„Nature walks in an estate park"

 

Implementer: Modła Elementary School

 

Problem: Before the outbreak of World War II, the von Bibran and Rittberg families owned a 16th-century palace estate in Modła. In the 19th century, a nature park with an abundant tree stand and ornamental bushes was planted near the estate. At the beginning of the 20th century, a stone mausoleum of the von Bibran family was erected in the vicinity of the estate church. Unfortunately, for a long time the estate as a whole was not properly looked after. In fact since World War II, no maintenance work and rennovation activities had been undertaken. The estate fell into general disrepair. The family mausoleum showed evident signs of damage, the estate pond had been drained of water, the general appearance of the park was changing due to the brush and other vegetation overgrowing and the pathways fading as result. Illegal dumping of rubbish became commonplace in the area. Natural monuments were not properly marked and safeguarded against damage. Tangible losses included the depletion of tree stock due to illegal tree cutting. The legitimate fear was that the direction in which the estate grounds were going would one day lead to the loss of a place so important and valuable to the local community as a tourist attraction and natural heritage site and the school felt compelled to take a leadership role to reverse this trend.

 

Objective: The main project objectives were to:

- protect the park from further devastation,

- mark out a culture & nature trail showing the most interesting plant specimens growing in the park and the surrounding grounds as well as cultural heritage items,

- create a place where science and nature learning activities could take place for pupils from local schools and where they could practise winter sports,

- focus school and community efforts on working side-by-side to reach a common goal,

- instill in local children and youth a greater sense of appreciation and interest in the natural environment.

 

Project implementation and results: Project work involved the following activities:

1. Workshops and educational talks about the importance of green spaces and historical sites as well as the need to adequately preserve them. The audience consisted of some 600 children and 100 parents.

2. Laying a 1-km long educational trail (focusing on natural and cultural points of interest) i.e. marking out its route, cleaning the area and laying the gravel.

3. Tidying the park and removing rubbish from areas where it had been ilegally dumped.

4. Cleaning out the brush from the hillock with the purpose of creating a sledge run in the wintertime and using it for educational activities in the summertime.

5. Constructing and setting up a total of 17 signs giving information about the more interesting species of trees growing in the park and marking 8 natural monuments.

6. Constructing and placing 10 benches, 3 rubbish receptacles and 1 shelter.

7. Constructing and installing 2 large format boards providing information about the history of the park and listing the flora found in it; 4 information boards at four stops along the culture & nature trail; 2 signs with information about particular aspects of the park's ecology; and signs reminding park visitors about the general rules of conduct on the estate grounds (e.g. „Keep off the grass" „Do not litter" etc.)

8. Organising a meeting with all project participants in attendance to sum up and take stock of project work completed. The meeting included an award ceremony for the most involved youth group - the award was a field trip organised by the teacher leading the project.

 

Project partners: Gromadka Municipality Office, Złotoryja Forest District Office , School Complex in Gromadka, Parents Council, Modła Village Council, TARTPOL Modła lumber mill enterprise, Przemkowski Landscape Park. UL- Merena Daniel [nie wiem co znaczy UL].

 

Grant amount, other sources of funding: