“Chaliapin Spruce” from Kislovodsk was chosen as the tree of the year in Russia

In Russia, the voting results of the national contest “Russian Tree of the Year — 2022” have been summed up. This year, the 133-year-old “Chaliapin Spruce” from Kislovodsk won the competition, TASS reports.

Spruce scored more than 19.6 thousand votes. In second place was the pine “Pearl of the Tobolsk Forest” in Tyumen (8.6 thousand votes), in third — “Queen Pine” from the Orenburg Region.

“Chaliapin Spruce” grows on the site of the literary and musical museum “Chaliapin’s Dacha” in Kislovodsk, where opera singer Fyodor Chaliapin rested in 1917. The height of the tree reaches 27 meters. The wildlife monument is listed on the National Register of Old Growth Trees.

Last year, “Chaliapin Spruce” participated in the Russian Tree of the Year 2021 competition and took second place, losing to “Turgenev oak” in the Ivan Turgenev Museum-Reserve “Spasskoye-Lutovinovo” in the Oryol region.

This year, the oak did not take part in the competition, since in November 2021, a hurricane wind knocked down a 200-year-old trunk, interrupting the history of the famous tree.

Recently, however, employees of the Spasskoye-Lutovinovo Museum-Reserve discovered small oak sprouts in the place of the dead writer’s tree. They are fed by the legendary oak root left in the ground. The homestead keepers intend to monitor the oak and will probably need to consult with scientists on the conservation of the sprouts.

The competition “Russian Tree of the Year” is held within the framework of the All-Russian program “Trees — Monuments of Wildlife”. The program was established in 2010 by committees of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, the Council for the Preservation of the Natural Heritage of the Nation on the initiative of the NPSA “Healthy forest” and with the support of the Federal Forestry Agency of Russia. The goal of the program is to organize the search and conservation of unique old-growth trees that are of cultural, historical and natural value for Russia. The Russian Tree of the Year competition has become part of the program as a tool for disseminating information among the general public about the need to preserve nature and respect for forests, especially for the oldest trees.

The participants of the program created the National Register of old-growth trees in Russia, the number of which today is 1219. Among them, under the number 821, there is also the “Guardian of Olkhon” recognized as the oldest tree in Russia — larch, 779 years old.

By the way, the oldest living tree on the planet is Methuselah pine. When studying it in 1957, experts accurately determined that it sprouted in 2832 BC, and therefore now its age is 4854 years. This tree is considered the oldest individual (non-cloned) living organism on Earth. For the sake of the tree’s safety, its location is kept secret.

Cover photo: administration of Kislovodsk