Minister of the Environment and Water Manol Genov has granted two centuries-old trees – each of which approximately 200 years old – protected status, the ministry has announced.

One of them, a European white elm (Ulmus laevis), is 24 metres tall and with a circumference of the trunk of 4 metres and is growing near Pleven in Northern Bulgaria.

The other tree,a Turkey oak (Quercus cerris), is around 15 metres tall and with a circumference of the trunk of 2.40 metres and it is growing near Trankovo village in the region of Haskovo in central Southern Bulgaria.

Designating the two trees protected status means they cannot be uprooted, felled, pruned, their branches cannot be broken or their trunks damaged. All action that could lead to their being destroyed, damaged or to a deterioration of their physical state is prohibited.

The ordinance is yet to be published in the State Gazette, after which the trees will be entered into the respective registers as centuries-old trees as set down by the Biodiversity Act.

Edited by Desislava Semkovska
Translated and posted by Milena Daynova
Photos: Ministry of Environment and Water