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A 337-year-old fir tree in the Carpathian forests in southeastern Poland was in 2023 cut down by the national State Forests (Lasy Państwowe) agency, activists have announced, after waiting 18 months for the authorities to confirm its age.
“This tree survived three partitions of Poland, World War Two, and the birth of the modern state – but it did not survive the policies of State Forests,” wrote activists from the Wild Carpathians Initiative (Inicjatywa Dzikie Karpaty), who discovered the stump and asked the authorities to conduct an analysis of it.
A spokesman for the regional State Forests office said the tree would not have been felled had its age been known, as it would have been protected as a natural monument. “The tree did not show any external characteristics that would indicate such a serious age,” he explained, quoted by TOK FM.
Lasy Państwowe potwierdziły oficjalną ekspertyzą, że w 2023 roku wycięły 337-letnie drzewo w Puszczy Karpackiej.
Ta jodła przetrwała trzy rozbiory Polski, II wojnę światową i narodziny nowoczesnego państwa – nie przetrwała jednak polityki Lasów Państwowych. pic.twitter.com/EC2X0qDYSB
— Inicjatywa Dzikie Karpaty (@IKarpaty) September 8, 2025
The activists first discovered the stump in November 2023 during a patrol in the Carpathian forests, a vast complex that stretches across the mountains of southern Poland.
“We were intrigued by how dense its rings were. We thought it must have been old and counted them,” Jakub Rok from the Wild Carpathians Initiative told OKO.press. “We were speechless when we realised it was almost 300 years old,” he added.
They then did a recount using a special magnifying glass and concluded that the fir was around 290 years old. They alerted the local forestry officials, who promised to confirm the tree’s age.
“Months passed, we sent letters on the matter, held meetings with foresters, and received evasive answers. We had the feeling that they wanted the matter to die down,” another activist, Zuzanna Romanowska, told OKO.press.
In June this year, the activists finally received the news from State Forests that experts from the Warsaw University of Life Sciences had confirmed the fir sprouted in 1686 – at a time when Poland was ruled by King John III Sobieski – and was therefore 337 years old when it was felled.
In a document quoted by OKO.press, local forestry officials assured that they “are considering how we can avoid similar events in the future”.
They also admitted that preservation of such old trees “is extremely important, especially in the Carpathian forests, where the protective and natural functions take precedence over the productive function of the forest”.
Meanwhile, Edward Marszałek, spokesman for the regional State Forests office, explained that it had been impossible to determine the age of the tree in advance and that it was no thicker than other trees in the area that are about 130-140 years old.
Poland's new government has announced the suspension of planned logging in some of the country's "most valuable forests" https://t.co/de2YmQ3csE
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) January 9, 2024
“We regret that this has happened, but on the other hand, if the tree had not been cut down, we would never have known that such old specimens exist in this part of the Carpathian Mountains,” Marszałek stated, quoted by TOK FM. He also said that he hopes the stump will be displayed for educational purposes.
However, the Wild Carpathians Initiative does not believe that the case was an exception or a mistake. One of their activists, Michał Grzywa, told OKO.press that “this is a systemic operation”, and accused State Forests of gradually destroying some of the oldest trees in Europe.
“The foresters themselves do not know how old and valuable the forests they are cutting down are. Despite this, they continue their logging in one of the most valuable forests in Poland – the Carpathian Forest.”
Across Poland, local authorities are cutting down trees – some over a century old – for "safety" reasons.
However, scientists and activists criticise the practice, saying it is not only unnecessary but also exacerbates the problems of climate change https://t.co/9rEL8P2KAP
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) October 2, 2020
Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Main image credit: Dzikie Karpaty/X
Agnieszka Wądołowska is deputy editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. She is a member of the European Press Prize’s preparatory committee. She was 2022 Fellow at the Entrepreneurial Journalism Creators Program at City University of New York. In 2024, she graduated from the Advanced Leadership Programme for Top Talents at the Center for Leadership. She has previously contributed to Gazeta Wyborcza, Wysokie Obcasy and Duży Format.
