Hayrettin Karaca Old Growth Forests Project

The project is a project prepared within the scope of TEMA Foundation's Fund for the Protection of Natural Forest Areas and Raising Awareness on Ecological Importance, which we attribute to the late Hayrettin Karaca, one of our Founding Honorary Presidents, and whose implementation started in 2021. In the project, which will cover the years 2021-2023, the Eastern Black Sea Region was selected as the pilot study area due to its rich biodiversity and the presence of natural forest areas with a largely intact natural structure.

The project aims to raise public awareness on the importance of protecting old-growth forests, to establish selection criteria for natural old-growth forests, to identify candidate sites in the Eastern Black Sea Region of Turkey that can be included in the category of old-growth forests, to take them under protection and/or to contribute to sustainable management in forestry.

• Determination of old-growth forest candidate sites in the Eastern Black Sea Region through stand ages in forest management plan data in GIS environment,
• Review of academic studies on the criteria for determining old-growth forests in Turkey/abroad,
• Organizing a workshop to establish old-growth forest selection criteria,
• Investigations in candidate old-growth forests identified in GIS environment in the Eastern Black Sea Region Forests,
• Communication activities will be carried out to raise public awareness on the ecological importance of protecting these forests.

Domestic and international literature searches on old-growth forests were carried out together with the experts working in the project. In 2021, the areas that could be subject to land survey through the Eastern Blacksea Region forest management plans were determined in the GIS environment and forest areas with an average diameter of more than 36 cm were mapped. Field studies started in Artvin province, and investigations were carried out in 69 forest areas with an average diameter of more than 36 cm and an area of more than 50 hectares. As a result of the field studies, 19 old-growth forests with a total area of 3,820 hectares were identified in Artvin province. With the contributions of the General Directorate of Forestry, Department of Forest Management and Planning, an area of 2,795 hectares located in 19 different micro basins was registered as old-growth forest in forest management plans.

In 2023, candidate natural old growth forest research studies were carried out in Trabzon, Gümüşhane and Rize provinces. 5 candidate natural old growth forest areas -1 in Trabzon and 4 in Gümüşhane province- were determined. In the second half of 2023, a video containing information about why natural old growth forests should be protected was produced with drone footage taken in the natural old growth forests of Giresun province and shared on TEMA Foundation corporate social media accounts.