A new Centre for Environmental Education at Kamzík

The city and the City Forests in Bratislava have opened a modern Centre for Environmental Education in the recreation area at Kamzík. This will serve as a base for organising a variety of courses and seminars related to nature conservation aimed at schools and the general public. The lecture rooms will also be used for expert lectures and seminars on forestry topics. The City Forests in Bratislava have been allocated the space to develop forestry pedagogy, which they have been doing for several years with a positive response and interest from the public at large. With the opening of the new Centre for Environmental Education, the surrounding area - an arboretum with many rare tree species - is also being made accessible. The project is implemented under the INTERREG V-A SK-AT Cooperation Programme together with the City of Vienna and the civic association o.z. Daphne - Institute of Applied Ecology, largely financed by EU funds.

The new Centre for Environmental Education was built in the Kamzík recreational area and is part of a larger area - the arboretum. The garden consists of rare, exotic (for our area), more than one hundred-year-old tree species, which were planted at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries. The garden was originally owned by the Pálffy family and the arboretum was probably made for them. For years the arboretum was not accessible to the public, but with the construction of the Centre for Environmental Education Centre, the area is now open to the public.

“Together with our City Forests, we are step by step developing the Bratislava Forest Park, taking into account both nature and our visitors' needs. In addition to enhancing the existing infrastructure and building afresh, the City Forests also work with children and young people, encouraging them to love nature and introducing them to the world of nature in a playful way. I am therefore very happy that nature education will also take place in these new, modern premises,” says Mayor Vallo.

The Centre for Environmental Education consists of three interconnected buildings, designed by the Spacio architectural firm. The timber-clad building is sensitively located within its surroundings, is low-energy and works efficiently with rainwater, which is retained and released back into the nature. By building the Centre, Bratislava City Forests have gained a valuable venue for teaching about forestry.

_“The idea of creating the Centre for Environmental Education at Kamzík, where it would be possible to offer programmes to schools or the public regardless of the weather, was born in 2015, since which time we have been focusing on forest pedagogy. Environmental education is one of the main pillars of the City Forests' activities and I am glad that children from Bratislava schools now have a 21st-century base for these activities,” _says Marek Páva, City Forest Manager.

The courses, training sessions or expert meetings will cover a variety of topics - forest care, beekeeping, learning about trees, animals (bats, frogs, reptiles, birds of prey or owls) or the idea of promoting biodiversity in the rare natural area of the city. In May, for example, beekeeping courses for beginners are also on the agenda. Some of the courses will also be held under the expert guidance of the Daphne Institute of Applied Ecology, one of the project partners.

The newly established Centre for Environmental Education at Kamzík will mainly be in operation on weekdays, when children from Bratislava schools will attend the courses, while activities for the public will be held at weekends. The arboretum will be open for walks outside of the courses, especially in the afternoons and at weekends.

“I am glad that a new, publicly accessible, zone has been created right in the most popular and frequented location of the forest park. The arboretum is also a short nature trail with various rare cypresses, white firs, larches, Douglas firs and many other trees. We will continue to cultivate the forest park and Kamzík,” adds Jakub Mrva, Deputy Mayor for Environment.