Riga crews built a tree pit around a dead birch

Street repairs in Riga’s Imanta neighbourhood left a carefully formed tree pit around a birch that had been dead for years, while several living trees nearby were cut down, LSM reported.

The stump stood at the junction of Jūrmala Gatve and Zolitūdes Iela, where roadworks have been under way for some time. Residents questioned why the birch had been treated as a protected tree. Rigonda Bērziņa, representing the Imanta neighbourhood association, said new utility lines, traffic lights and electricity connections had been installed and trees cut down, and asked why the project had not been adjusted earlier.

Riga City Council partly acknowledged a mistake, while saying responsibility for the birch lay with a legal entity that owned the plot. Council representative Ieva Grīsle said construction planners may not know a tree’s condition. But if a tree is marked on a topographic plan, a pavement must be built around it, without paving up to the root collar.

The council said the landowner or residents should have notified municipal police about the dead tree at the busy junction. When the pavement work was carried out, the required felling permission had not yet been obtained from the landowner. The birch has since been completely cut down, and another tree is planned for the spot.