A local in the northern province of Rize devised a peculiar but clever way to preserve the trees around his home: By building a cableway.Metin Akıncı said the only way for cars to get to his home, which sits on top of a hill, is a path dotted with trees, and he opted for a cableway as an alternative to chopping down trees. With the help of a friend, Akıncı set up a 500-meter long cableway 400 meters high and installed a primitive cable car that resembles a cage. Now, it only takes him two minutes to reach his two-story wooden house instead of walking up a 2-kilometer path.Akıncı said he did not want to build a driveway by cutting down trees as it would "spoil the nature here." "You can keep the trees intact while building roads. I hope this sets an example," he said, referring to an overhaul of road construction in the region where transportation is a challenge due to a terrain, which is abundant with steep mountains and hills. Akıncı lives in Rize's district of Çamlıhemşin, where the government's "Green Road" project faced opposition from some locals. The Green Road, which will stretch across 2,600-kilometers of lush highlands, was protested by locals this summer, who claimed that it would harm the environment. The government denied allegations that a large number of trees would be cut down for the road that will facilitate access to the highlands, a main source of income for locals dependent on tourism revenues. Forestry and Water Affairs Minister Veysel Eroğlu earlier claimed that only 13 trees have been cut down for the construction project, and he pledges to plant hundreds of trees in the area.