Gyeonggi Green Foundation Develops 'Riverside Forest' Along Gyeong-an Stream

The Gyeonggi Green Foundation announced on the 19th that it will develop a 'riverside forest' along the Gyeong-an Stream in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province, as part of the Paldang Lake water quality improvement project.

The riverside forest will be developed along a 12.3 km section of both embankments of the Gyeong-an Stream between Ssangnyeong Bridge and Opo Bridge in Gwangju, and the project is scheduled to be carried out over three years from this year through November 2009.

Along the riverbank in this section, various trees including metasequoia, zelkova, Yoshino cherry, ginkgo, and ash will be planted, and small parks of 5,000 pyeong each, a wildflower garden, and a flower bed of 1,000 pyeong will be installed separately.

Additionally, a bicycle-exclusive path will be constructed along the forest where citizens can walk or ride bicycles.

The Green Foundation has decided to develop the riverside forest through voluntary tree donations and donations from citizens, and in cooperation with civic organizations including the Gyeong-an Stream Rescue Movement Headquarters and the Han River Protection Movement Headquarters, it will launch a campaign from this year through the end of next year for tree donations and the establishment of a 3 billion won green space fund.

To this end, the foundation plans to hold a Gyeong-an Stream Guardian Launch Ceremony at Cheongseok Park on the Gyeong-an Stream banks in May, launching full-scale tree donation and fundraising campaigns, complete fundraising by the end of next year, begin tree-planting work from March 2009, and complete the forest development by November of the same year.

A Green Foundation official stated, "In addition to water quality improvement projects targeting water to clean up the Gyeong-an Stream, an inflow tributary of Paldang Lake, we are carrying out a project to purify water using trees. In the sense that all provincial residents participate in the project to make Paldang water first-class quality, we decided to secure the necessary funds for forest development through tree donations and contributions."