Initiative: "Flower meadows and wildflower islands".
Originator: "Meadow" Foundation
Location: Szczęśliwiecki Park, Warsaw-Ochota
Implementation date: 04/2016-09/2016
Description of the problem encountered: With an area of 34 hectares, Szczęśliwicki Park is the largest of the green spaces administered by the Ochota District, enjoying a consistently high attendance among Warsaw residents. A significant area of the park is occupied by grassy areas, which requires financial outlays, related to mowing, which leads to a decrease in the biodiversity of the area.
Activities:
- creating 10 plant islands with a total area of 2,500m2 and sowing seed mixtures with wild native plant species on them;
- ecological picnic;
- workshops with botanists and entomologists aimed at local residents and students from nearby schools, who will be able to take care of the meadows after they have been planted.
Results: The conversion of part of the park area into flower meadows and areas with wild vegetation will contribute to reducing mowing operations to 1-2 per growing season (instead of 4-5) and will further increase the biodiversity of the targeted area. The project is an opportunity to raise the issue of wildlife habitat conservation and increase the environmental awareness of local residents. The flower meadows and islands of wild vegetation in the Szczęśliwicki Park will be an initiative to influence the city authorities and lead to a change of perspective on the care of green spaces. Low-mowed lawns are a biological desert unfriendly to native animals and plants. The initiative will bring environmental improvements to the area.
The initiative "Flower meadows and islands with wild vegetation" of the Meadow Foundation is implemented as part of the project "Local ecological civic initiatives - together for the environment" of the Foundation for the Development of Polish Agriculture and funded by the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management.
"Local ecological civic initiatives - together for the environment" is a project prepared by the Foundation for the Development of Polish Agriculture bringing together 20 local ecological initiatives. The main objective of the project is to improve the state of the environment by involving the local community in sustainable development activities. The problems identified concern the Mazowieckie, Podlaskie, Lubelskie, Łódzkie, Małopolskie and Dolnośląskie voivodships. Their authors include representatives of non-governmental organisations operating locally, schools, institutions, but also individuals. Each of the initiatives is an attempt to solve a local environmental problem, which is intended to provide an impulse and initiate further actions to permanently protect nature and the environment, and to shape lasting habits in this respect.
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