The “Dunin” oak which grows in Przybudki on the edge of the Białowieża Forest became the European Tree of the Year 2022. “Dunin” achieved a record result in the Internet voting – 179 317 votes.

The voting results for the European Tree of the Year 2022 were announced in Brussels. The winner was the Dunin oak, which for centuries has been held in high esteem and admired by the local population and tourists visiting this region of Poland and also the European Land of the Wisent. The tree has been an inspiration for many artists, it delights tourists at any time of the year.

All three distinctions this year belonged to the oaks. The second place was taken by a tree from Spain – the oak from the Banquet Forest that received over 11,000 votes less. The third was a great cork oak from Portugal. In this case, the difference is over 100,000 votes.

The European Tree of the Year competition was launched in 2011 as an extension of the Tree of the Year competition, which has been organized in the Czech Republic for many years by the Czech Environmental Partnership Foundation. The winners of the national stages take part in the finals of the European competition.

Dunin Oak, whose age is estimated at almost 400 years, won the Polish part of the Tree of the Year competition organized by Klub Gaja in 2021 and thus secured its participation in the European competition. The organizer of the European Tree of the Year competition was the Environmental Partnership Association (EPA) based in Brussels. The course of the competition in Poland was coordinated by environmentalists from Klub Gaja.

During this year’s competition, Internet users cast a total of 769 212 votes, thus setting a voting record. In connection with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which coincided with the last week of voting, the organizers of the competition decided to exclude the Russian candidate from participation and not to count the votes cast for the Russian tree.

Arkadiusz Słomczyński