Gwangju City’s Municipal Arboretum Development Project 'On Track'... Target Completion by May Next Year

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] The premium municipal arboretum, embodying the four seasons of Mudeung, the charm of Namdo, and the uniqueness of Gwangju, will be born next year, 13 years after the site was designated.

Gwangju Metropolitan City announced on the 25th that the Gwangju Municipal Arboretum construction project is progressing smoothly with a goal of completion in May next year.

The Gwangju Municipal Arboretum is being developed on a 246,948㎡ (74,700 pyeong) site around the Yanggye-dong regional sanitary landfill in Nam-gu, with a total project cost of 47 billion KRW. Construction began in April last year and currently shows a 28% progress rate.

Most of the construction will be completed by the end of this year, with the entire project finishing in May next year.

Gwangju was the only one among the 17 metropolitan local governments nationwide without a national or public arboretum, making it difficult to research local tree species, and citizens were unable to enjoy experiences such as forests, gardens, and greenhouse arboretums unique to Namdo.

The municipal arboretum project had been stagnant since the site designation in 2009 but gained momentum during the 7th local government administration.

The Gwangju Municipal Arboretum will be divided into three themed forests: the Forest of Welcome, the Mudeungsan Four Seasons Forest, and the Future Health Forest.

The Forest of Welcome is located at the entrance where visitors arrive, featuring a visitor center, exhibition greenhouse, and traditional garden to greet visitors with the charm of Namdo.

The Mudeungsan Four Seasons Forest will include a lawn representing the symbolic peaks of Mudeungsan?Cheonwangbong, Jiwangbong, and Inwangbong?and a Namdo-themed garden, creating a sightseeing and experiential space unique to Namdo. This area will house fragrant, native, and medicinal plant gardens, providing an urban healing space for citizens weary from daily life to rejuvenate their body and mind.

The Future Health Forest will include a diversity research center, gene conservation center, gene propagation center, and a nursery for cultivation, enabling research on the effects of climate change and global warming on plants. This area will also serve as an educational venue to study the ecological value of local tree genes and convey the importance of biodiversity.

Additionally, the municipal arboretum gained momentum as Gwangju City signed a business agreement with the Korea Forest Service and the Korea Arboretum Management Institute on the 20th, enabling it to become a forest culture and recreation space within the city.

Although the original plan was for a 62-hectare site, the scale was reduced to 24 hectares, but this agreement allows for expansion of usage space linked to forest projects in the surrounding national forest.

The Korea Forest Service plans to implement projects such as check dam installation, urban forest creation, forest road construction, and forest tending around the national forest near the Gwangju Municipal Arboretum as part of this year’s urban forest zone projects.

Furthermore, support for plant genetic resource collection and exchange, accumulated know-how, technology, and information from the National Arboretum will be available, enabling the preservation of the ecological environment under optimal conditions while providing citizens with a pleasant resting space.

Gwangju City plans to carry out the arboretum construction without delay and to maintain Suchuncheon, which flows through the center of the arboretum, as a nature-friendly stream. Various projects linked to the arboretum will be promoted so that citizens can safely and comfortably enjoy Gwangju’s unique ecological environment.

Park Nam-ju, Director of the Environmental Ecology Bureau, said, “The municipal arboretum will serve as an urban arboretum that not only preserves tree genetic resources but also functions as a beautiful garden throughout the four seasons and a resting space. It will be a multi-functional space that encompasses education, rest, and aesthetics, creating an enjoyable and open facility. We aim to make it an arboretum that citizens and visitors want to visit frequently.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.