Daejeon Metropolitan City announced on the 11th that it will launch a "Low-Maintenance Ecological Urban Forest Pilot Project" starting in March to efficiently reduce the rising maintenance costs of urban green spaces caused by climate change while enhancing the ecological functions of urban forests.
The project will target connecting green corridors and pocket forests in Dong-gu and Daedeok-gu districts. The city plans to complete construction by the first half of this year, followed by approximately one year of systematic monitoring to assess cost reduction effects and changes in ecological indicators.
For the connecting green corridors, sedges and ground cover plants will be planted to suppress weed growth. This will reduce mowing frequency from four times annually to two or fewer, thereby cutting maintenance costs.
These measures are expected to improve management efficiency while maintaining stable green landscapes.
The pocket forests will be transformed from aging facility-centered spaces into ecological zones. The introduction of nectar-producing trees and multi-layered planting structures will enable quantitative analysis of ecological benefits, including nectar production volumes.
"We expect to reduce urban forest management costs while maintaining stable green landscapes," said Park Young-chul, Director of Daejeon's Green Space, Agriculture and Life Sciences Bureau. "We will continue to pursue systematic urban forest policies to build a greener Daejeon."