The project proposal addresses 2 main components: educating, informing and raising awareness in the local community about the importance of dead wood in ecosystems and urban green spaces.

There are situations where felling a tree in an urban green space is the only solution to ensure the safety of citizens and the chance of healthy growth of younger trees. Extracting a tree, more often than not, is an event that can be explained efficiently. But the life of a tree can continue after it has been extracted. Tree trunk and logs have important ecological roles both in natural conditions and in urban green spaces.

Deadwood (standing dead trees, fallen logs, dead branches fallen or hanging from trees) is a critical component in forest structure and functioning, and plays an important role in increasing resilience to climate change and conserving biodiversity. The decomposition of deadwood supplies the soil with nutrients, preserves soil moisture, and slows down evapotranspiration.

It is recognised in the literature that deadwood provides ecosystem functionality and supports ecosystem productivity by recycling organic matter, contributing to natural regeneration, and providing food and micro-habitat for species. Deadwood also stores carbon on the long term, prevents soil erosion, regulates the water regime, and last but not least contributes to biodiversity conservation by providing a habitat for feeding, breeding, hibernation, refuge and shelter for various species.

Although deadwood has many benefits for ecosystems, there is a preconception that deadwood must be removed. Dispelling these myths will be key to preserving healthy ecosystems and the ecological functions they provide. Public policies that have recognised the need to preserve the variety of forest values and have committed themselves to doing. This can totally change the current decline in forest biodiversity. Adopting new and innovative visions in the management of forests and green spaces with trees in terms of deadwood management can be considered a key indicator in increasing the degree of naturalness in ecosystems.

There are researches and studies in the scientific literature that draw attention to urban green spaces in terms of availability of sufficient quantities of deadwood. In most urban green spaces, trees are often trimmed, while dead branches are removed for safety and aesthetic reasons. Old or diseased trees are also cut down to ensure the safety of citizens and property. In most cases logs left over from felling, such as dead branches fallen or hanging from trees, are removed from urban green spaces, in this way depriving the park ecosystem of the benefits of deadwood. An innovative and sustainable solution would be for urban green spaces to have a designated area for dead wood, thus contributing to the conservation and/or enhancement of biodiversity in urban spaces and increasing resilience to climate change.

Developing and adapting urban spaces to everyday trends is of great importance, not only for the natural environment, but also as an urgent need to improve the urban quality of life. The quality of life in cities is positively influenced by a number of significant roles played by urban green spaces and by the length and quality of time spent there. Green spaces in the context of the city contribute to a sustainable city and a better environment.

Through our project we want to draw community attention to the role and benefits of deadwood, including from the perspective of conserving and increasing biodiversity respectively increasing resilience to climate change.

To achieve this goal, we will set up a designated area for deadwood, namely an educational and recreational corner in the central park of the Municipality of Miercurea Ciuc. In order to achieve this, we have a cooperation agreement with the Municipality of Miercurea Ciuc to use an area of the central park for this purpose. The transport of logs (e.g. poplars) that will be placed in this area for ecological and educational roles will be provided by the Municipality of Miercurea Ciuc. These logs come from the recent removal of trees for safety reasons in the central park.

By creating this designated deadwood area, this will ensure that the ecosystem of the central park will not be deprived of the benefits of deadwood, the logs laid down will be able to provide the necessary micro-habitat for some species, thus contributing to biodiversity increase. These benefits of the deadwood (nutrient supply to the soil, long-term carbon storage, increased biodiversity, etc.) contribute to the preservation of healthy ecosystems, which also means increased resilience to climate change. At the same time, this designated area for deadwood is also an example of best practice in applying an innovative concept of urban green space management.

The creation of the educational and recreational corner will consist of setting up a refreshment stand with wooden benches and tables, placing several informative and interactive educational panels, setting up a barefoot trail, installing an outdoor audio speaker for educational materials, and setting up a chalk board, respectively, with the aim of educating and informing the community about the importance and benefits of deadwood, the life cycle of a tree in the natural and urban environment, biodiversity and healthy ecosystems. To produce the educational materials, we will consult with experts in the field of environment and education. Besides the fact that this educational and recreational corner will be a useful alternative to spend leisure time, the facilities created will offer the possibility to be used as an outdoor classroom as well. At the same time, the physical educational materials located in the project area are a possibility to visualize in the long-term the project funder.

In order to promote and raise awareness of the conscious management of dead wood – a new and innovative conservation concept for Romania – in the management of urban green spaces, and in order to facilitate the transfer of expertise and know-how from science to action, we would like to organize a scientific event, which will include lectures by experts in the field (e.g. Tibor Hartel, ecologist, researcher; Károly Magyarosi, arborist), and a public debate bringing together experts, policy makers, the civil community and citizens.

In order to promote the objectives of the project, and to raise awareness and inform the younger generation about the importance of deadwood in ecosystems, about the life cycle of a tree and about biodiversity, we will organize a thematic drawing contest for children (age group 6-14 years), which will be announced in local educational institutions.

This competition will also be an opportunity to promote the project online and offline. We also want to organise an event to open and promote the educational corner, during which we will organise an interactive competition for children (age group 6-12). We will invite students who will form teams to complete the competition (collecting information and learning). The teams that successfully complete the competition stages will receive tree seedlings as prizes. In this way the younger generation will gain knowledge through non-formal ways.

The aim of the project is to promote the conscientious management of deadwood – a new conservation concept for Romania – in the management of urban green spaces. In order to achieve this goal, an educational and recreational space is to be set up in the central park of Miercurea Ciuc, which addresses and presents this topic in an attractive and accessible way to the general public, in order to arouse interest and activate the involvement of the local community. It also aims to inform and educate the local community on the importance and value of deadwood for maintaining healthy ecosystems, preserving biodiversity and increasing the resilience of the urban commons to climate change.

  1. informing and promoting the innovative concept of urban green space management based on the conscious use of deadwood, by organising an event with scientific lectures and public debates bringing together specialists in the field (scientific expertise), decision makers, civil community and citizens;
  2. arranging an educational and recreational corner in the central park of the Municipality of Miercurea Ciuc;

III. educating young generations about the role and importance of dea wood in ecosystems and from the perspective of climate change, by organising an educational event with interactive competitions, involving at least 10 classes of primary school students from local schools, in the last month of the project.

We believe that the proposed project contributes to improving the quality of life of the inhabitants of Miercurea Ciuc and to achieving the principles of the “Fund for a Better Future in Communities” by:

– providing a relevant solution to the problems, such as the complaints about the recent felling of some old and diseased logs in the town centre of Miercurea Ciuc

– promoting an innovative concept for the management of urban green spaces, focusing on increasing the naturalness of these spaces through the conscientious management of deadwood,

– the creation of an educational and recreational corner, accessible to the whole community, offering a useful alternative to spend leisure time for all age groups, designed to stimulate cohesion and social relations between the inhabitants of the city,

– creating healthier ecosystems that contribute to conserving and increasing biodiversity and strengthening resilience

to urban climate change,

– informing and educating the local community, especially the younger generation, thus cultivating a concern for the environment and biodiversity,

– encouraging a responsible attitude to the management of urban green spaces, to the management of trees in urban areas and to environmental challenges and a solution-oriented,

innovative approach from an early age,

– running interactive and accessible educational activities, which encourage the active participation of families in the educational process,

– stimulating the emergence of similar projects in the city and the area and inspiring a more responsible attitude towards the management of green spaces.

The concept of landscaping urban green spaces to have designated areas for deadwood, thereby ensuring conditions for a healthier and more resilient ecosystem, is a new and innovative concept in green space management. There is plenty of research and experts in the field highlighting the importance of this ‘out of the box’ way of thinking.

The idea of promoting and transmitting know-how from the scientific and specialised world to communities, and especially to younger generations, through interactive and non-formal educational elements, accessible to all in an urban green space, can also be considered as an innovative approach.

Urban green spaces with multiple functions such as education, leisure, socialising, etc. are beneficial to people’s quality of urban life and effectively address major problems of cities. These spaces therefore provide significant social, economic, environmental and health benefits for the citizens and contribute to an increased quality of life and a widened variety of education in urban areas.

The implemented project represents a model of rethinking, new utility of green spaces, which can be taken up/applied in other cities as well. The results could be multiplied as an example of good practice by other categories of beneficiaries/other localities. Synergy with similar initiatives is ensured through the possibility to build new initiatives based on the project results and their applicability in other localities.

Moreover, as underlined in the post-Covid resilience strategies, strengthening urban resilience is inextricably linked to the modernisation (quantitative and qualitative) of green spaces, while green infrastructure is considered one of the best planning tools for climate change adaptation.

An interesting area of policy development that can be productive for green urban planning is the idea of recreational activities on commons. This is an example of an approach of the governance that is more open to affective and experiential interaction – in which the community participates in defining and designing the use of public green spaces.

Our Association organized a drawing competition called “The misterious life of trees” through the InnoWood project for the age group 6-14 years between 24 November and 11 December 2022. After the end of the competition, these drawings were projected on the wall of Mikó Castle in Miercurea Ciuc for two days (next to drawings from another competition).

On 30 January 2023 a scientific event called “What are trees teching us?” was organized by our Association together with Sapientia University in Miercurea Ciuc. This event aimed to provide a professional background, but also opportunities to see our old and dry trees as valuable in our city as well. Special guests of the event were Tibor Hartel (UBB ecologist, Faculty of Environmental Science and Engineering) and Károly Magyarosi (arborist).

Proiect run by: