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An ancient oak tree in northern Greece is believed to be among the oldest surviving trees of its kind in Europe. Source: The Greek Reporter With a trunk diameter of 2.25 meters (7.38 feet) and a height of 23 meters (75 feet), botanists say that the giant oak, located just two kilometres from the main square of the town of Deskati, near Grevena, is approximately 1,300 years of age give or take 30 to 50 years. The residents of the town in northern Greece can now boast that they bask in the shadow of one of the oldest oak trees anywhere in Europe. It is located at an altitude of 658 meters (2,158 feet). The tree stirred the interest of the Municipality of Deskati both for the gigantic size of its trunk and its obvious age. “We decided to conduct a study with scientists, foresters and researchers to learn the age of the tree,” mayor Dimitris Karastergios told the Athens News Agency recently. Botanist Ioannis Spanos, a researcher from the Elgo-Dimitra General Directorate of Agricultural Research, took samples from the tree with his team, making special measurements of the rings in its trunk. After further study, they concluded that the age of the oak tree is an astounding 1,300 years old. All the necessary procedures were immediately initiated by the Deputy Secretary General of Decentralized Administration of Epirus-Western Macedonia, Vassilis Michelakis, to declare the oak tree a “preserved monument of nature.” Such a distinction, which confers scientific, ecological, historical, and cultural value signifies that the tree can be valuable in the future for educational purposes while also verifying for future caretakers that the living treasure needs special care and protection. “We should immediately begin its maintenance, such as removing dead branches, stuffing the hollow trunk with cork and disinfecting it,” Spanos said. In Greek mythology, the oak is the tree sacred to Zeus, the king of the gods. In Zeus’ oracle in Dodona, Epirus, the sacred oak was the centerpiece of the area, and the priests would divine the pronouncements of the god by interpreting the rustling of the oak’s leaves. The oak was by far the most dominant tree of the ancient Greek landscape. In fact, the ancient Greek word for oak, “drys,” was also the word for tree. The two main types of oaks commonly found in the region are the evergreen holm oak and the deciduous Valonian. Both range in size from a thick low shrub (forming the basis of the modern-day Mediterranean scrub forests) to large trees. They were valued for their wood and acorns, which would ripen in the autumn. Tannin was also extracted from the acorn cups of the Valonian oak. This substance was a vital component employed in the tanning of leather hides. In Greek lore, the primitive, pre-agrarian tribes of Arkadia were said to have lived on a stable diet of acorns. In classical times, it was a food only of last resort consumed in times of famine. Usually, acorns were reserved for animal feed.

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Trimble has an upcoming release of the CFX+ Sources app in July 2025. This innovative tool is designed to streamline your timber sourcing operations and ensure compliance with the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). Source: Timberbiz This upcoming release will include many features needed for buyers and sellers of wood fibre to collaborate exchanging information necessary for regulatory compliance with EUDR, but also to improve how you work today making agreements and plans between forest managers (sellers) and mill managers (buyers and sellers) and pulp mills (buyers). You can upload the information you need, share it between companies, and export geojson files needed for uploading to EU Traces, the EUDR compliance web-portal for European buyers. Trimble will allow companies to try it out in preparation for the rollout on 1 January 2026 of the enforcement deadline for compliance. Here are the key features of CFX+ Sources, along with their benefits: Detailed Source Information Management: Manage supplier and geolocation data, enhancing traceability and compliance with sourcing regulations. Search Functionality: Quickly find sources using specific criteria, improving efficiency in data retrieval and decision-making. Bulk Import and Export: Easily transfer source data via web and API interfaces, streamlining data management and integration with existing systems. Compliance Management: Attach necessary documents for legal obligations, ensuring all compliance documentation is readily accessible. Geolocation Data Capture: Capture precise location data for large and small areas, enhancing accuracy in tracking and managing timber sources. Uploading Pre-existing Shapefiles: Import existing geospatial data, simplifying the integration of current data into the CFX+ system. Management of Product Allocation Details: Track product allocations from specific locations, allowing users to select associated deliveries based on mill consumption, ensuring accurate volume estimations and compliance. Sharing of Source Information: Control sharing of source data with specific email addresses, enhancing collaboration while maintaining data security. Downloading Sources in GeoJSON: Download source data in GeoJSON format for EU traceability, facilitating compliance with European regulations.

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The International Commission on Poplars and Other Fast-Growing Trees Sustaining People and the Environment (IPC) hosted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) published a comprehensive guide on the innovative use of fast-growing trees to help sustain people and the environment amid the climate crisis. Source: Timberbiz Innovative practices in the sustainable management of fast-growing trees: lessons learnt from poplars, willow and experiences with other fast-growing trees around the world explains the qualities of different species of fast-growing trees and the economic and environmental benefits they bring in a wide range of settings when managed sustainably. It also outlines the potential to maximise those benefits globally using the latest science and innovative practices. “Fast-growing trees have a strategic role to developing a thriving global bioeconomy,” said Zhimin Wu, Director of FAO’s Forestry Division. “They also provide livelihoods for local communities and hold significant potential for combating climate change.” Fast-growing trees such as poplar, eucalyptus, pine and spruce grow rapidly in suitable conditions, and these and other fast-growing species have been developed and used for millennia around the world to provide timber, fibre, energy and non-wood products. Many of these tree species not only grow fast but can colonize bare or degraded lands and adapt to poor conditions, rapidly turning dry areas green and productive by providing ‘ecosystem services’ such as watershed protection, climate regulation, better quality soil. With climate change posing threats to all forests, planting fast growing trees has increasingly become a vital part of the strategy in the global effort to reverse deforestation and mitigate the effects of climate change. The FAO-IPC publication emphasises the need for investment in planning and cultivating fast-growing trees as effectively and widely as possible to support the transition towards sustainable and productive agrifood systems and as part of action to restore degraded land, driven by the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2020-2030), to help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. Currently, 93% of the forest area worldwide is composed of naturally regenerating forests and 7% is planted, according to FAOs Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020. With global demand for wood products expected to increase by a third by 2050 and global temperatures and extreme weather requiring rapid adaptation and resilience-building, the new IPC publication aims to provide vital information to a wide range of stakeholders including researchers, landowners, land managers and planners and policymakers. Divided into eight sections, it explains the potential of fast-growing trees and their vulnerabilities, the ecosystem services they provide, their socioeconomic benefits and best practices for sustainable management of fast-growing trees in different environments and for different uses. These include landscape restoration, wood production, agroforestry and urban and peri-urban forests. Providing clear facts and figures and examples of best practice and innovations, with scientific references and graphs illustrating trends, it aims to enable the scaling up of successful planting of fast-growing trees worldwide.

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