Dongtan Lake Park in Hwaseong City Selected for Korea Forest Service's "50 Most Beautiful Urban Forests"

[Suwon Ilbo=Lee Suwon Reporter] Hwaseong City announced on the 5th that Dongtan Lake Park has been selected for the Korea Forest Service's "50 Most Beautiful Urban Forests."

Under the theme of "Life + Rest = Urban Forest," the Korea Forest Service sought recommendations for beautiful urban forests established across the country in April to promote urban forests in areas close to citizens and develop them as local landscape resources. The agency evaluated 916 nominated sites based on accessibility, ecological health, usage level, scenic value, and distinctiveness, ultimately selecting 50 locations.

The 50 selected urban forests are categorized into five types based on their roles and functions: △climate change response type △economic benefit enhancement type △landscape improvement type △resident health promotion type △resident participation type. Dongtan Lake Park was selected in the resident participation type category.

Dongtan Lake Park, with an area of 640,000 square meters, is a wellness space in the city featuring expansive lawns along the lake, picnic areas, and phytoncide forests. Represented by the elaborate multimedia water fountain "Luna Fountain," the park offers diverse attractions and welcomes over 10,000 citizens weekly, serving as a flagship park in Hwaseong City.

Furthermore, Dongtan Lake Park was developed as a serene waterfront space that preserves the existing natural environment while capitalizing on the lake's distinctive landscape. It provides citizens with unique scenery utilizing slopes as well as diverse activity spaces for play, exercise, and walking.

Currently, Dongtan Lake Park operates ecological experience programs to activate park usage through development of diverse park content. Through local resident participation, the city operates citizen gardeners to cultivate civic pride by having citizens directly manage the park and contributes to the spread of resident-participation-based park management.

Meanwhile, the city is continuously expanding urban forests where cities, citizens, and nature coexist based on citizen-centric garden culture at the Botanic Garden, planned to be developed as a large-scale urban park connecting Yeoul and Jaramoe Park between Dongtan 1 and 2 New Cities, Banseok Mountain Neighborhood Park, and the Osan Stream.

Hwaseong Mayor Jung Myeong-geun stated, "I am delighted that Dongtan Lake Park has been selected as an urban forest where citizens directly participate in park development and management." He added, "Going forward, we will develop it into a vibrant urban forest by adding citizens' active participation to the basic functions of a serene and ecological waterfront space."