Saplings planted to restore forested areas affected by a wildfire in southern Türkiye's Osmaniye four years ago have grown as tall as 27 inches (68.58 centimeters) in some spots.
The forest fire, which broke out on July 28, 2021, in Kazmaca village near the city center and spread to the Karatepe village in Kadirli district, was extinguished after four days of firefighting efforts.
The blaze damaged four homes, 12 barns and 3,042 hectares (7,520 acres) of forest.
To restore the region, where trees had been reduced to ash, the Adana Regional Forestry Directorate carried out rehabilitation work.
Within the project, 369.9 hectares were left to natural regeneration with seed supplementation by teams from the Karatepe-Arslantaş Nature Conservation and National Parks Division.
The Bozkuyu Forestry Operations Directorate conducted artificial regeneration on 723.2 hectares and industrial afforestation on 1,948.9 hectares.
In total, forestry teams planted 2.5 million saplings in the affected areas.
Some saplings have reached heights of up to 27 inches.
The forested areas around Kazmaca and Karatepe villages, now showing signs of renewed greenery, were captured in drone footage.
