Russian tree cancelled

The European Tree of the Year contest winner went to Poland’s entry after the competition’s officials disqualified Russia’s tree over the war in Ukraine at the beginning of this month. Officials announced the news in a ceremony on Tuesday.

Now, the apparent victor is a 400-year-old Polish oak tree with over 179,000 votes. A tree in Spain scored second place at 168,284 votes, with third place going to a Portuguese tree at 70,563 votes.

According to The New York Times, the organizers of the contest characterized the Poland tree as having a symbolic meaning given its location and how that country has become a place of refuge for Ukrainians fleeing the war.

While the outlet claims trees have now become politicized, many of the participants in the tree contest have biographies that outline the tree’s historical significance to people.

As to why the contest got rid of Russia’s entry, the group made it clear it was in protest of the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

The Tree of the Year website posted this notice about their decision:

"This move is not directed against ordinary Russian women and men. We appreciate all active citizens of the Russian Federation who strive for a free civil society and the protection of nature. However, we cannot stand idly by and watch the unprecedented aggression of the Russian leadership against a neighbouring country. The exclusion of Russia from the competition is a step that must be understood in the context of international efforts to isolate Russia in order to stop the war."

The decision to exclude Russia was made at the beginning of March. Previous reporting suggested that the Russian tree planted by famous author Ivan Turgenev 198 years ago was uprooted in a storm back in November 2021.

Before being uprooted, it was said to stand upwards of 30 meters high on Turgenev’s family estate, and had been a long-standing point of interest at the Spasskoye-Lutovinovo Museum-Reserve.

"According to Turgenev's behest, people came from the farthest corners of Russia and the world to stand under his crown and bow to him," said the Museum’s director, Sergei Stupin.

The contest itself has been going on since 2011. The organizers at the Environmental Partnership Association this year spent a fair amount of time discussing in detail about how various tree planting efforts by different organizations pan out, internationally.

Their findings conclude that "big institutions" are the ones ultimately delivering results in terms of volume for tree planting events, even though the emotional drivers behind it come from members of the public and communities.

The timing of the Russian tree’s removal from the tree of the year contest coincided with a timeframe in early March that saw widespread restrictions placed on anything Russian related as a result of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. FIFA banned Russian teams from participating in the World Cup (and EA doing so with the related video games), as well as the Glasgow Film Festival banning Russian films from being featured.

It’s not the first time that political claims have been made against objects found in nature. Last August, University of Wisconsin–Madison removed a giant rock because of a purported racist history attached to it. It led to an outcry from progressive activists who demanded the school move the two-billion-year-old rock somewhere else. The process had a $50,000 budget as the rock weighed 42 tons.