ArmInfo.The US will help Armenia assess the damage from fires in Byurakan and the Khosrov Forest Reserve. Minister of Nature Protection Artsvik Minasyan stated this in a conversation with journalists in the parliament on September 6. He said that it is necessary to find out the area of damage from the fire near Byurakan. The fire is almost completely extinguished, but there are partially or completely preserved pockets. According to preliminary data, 20 hectares of territory were burned in Byurakan.
According to Minasyan, on September 7, experts from the United States Forest Service will arrive in Armenia, who will help with damage assessment in the Khosrov Forest, where about 2 thousand hectares of forest burned. "The American colleagues have already given a rough estimate on the satellite data, however, according to the Armenian side, a little more than 1700 hectares burned," the minister said. "It is necessary to find out which types of trees burned, in particular, you need to pay attention to the juniper bushes, which are restored slowly." Artificial restoration of reserves is not always possible: since human intervention here should be limited, " Minasyan said. However, according to him, there is a hope that with the help of American colleagues, it will be possible to select and restore several sites.
Finally, it remains to be seen whether the fire is not latent. Around the reserve, peat bogs burned in it. Therefore, the fire could spill from them to the roots of trees, he remarked.
"Restorative work will need to be spent on the state budget, but the necessary cost estimates have not yet been drawn up," Minasyan said.
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