Living Trails (Zive Chodniky)

The Ekopolis Foundation has announced that six organisations have received funding for projects to improve tourist facilities in Slovakia’s national parks. The grants are part of the Foundation’s 2009 Living Trails programme. This is the second year in which Living Trails will be run. In 2008 six trails and one mountain camping site were renovated as part of the programme.

The 2009 programme began in January with the organisation of an open competition to fund local initiatives to improve the protection and interpretation of the natural and cultural heritage of the parks. Organisations were required to demonstrate that local partners such as NGOs, local authorities and businesses would be involved in the project. The competition also required that the support would be used to improve tourist trails, educational paths and public spaces used by visitors.

The six selected projects are located in five different Slovak national parks. These parks are highly popular with hikers, which causes a high level of damage and increases the level of maintenance required. The activities to undertaken range from cleaning trails after windstorms to improving their safety by repairing surfaces, fixing safety chains, undertaking anti-erosion activities, improving trail markings and installing information panels. The six successful organisations will implement their projects between April and October 2009. It is hoped that public events and small celebrations will be held to launch the new facilities during October and November.