In recent years, students from the nearby Kfar Hayarok School have been working to preserve and care for the daffodil field. Now, the northern edge of the field has become a regular dump site for construction materials
Zafrir Rinat | Nov. 22, 2018

A field of daffodils near the Pi Glilot Junction north of Tel Aviv, one of the most popular nature spots in the area, has become a construction dump site over the past few weeks. The piles of building materials now threaten the blooming of the flowers and the field’s special scenery.

In recent years, students from the nearby Kfar Hayarok School have been working to preserve and care for the daffodil field. They seed it every year with wheat and plow it in a way that has also created conditions conducive to the blooming of the daffodil. As a result, early each winter the field blooms and draws many visitors. A sign erected at the spot even declared that the field was the second largest concentration of daffodils in the country. The field itself is in the jurisdiction of the Ramat Hasharon municipality. It is zoned for eventual construction, but that is still a long way off, and a section of it might be set aside for conservation as part of a park alongside the future buildings.

But the school has recently stopped cultivating the field. “Unfortunately, about a year ago, the Israel Lands Authority told us to stop cultivating the area, Kobi Naeh, director general of Kfar Hayarok, said. “Because of our activities and presence at the site, it has been preserved for the last 20 years.”

Recently the northern edge of the field has become a regular dump site for construction materials, which now spill onto the field itself. From the quantities and types of refuse, it can be seen that this was not a one-time but methodical and illegal dumping of piles of earth, construction materials and fragments of walls and pillars. This is happening close to one of the major traffic arteries in the country, but so far no one has taken steps to stop it.

According to the law, the municipal authority in whose jurisdiction a dump is located is responsible for dealing with it. The Ramat Hasharon municipality said in response that it “is aware of the dump and is at the height of dealing with it through enforcement by inspection officials in the municipality and the Environmental Protection Ministry.”

The Israel Lands Authority responded that it was not aware that construction materials were being dumped at the site. “This is an area that was rented in the past on a seasonal basis to Kfar Hayarok,” but that the latter stopped cultivating the land. The ILA said it had subsequently rented the land to two private farmers, who “do not have the tools to deal with the dumping.” The municipality added: “Treatment of dumps is by law the responsibility of the Environmental Protection Ministry.”

The Environmental Protection Ministry did not respond to a request for comment on the matter.

Dumping at nature sites is spreading to other areas as well. Last week, the Elad municipality asked to join a legal action by operators of the Bareket construction dump site requesting that the dump be reopened. The site was shut down by the local planning and building committee in Shoham. The Elad municipality told the court that after the site was closed, areas around the city, including the Kula Forest, have become dump sites that endanger residents and the environment.

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-once-a-paradise-of-daffodils-now-a-garbage-dump-1.6676996