Penza, 27 April 2012. PenzaNews. The Obolensky tree nursery park, the state nature sanctuary located in village Saltykovo of Zemetchinsky area of the Penza region needs cutting down dead trees and protection from forest pests.

In 2012 Yursovsky forestry experts on the conclusion of the Center for forest protection of the Penza region intend to carry out continuous sanitary felling of dry spruce on two sites of 0.7 and 0.2 hectares and selective felling of dead trees.

According to newspaper “Vash Sobesednik”, the felling and utilization were postponed until autumn, presumably until October (depending on weather conditions) because of the fire-dangerous period.

The Obolensky tree nursery park (83 quarter of Saltykovsky forest area of Yursovsky forestry) is a unique monument of landscape gardening art of the end of 18th–19th centuries. It was planted more than 120 years ago as farmstead park of duke A.V. Obolensky on a watershed of the rivers Rayevk and Kermis, left confluent of the Vysha river, on a site of natural oak grove. Park area is 19 hectares.

There are more than forty types of trees and bushes in the park, such as oak, linden, maple, birch, fir-tree and pine. There are also exotic plantings, such as Siberian fir, European larch, silvery poplar and red maple.

During a severe drought of 2010 many trees were lost, especially fir grove. Besides, there are a lot of bark beetles.