KARDOFF Leads by Example with Forest Clean-Up
Members of the Karabük Safranbolu Automobile and Outdoor Sports Search and Rescue Club Association (KARDOFF) carried out an environmental clean-up in the forests.
Known for the races and events it organises throughout the year as well as for its social projects, KARDOFF cleaned up forests ahead of winter, warning the public about environmental awareness. The membership includes people from all walks of life, from car mechanics to doctors and university students, and at the weekend they cleared litter left behind after picnics in the Sarıçiçek forests in Safranbolu. From the early hours of the morning, a group of around 60 people, including marshal students from Karabük University, travelled in 4x4 off-road vehicles and spent the whole day collecting the rubbish scattered by picnickers. With support from Safranbolu Municipality and the Forest Management Directorate, the collected waste was loaded onto lorries and the forest areas were cleaned.
KARDOFF club president Ahmet Demir said that, besides being a club that organises nature trips, races and camps, they also attach great importance to social projects. Demir said that the unsightly scenes their guests from outside the city see in the countryside are something they themselves find even harder to stomach than their visitors do. "The rubbish left here by people who think they love nature, even burning tyres, is a major threat to the environment and wildlife. The scene we found when we arrived and the scene after the clean-up say everything. The marshal board we formed from Karabük University students affiliated with our association has also given us great support. It was a good effort. The clean-up is great," he said.
"Alongside our own members, we were disappointed that no environmental associations came to support the event we organised today. Our Safranbolu District Governor and the Forest Management Directorate also supported us by providing a rubbish truck and a team," said Demir. He added that, faced with this rubbish and pollution, they have seen the public's anger and complaints over calls for the Forest Management Directorates to ban access to the forests. "After seeing these scenes here, we definitely think that access to the forest should be brought under control and people should not be let in. People coming here and leaving the environment and nature in this state, cutting down and burning trees, leaving rubbish and burning vehicle tyres causes very serious imbalances in wildlife. It's a painful situation," he said.
