On 17 November last year, Cīrava residents Māra and Nora Vidnere began collecting signatures from fellow locals on the portal manabalss.lv in support of the initiative “Preservation of the Cīrava Great Oak”, which aims to request that the municipality relocate a road that was thoughtlessly constructed during the occupation years outside the protected area of the magnificent Aptiekas Great Oak. By the end of 2023, the initiative was supported by 405 residents, which was a sufficient number to submit the initiative to the Dienvidkurzeme Municipality. Currently, residents are still awaiting the municipality's opinion and potential solutions, as the number of supporters for the initiative now exceeds 440 local residents.

We are a European great tree superpower with the second-highest density of great trees, second only to Great Britain. We have many beautiful, well-tended great trees, as well as many growing in the wild, and all of them are protected by Cabinet of Ministers Regulations No. 264. These stipulate that within the area of the tree's crown projection and 10 metres around it, no activities may be carried out that could interfere with the tree's growth and natural development; no heavy objects may be placed there, and the area may only be cleared of other encroaching trees and shrubbery. Everything seems so straightforward, but the reality of life can be different. In the Cīrava parish of Dienvidkurzeme Municipality, various circumstances over the long life of the Aptiekas Great Oak have meant that the letter of the law alone is not enough; genuine, mutual understanding between residents and the municipality regarding the value of the great tree, as well as cooperation, is required for these protection measures to be implemented.

At the Ozoliņi homestead in Cīrava parish stands the mighty, scenic Aptiekas Oak. During the years of occupation, land reclamation negatively affected the moisture available to the oak, and a power line was run through its branches. The owners of Ozoliņi look after and care for the oak and have been fighting for more than 30 years to have the road, which was built without approval in the 1970s, moved. The road is located just 3 metres from the oak's trunk and crosses the great oak's roots. It is necessary to relocate a stretch of the municipal gravel road measuring only 70 metres, and furthermore, the neighbouring landowner has no objections to transferring the land to the municipality in order to improve the environment for the oak.

As time passed and political regimes changed, the road changed its status and has now become a municipal road, which is regularly maintained, improved, and used with increasing intensity. Over the last few decades, the owners, Māra and Nora Vidnere, have appealed to the Cīrava parish administration, the Dienvidkurzeme Municipality, the Aizpute Municipality administration, the Nature Conservation Agency, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development, and others with requests to move the road further away from the oak, outside its protected zone. However, after the institutions brought in two different arborists, it was concluded that the built road is not favourable to the tree, yet it has not had a significantly adverse effect on the tree's development either.

These same Cabinet of Ministers regulations state that if a protected tree is located in a city or populated area, the construction or renovation of infrastructure or engineering networks, as well as the reconstruction of buildings, is permissible. The Aptiekas Oak grows on the boundary, rooted outside the populated area of Cīrava parish; its branches reach over an existing municipal road that is still not within the Cīrava village territory, but the tips of the branches, as well as the 10 m protected zone beyond the crown projection, do extend into the Cīrava village, which is a populated area.

A contentious and unclear situation is developing, which can only be resolved in the oak's favour if the residents of Cīrava and Cīrava parish and the municipality truly appreciate the value of this mighty, stately great oak and work together in cooperation to find the best solution to ensure the long-term survival of the great tree.

Link to the initiative on the manabalss.lv portal: https://manabalss.lv/ciravas-dizozola-saglabasana/show