Dsegh Villagers: We Are Part of Forest – We Preserve Ourselves by Preserving Forests

EcoLur

Dsegh Village has all the chances to develop “green economy.” Dsegh is a village located near forest and is known as the hometown of Armenian great writer and poet Hovhannes Tumanyan. The monument to Tumanyan is set up in the main square of the village. The great poet loves forests, but in fact, there is almost no forest left around Dsegh. Instead of forest, you can find woodworking enterprises where chairs and parquet are produced, and Dsegh Forestry enterprise, which deals with woodworking and brings timber from other forest communities.

Here seemed to be not a hint of green economy. However, let’s not hurry with conclusions. There is a visitor center being constructed for all those who love wild nature and, certainly, forest. Local School Headmaster Eduard Shekoyan, named Custodian, familiarized us with the program. The Armenian Society for Bird Protection awarded this name to him, which obligates him to protect birds and nature in general. At the Visitor Center wilderness lovers can get useful information about Dsegh as a key ornithological territory. “We want to involve those engaged with bird-watching,” Shekoyan said. For our part, we would like to add that bird watchers are people willing to cross thousands of kilometers for watching birds fly. There are many birds in Dsegh and we shot some of them on our camera.

In her interview with EcoLur Armenian Society for Bird Protection Deputy Head Lyuba Balyan, who is also the coordinator of “Key Ornithological Territories of Armenia” and helps Eduard Shekoyan with the arrangements for the Visitor Center, explained: “Each bird is unique and its flight is also unique. The person, who once got interested in it, will never drop this hobby. People collect these flights, compare, share impressions, and exchange video and photo materials. This is a special category of people and we want this center to function at high level,” she said.

Under E. Shekoyan, interactive hand-made game settings will be available at the center. “We also collect a film library, including films shot by us. We want also children to be our members so as to set up a hearth for them to get to know nature,” Shekoyan said. The routes for future expeditions are worked out, including the route running through Tsover, a small lake. Here Eduard Shekoyan and his schoolchildren clean the territory from the garbage left after picnics. Both Headmaster and his schoolchildren hope that green economy will come true. “The fact that we live next to forest is not just a coincidence. Probable our ancestors knew what they needed. We are a part of forest, and we preserve ourselves by preserving forest,” Shekoyan thinks.

July 29, 2011 at 13:18