The Tree Guard of Rzeszów

Project facts

Project promoter:
Our Clean and Healthy Rzeszow Association(PL)
Project Number:
PL-ACTIVECITIZENS-NATIONAL-0172
Status:
Completed
Initial project cost:
€26,447
Final project cost:
€29,447
Programme:

Description

As a result of the city of Rzeszów development policy, recently we have been observing an increase in tree cutting. Monitoring, sending comments, or becoming involved in the decision making is a multi-stage process, rather complicated, and made even more difficult by the City Hall and its institutions. That discourages many to participate. Through our observations and communication with the citizens we have concluded that people lack the knowledge on how to react to the devastation of green spaces. They feel powerless and excluded from the administrative process, which makes them unhappy and causes conflicts. We would like to address these issues by creating an institution we would call the Tree Guard. We will hire and train an individual who, alongside our volunteers, will support the citizens in their efforts to stop the tree cutting. These interventions will be catalogued through protocols in our “Guard’s logbook.” We have worked on these types on interventions for several years now, but having local community involved will increase our effectiveness. Additionally, it will increase the sense of having agency among the members of the local community. In order for our initiative to be as comprehensive as possible, we will create a website that will serve as a source of knowledge on the scale of the problem in Rzeszów and on current initiatives being implemented on behalf of the community. The website will also contain a toolkit for taking action available for anyone interested in getting involved. As a result of our actions, the analysis of tree cutting in Rzeszów will be more accurate than ever before, and the citizens will play an active part in the effort. We will make the archives of our project available to the public as well.

Summary of project results

Recently we have been observing intensified tree felling in Rzeszów. Monitoring this phenomenon and submitting comments or joining the administrative decision-making procedure was a multi-stage, complicated process that was additionally hindered by the City Hall and its subordinate institutions, which was disheartening for many people. Our observations and talks to inhabitants show that there was not enough knowledge on how to react to nature devastation. People felt helpless and excluded from administrative decisions, which led to dissatisfaction and conflicts.We addressed this problem by establishing the Tree Guard institution. We hired and trained a person who together with our volunteers supported residents in interventions against tree devastation or felling. We activated an interventional hotline, engaged fifteen individuals in guarding activities. We were supported by three local groups, while the information on our activities reached ca. 14 000 recipients. We received ca. seventy reports, the Tree Guard intervened 150 times, meetings with officials took place two times per quarter, on average, we proposed fife trees for natural monument protection, and we documented our interventions in the ‘watchdog journal’ published on our website. We run a campaign against tree felling and construction of a road crossing Family Allotment Gardens by Skrajna Street which other organisations also paid attention to.We have been involved in such issues for a couple of years, but thanks to engaging citizens our activity will be more effective. Moreover, we can see that it increases the sense of agency and decisiveness among city residences. To make sure that our activity is as comprehensive as possible, we have opened the www.straznicydrzew.rzeszow.pl website which is the source of knowledge on the problem in Rzeszów, and on ongoing activities available to inhabitants. The website offers a list of tools needed for protective activities that can be used by everyone visiting it. Finally, we organised a meeting summarising the project to present its outcomes.

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