Partners with Hope Bridge to guide citizens through every stage — from baseline surveys and seed collection to planting and monitoring — at Cheongsong fire-damaged zone
A public-participation forest ecological restoration project is set to get underway at a wildfire-damaged site in Cheongsong-gun, North Gyeongsang Province.
The Korea Arboretum and Garden Management Institute, an agency under the Korea Forest Service, said Tuesday it is accepting applications from Tuesday through July 24 for its "Forest Ecological Restoration Project and Practical Skills Training" program at the National Baekdudaegan Arboretum.
The project is being carried out under the Korea Forest Service's "Basic Plan for Forest Ecological Restoration of Wildfire-Damaged Protected Areas." The National Baekdudaegan Arboretum and the Hope Bridge National Disaster Relief Association will jointly operate the program for three years through May 2029, targeting a protected wildfire-damaged zone in the Juwangsan National Park area of Cheongsong-gun.
The project particularly focuses on building a public-participation forest ecological restoration model at the Cheongsong site, which suffered extensive damage in last year's large-scale wildfire.
Starting in August, the program will run eight sessions of specialized practical training for university students, totaling 80 hours. Through a curriculum linking the Cheongsong wildfire site with the National Baekdudaegan Arboretum, participants will work alongside experts through the full restoration process — conducting baseline surveys to assess the feasibility of restoration work, collecting native plant seeds for ecological recovery, raising seedlings and carrying out planting, and performing post-restoration monitoring.
Lee Gyu-myeong, director of the National Baekdudaegan Arboretum, said the project carries great significance as it brings citizens directly into forest ecological restoration efforts at the Juwangsan area of Cheongsong, which was severely damaged by the large-scale wildfire. "We will work with Hope Bridge to build a restoration model that citizens can see and feel, and continue to broaden social awareness of forest restoration," he said.
kwonhl@heraldcorp.com
