On the 22nd of August 2010 a fire swept through the palm forest of Preveli.
According to the first news reports most of the palm forest - one of the only two forest of the endemic Cretan date palm Phoenix theophrasti - appeared to have destroyed.
Later reports indicated that the crowns had not been burnt and that the forest could regenerate but that it might take 30 years.
Fortunately, in the way most news reporting happens,the damage was quite exaggerated and in the autumn I kept hearing that palms were seen with new shoots of fresh green leaves coming out
In early January 2011 I went to take a look. The speed at which the forest is regenerating is amazing: fresh palm leaves are everywhere, even sprouting from charred trunks. All the trees seem to have survived.
The fire also entirely cleared the ground vegetation so that at present only the palms are left with plenty of light around them. This might also be helping them grow faster.
The oleander and other bushes (I think that it is mastix but it's hard to say at the moment) seem to be sprouting some small leaves at their base but it is still minimal.
Take a look at the photos below. The first two show the forest as it was before it burnt down. The rest of the images is taken just over 4 months after the fire the forest is resurrecting. Nature's miracle.
Click on the images to enlarge
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One of the measures taken to help the regeneration of the forest is to fence off the area to prevent grazing animals frrom entering it. This seems to have been done (at least what I could see of it, I didn't go around the entiire perimeter of the forest). On the beach side there are also signs prohibiting entry so the forest be closed to the public for a while. Let's see what happens in spring when the season starts. |
