Forest taken by the Baltic Sea

The foresters from Choczewo Forest District (RDSF in Gdansk) have seen enough of dark and greedy side of the Baltic Sea. During recent storms the Forest District lost quite a large piece of its forest.
31.01.2017 | ADAM HOLLANDER, CHOCZEWO FOREST DISTRICT

The foresters from Choczewo Forest District (RDSF in Gdansk) have seen enough of dark and greedy side of the Baltic Sea. During recent storms the Forest District lost quite a large piece of its forest.

The beginning of year is a storm season on the Baltic Sea. However, the foresters reported the waves were breaking inland much further than in the previous years.

What foresters saw the next day after the storms was really perplexing: even several-decade old trees yielded and broke under the pressure of strong wind and waves. Rough sea took almost 2 hectares of forest, and these were not only the trees but also the land that the forest grew on.

Visit forest district’s profile

After the storm about 120 m3 of wood were covering the beach. However, only large pieces were left there, the smaller ones were taken away by the waves immediately.

As a result, the length of a cliff line is over 1.5 km and it stretches across three subdivisions.

Clearing the beach is still in progress. The Forest District hopes of completing all works in two weeks’ time. However, the whole operation is particularly difficult since the skidders do not cope with soft sands on the shoreline

The border line of Choczewo Forest District and the sea is 24 km long. So far, this was the biggest "theft” committed by the Baltic in these areas.

New forest boundaries were marked with red, dotted line

Legend:

  • damage – cliff line
  • not divisional areas
  • divisions
  • forestry units
  • sub-divisions