‘Branches broken in snowstorm expected to fuel wildfires this summer’

AMMAN — Wildfires are expected to increase this summer as forest grounds remain covered with broken branches caused by last December’s snowstorm, conservationists warned on Sunday.

Over 20,000 trees were uprooted and hundreds of thousands of branches broken in December last year during the heaviest snowstorm to hit the country in over a decade. 

Figures indicate that one-third of the Kingdom’s forests were damaged.

“The forests were severely damaged during winter due to the snowstorm and illegal logging. Now as the weather warms up and the picnicking season starts, wildfires will rage because of the dry branches that cover the forest ground,” Dibbeen Forest Reserve Director Bashir Ayasrah told The Jordan Times over the phone.

Ayasrah warned that broken branches will fuel wildfires as people start visiting nature reserves.

“What makes things even worse is that the uprooted and fallen trees are blocking roads inside the forests made especially for fire trucks,” he said.

In February, conservationists called for a nationwide campaign to clear the broken branches from forests before spring starts. 

They said the Kingdom’s forests are heading towards an environmental catastrophe, referring to the expected wildfires during summer if the branches are not removed.

Another conservationist, who preferred to remain unnamed, said authorities did not show any sign of cooperation in launching a voluntary campaign.

“The reserves’ staff and Rangers have cleared the branches from areas most frequented by visitors, but other than that, we don’t possess enough cadres or vehicles to remove what remains of the thousands of broken branches,” the conservationist told The Jordan Times.

Twelve dunums of forest trees in the Dibbeen Forest Reserve were destroyed in a wildfire last week that damaged 184 centennial trees. Aysrah said it was too early to start witnessing fires in the forests, noting that wildfires usually start in June.

“I believe that the dry broken branches accelerated the fire,” he said.

Illegal logging during winter, fires during summer and insufficient rain due to climate change, are the main threats to Jordan’s shrinking green cover, according to experts.