the physical quality of the tree. It is also important to have a story connecting the tree to the community.
“On October 20, which marks the Day of Trees in the Czech Republic, we announced the winners of the national contest and these winners take part in the European Tree of the year. The voting takes place in February and the announcement of the winner takes place in April. This year it will take place on April 20 in Brussels.”
Can you tell me more about this year’s Czech participant in the European Tree of the Year?
“This year’s Czech contestant is a very powerful candidate. It is a thousand-year-old lime tree from a little village of Tatobity, near Semily in the Liberec region. People call it a thousand-year-old tree, but in fact it is only around 600 years old.
“For the village the tree has a symbolic meaning. It is a part of the local flag and it is also a popular tourist attraction. The local people are very proud of the tree and they invested a lot of energy to collect as many votes as possible for their tree.”
I believe there is also a legend tied to the tree…
“Yes, that’s right. According to the legend the tree was planted by a young man called Kilián and by his lover Hedvika. Kilián claimed that the one who did not plant the tree may not cut it. And when lumberjacks wanted to cut it one day, they heard a voice coming from the crown of the tree, saying: you didn’t plant, so don’t cut. And so the lime was saved.
The tree is over 600 years old. Does it require any special care?
“Yes, of course. The municipality has been very responsible in caring for the tree, doing as much as possible. But the old trees really require special care. That’s why we provide a special care by arborists as part of the award for the finalists.”
Lime is a Czech national tree. Is it a common winner of the Czech national contest?
“Yes, I think nobody would be surprised that most of the winners in the Czech competition since 2002, seven, were lime trees. Two times it was an oak and two times it was a coniferous tree.”
“Usually they are oaks, which can grow into very large sizes and reach the oldest ages. I think the biggest rival this year is an oak from Hungary.”
Apart from organizing the European Tree of the Year award.
“We have a broad portfolio programmes, focusing on sustainable development, nature conservations and other areas. We also support local communities in their caring for the environment, because it is important that the communities take active role in environment protection.
"So we are trying to empower them to do it by providing small grants, technical assistance, by getting people together and by providing other small tools.
“We also active in things like mobility, supporting green buildings, developing programmes for energy saving and supporting sustainable tourism. So we are carrying out a number of different projects which serve as an example of how you can solve problems on local level.”
