The Bolesławiec City Council session is approaching. One of the items on the agenda of the upcoming meeting of Bolesławiec councillors will be a vote on a draft resolution concerning the revocation of natural monument status. The document states:
(…) The natural monument status is being revoked in order to ensure public safety for residents, due to the tree’s significant dieback.
The tree in question is Jagna, a black poplar designated as a natural monument, which grows on Zgorzelecka Street, right next to the fence of the Zespół Szkół Handlowych i Usługowych and near a fuel station.
The attachment includes a statement from the Regional Director for Environmental Protection in Wrocław, which reads:
An analysis of the submitted documentation, including photographic documentation, showed that the tree in question is in very poor phytosanitary condition. According to the dendrological assessment attached to the application and the results of an acoustic tomography examination, the poplar is at an advanced stage of internal decay—it has decay affecting almost the entire cross-section of the trunk, including the peripheral tissues. In addition, the tree has an extensive surface defect near the site of a removed limb (assimilate shadow), necrotic damage to the root flares and deep cavities at the trunk base. In view of the above, and because the tree is located in an urban area in the immediate vicinity of a public road and intensively used areas and buildings, it poses a risk to public safety.
The justification for the draft resolution states:
The natural monument—a Canadian poplar—has extensive damage to its root flares, which, in the case of trees with such a substantial trunk, are crucial for maintaining an acceptable level of safety around the tree. On the south-western side, the root flares are damaged, combined with extensive decay and cavities in the root-zone area. Dead branches were found in the crown; one of the limbs has died completely, indicating physiological disturbances. Due to the tree’s size, it is not possible to carry out maintenance work or measures to improve its stability.
Given its condition and the risk to public safety—in a highly sensitive setting including a school, petrol station, automotive-parts wholesaler and parking spaces—the tree should lose its natural monument status, after which permission should be obtained for its removal.