Girona is considering removing grass from some parks to reduce water consumption

Girona City Council is considering eliminating Ornamental garden – Creating some gardens and replacing them with Mediterranean meadows with the aim of reducing water consumption. The fact is that currently existing lawns in some areas require frequent watering, while on the other hand, Mediterranean lawns need watering only at the time of sowing. These same lawns also need one Great maintenance For this reason, the change will also include reducing carbon dioxide emissions, not using the fuel needed by brush cutters, and reducing economic spending, due to the reduced number of plows.

In any case, the tender issued by the City Council a few weeks ago for the supply of seeds for meadow planting and related reporting services in the amount of €20,981.53 has been abandoned. For this reason, municipal sources explained this “Things have to change” This will be reported “Later” For the project, ever since “There may be changes.”

Experimental testing

It’s been a year since University of Gironafrom the Department of Botany, monitors the current biodiversity in a grassy area Intensive maintenance – Regular cutting of grass – and in an area where mowing has stopped. Now you want to plant one Mediterranean meadow Observing whether there has been a representative change and assessing the positive impact this might have on biodiversity.

In this sense, pilot tests are planned to improve natural habitats and urban biodiversity in public spaces. For this reason, the measures will be carried out in high-impact urban areas, which have irrigated lawns that require a lot of maintenance. At first, it was repaired Back gardenAnd the Central Park and Montilivi Park – most likely Vicens Albert Pallister Parks and Camps– To do this re-nature the grass. However, the fact that the tender was abandoned may lead to modification of these initially selected spaces.

In this first tender, the square meters that will be cultivated in each of these areas were determined. Where more will be planted, if the project is not modified, it will be in Majdia Park, with a total area of ​​8,800 square meters and a total 70.4 kilograms of seeds. On the other hand, in Central Park it will be agriculture 43.2 kg in an area of ​​5400 square meterswhile smaller quantities will be planted in the garden in the Montilivi neighborhood: 14.2 kilograms in an area of ​​1770 square metres.

Respect the life cycle

One of the other goals for which we want to conduct this pilot test for creating Mediterranean meadows is to respect the life cycle of herbaceous plants and allow them to complete their flowering and seed formation. This will happen thanks to rReducing the frequency of mowing is desirable and will enable many animal species to take advantage of the food they can obtain. The number of species is high, for example, pollinators will benefit from the nectar, while there will be insects such as beetles or Hymenoptera that feed on pollen. next to, Some species of ants and grain-eating birds can benefit from seeds when they fall to the ground, and herbivorous insects, such as butterfly larvae, can feed on leaves.

On the other side, The emergence of all these invertebrate animals can serve as food for other animals, such as insectivorous birds, some small mammals or reptiles. In addition, the Mediterranean meadow has the highest grass This provides habitat for many species of invertebrates and small vertebrates that would not be present in the existing grass shadow.