The Forest Department has clarified that cutting of trees along the country’s highways will require public consent through public hearings.
Responding to a post in Big Tree Webpage which states that many big trees along the Kalasin-Kamalasai-Rongkham highway were marked with red dots giving an impression that they were singled out to be chopped down for road expansion, Forest Department acting director-general Ms Sutthilak Rawiwan said Friday that she had ordered officials Khon Kaen’s forest management office to make an investigation.
She said the officials had stamped seals on the 96 trees located within a 15-km stretch of the Kalasin-Kamalasai-Rongkham highway.
Besides the need to comply with the Forest Department’s regulations regarding survey and tree cutting for land utilization, the department chief said that the tree cutting would have to go through a public hearing process in which people in the area where the trees are located must be allowed to participate to share their views.
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