One of the main goals of the Brown Bear Refuge Kuterevo is to make visitors aware of environment protection. Across Bears, standard bearer Specie of huge European natural forests, people can understand easier the importance of the equilibrium of our ecosystem. For now, we are working in a Bear Botanical Garden, where we will present plants in relation with bears and with humans. This project is going to develop the educational side of the refuge: across this garden, people will be able to discover secrets and treasures of plants.

Now the garden is in a good evolution, we’ve already crossed different steps:

• First we needed to find the good area for it. We finally chose a land which offer different kind of ecologic condition: dry lands, clearings, little forests and edges. With this, we’ll be able to have in the garden plants which have different needs.
• Then, we made a map of this area and a list of all plants we would like to have in the garden. For the moment we’ve chose only plants that bears eat but maybe in the future we will also present others types of plants like medicinal ones.
• After we thought about all things we will need to work in it. We’ve decided to make a path, to put fences around planting areas, to make educational bulletins boards in English and Croatian and to name all the plant in Latin and Croatian.
• After talking, acting! We’ve begun to work on the path and on planting. We’ve planted one beech (Fagus sylvatica) and two sorb (Sorbus sp). Now the snow is falling so we will continue this work on this when conditions will be betters. We will then decide about what information we will put in the bulletins boards, we are thinking about something in relation with bear, humans and ecosystem.

That it for the moment. We are hurry to be in spring to can enjoy our dear garden flowery!

Millo