In the forests of Lithuania, you can see a tree unusual for our region, but often found in southern and central Europe - the common beech. Not so long ago, scientists determined that the northern limit of this tree ends in southern Lithuania. But as the climate warms, the beech growth area occupies an increasingly large part of Lithuania. Currently, the foresters of the State Forestry Agency are collecting the seeds of this tree so that more beech trees that like warmer regions can be planted in the country.
In Jurbarkas, Šilutė and other regional units of state forests, the seeds of a tree rarely found in Lithuanian forests - beech - are collected. New beech trees will be planted from them in the spring, which will be grown in Lithuanian forests.
Common beech in Lithuania
Beech is a southern and central European tree that likes a warmer climate and is not resistant to cold. "Lithuania is at the border of the beech distribution range, so as the climate warms, this beech naturally comes to our country," says Marijonas Bernotavičius, head of the Forest Seeds and Plantation Department of the State Forestry Agency.
"Pollen of common beech together with other species of plants that have already disappeared in Lithuania was found in the Girutiškis nature reserve, but the beech was extinct in Lithuania for a long time and due to climate changes, its range had retreated far to the south of Lithuania. Currently, common beech has again almost reached the southwestern border of Lithuania (it was introduced in Lithuania itself in the XNUMXth century), having spread here from the Ice Age's so-called refuge zone in the southern Balkan peninsula, and it is believed that as the climate warms, it will continue to spread to the north on its own," explains the State specialist of forest seeds and seedlings department, Renatas Plačiakis.
Common beech (Fagus sylvatica) is a tree that was brought to Lithuania from Western Europe about 100-150 years ago, it is found in only a few forests of the country - mainly in the regions of Jurbarkas, Šilutės, Kretinga, where a somewhat warmer, more maritime climate prevails. In total, there are about 30 hectares of forest in Lithuania. A beech tree ripens its seeds at the age of 50-70 years, so the hundred-year-old beech trees growing in our country are already fully matured and throw them abundantly.
How beech seeds are collected
In order to collect beech seeds, it is best to build special nets around the tree trunk. First, all the empty, damaged, unsuitable seeds fall out, and then the good ones start to fall. How fast the seeds fall depends on the weather conditions and temperature. When stronger frosts appear, beech seeds may fall out in 2-3 days.
Currently, the specialists of the State Forestry Office collect beech seeds and the nuts contained in them in the seed tree of Norkaičiai Forestry of the Šilutė regional unit, as well as in the 12 seed sources located in the Dubrava, Jurbarka, Kretinga, Joniškis, Prienė, Šilute and Telšiai regional units of the VMU. A total of about 60 kg of nuts were collected this autumn. 1 kilogram of nuts consists of about 5000 nuts, and their potential germination is up to 60%. Thus, from one kilogram, even about 3250 pieces can be grown. blunt The collected nuts are stored in the nursery of the VMU Panevėžys regional branch, where their stratification will begin in February (seed awakening, when the seeds are kept at a certain humidity and temperature for some time before sowing), and in March they will be sown in special containers for further growth.
Prospects for the future
"Beech trees are grown in moderately fertile soils that are not waterlogged, creating a wider, richer biological diversity of the cultivated stands and increasing the resilience of the stands," says Darius Stonis, head of the Forestry Department at VMU.
Therefore, the goal of the foresters is to grow a plentiful harvest of beech trees, properly store the collected seeds, sow them to take care of the young and already grown stands. Common beech usually forms stands with common maple, common pine and common oak. In the forests of Lithuania, this tree is grown sparsely, mostly in the western and northern parts of the country. In Eastern Lithuania, in cold winters, beeches freeze and may even die. It is known that trees grown from seeds of local reproduction are more adapted to the climatic conditions of Lithuania.
"A much larger area is occupied by stands where common beeches grow in the second layer of pine and oak forests. There are such stands in the Norkaičiai Forestry of Šilute regional unit (about 35 ha). Due to climate change, more favorable conditions will be created for common beech to spread in Lithuania in the future", says Jolita Abraitienė, senior specialist of the Department of Nature Protection, Nature Management, Recreation and Hunting of the State Forest Office.
The State Forestry Agency takes care of Lithuanian forests every day: forest saplings are grown in modern nurseries, new forest areas are restored and planted, forest sanitary and fire protection are taken care of, special attention is paid to the preservation of biological diversity in forest ecosystems, and new recreational facilities for visitors are maintained and created. In the Lithuanian state forests, which are managed by the State Forestry Authority under the right of trust, we farm in accordance with the principles of sustainable and balanced forestry.
