‘184 centennial trees destroyed in Dibbeen fire’

AMMAN — Twelve dunums of forest trees in the Dibbeen Forest Reserve were destroyed in a wildfire on Monday, the reserve’s director, Bashir Ayasrah, said on Tuesday.

The fire started at around 3:30pm and dozens of Jerash Civil Defence Department firefighters, Rangers from the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature (RSCN) and the Jerash Agriculture Department extinguished the blaze by 9pm, Ayasrah added.

“A report on the damages of the fire was completed today [Tuesday]. It shows that 184 trees were burned, of which 104 were Aleppo pines, 62 were oaks and 18 were maple trees. The trees are very old, as the average age of the reserve’s trees is 130 years,” he told The Jordan Times.

The Dibbeen Forest Reserve represents the world’s last remaining southeastern community of Aleppo pines.

The fire was most likely man-made, according to Ayasrah, who underscored that it is unknown whether the fire was a result of a visitor’s recklessness or an act of arson.

“Either way, it is too early to start witnessing fires in the forests because we are still in April and the season for wildfires usually starts in June,” the reserve director said.

Illegal logging during winter, fires during summer and insufficient rain due to climate change are the main threats to Jordan’s shrinking green cover, according to experts.

Situated in the northern Governorate of Jerash, the reserve was established in 2004 with the aim of protecting Aleppo pine trees, particularly as Dibbeen is the driest part of the world in which Aleppo pines naturally grow, with an average rainfall of around 400mm per year, according to the RSCN.

The Dibbeen forest is home to at least 17 threatened species, including the Persian squirrel, in addition to over a quarter of the butterfly species that exist in the Kingdom. It extends over 8.5 square kilometres of mountainous topography, rich with pine and oak trees.