Around the middle of this year, several employees became concerned about the number of trees being cut down in and around USSK, supposedly because they hampered good visibility on some roads and junctions. We asked our ecologists whether they had managed to replace every tree felled with another one planted in a place where it would not reduce transportation safety. Our questions were answered by USSK GM Environmental Miloš Fodor:
“I’m happy to say we’ve succeeded in planting out 75 young trees around the steelworks area. We chose the species northern red oak, small-leaved linden, Colorado blue spruce and European ash, and the saplings were grown in a forestry nursery with a minimal CO2 footprint. So we’ll have new greenery growing around the Cokery, Transport, Power Engineering, Steel Shops, Blast Furnaces, Hot and Cold Strip Mills, Finishing and Tin Mill plants, as well as beside the Ecology and Works Fire Brigade buildings.”
“During the course of this year we’ve also planted out 1100 new trees outside of the USSK works area. Care for adult trees as well is another fundamental aspect of landscape renewal, including undergrowth clearing, weeding, dead branch removal and tree-crown shaping. We plan to continue with tree-planting in the future, always with an eye to both esthetic and protective functions of tree cover,” adds Miloš Fodor.
