This article was originally published in May 2009 and is visible now so that readers can look at what was happening on the Costa Tropical back then.
Now, we’ve all had it up to our eyeballs in construction work shenanigans in recent times but now it seems that our humble friend the palm tree is falling foul to restructuring plans.
One-hundred and fifty palms are being uprooted along Motril’s Avenida de Salobreña, much to the horror of environment group, Buxus, who fear that many of them will not survive the replanting process.
According to Francisco Tarragona, Chairman of Buxus, a minimum of six months is needed for a successful transplant and, due to the time scale of the project, the trees won’t receive the time they need to survive.
Tarragona also commented that the palms are currently in an ‘active’ state, which further reduces their chances of survival and that they shouldn’t be touched at all until November.
He and his group feel that the Council lied outright when they guaranteed no palms would die and, in a defiant show of solidarity with the trees, the Buxus members wrapped their arms around the palms for a whole day of tree hugging protest on the 20th of April (yes, there were people hugging trees and it wasn’t just one-too-many glasses of wine playing tricks on your imagination).
A petition was also collected with over a thousand signatures as the fight for the trees continues. Mayor Carlos Rojas on the other hand is singing from a slightly different songbook and sticking to his guns that the trees won’t die. He’s even taken things a step further by ordering the planting of another 155 trees.
Speaking of which, on another tree related note, the caring bunch down at the Salobreña International Club planted 15 saplings in the Parque de la Fuente on the 17th of April (all donated by the Council, I might add) to mark their campaign for the fight against climate change.
(News: Motril, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)
I’ve just picked up the May 2009 issue of the Seaside Gazette and was reading the Salobrena/Motril section to find that I need to correct your reporter. On Page 48 you state parenthetically that the trees planted in the Parque de La Fuente by the International Club on the 17th of April were “all donated by the Council”. Although this is what was reported (incorrectly, I might add) by Ideal, I can assure you that although we worked with the Medio Ambiente of the Ayuntamiento to decide where and when the trees would be planted, the trees were all paid for by the International Club of Salobrena. They were purchased from the Aprosmo viveros — Terra Horti — in Motril, an organisation the Club has supported in many ways for many years. The funds used to purchase the trees (in the interest of journalistic accuracy there are actually 13 of them) were raised from a variety of activities in which the Club participates throughout the year.
I am hopeful that you will print this correction in your next issue (and online sooner, if possible as you’ve stated the online edition is up and running again). It took a lot of effort on our members’ parts to organise the tree planting and we were very appreciative of all the help the people in the Town Hall gave us to make the event happen. I would hate for your readers to get the wrong idea.
Thanks in advance.
Regards,
Arlene Nichols
President
International Club of Salobrena