For the fourth year already, Riga City Council, in cooperation with the Latvian Nature Foundation (LDF) and neighborhood associations, have been jointly creating city meadows – oases of wild plants for the preservation of natural diversity. This year, meadows will be created in seven new places – in Grīziņkalns park, Lucavsala, Jugla near Umurga street, opposite the Strazdupīte meadow created in 2023, in the area near the intersection of Lielvārde and Dzelzava streets, in the area near Mirdzas Ķempe street, as well as near Rumbula and Velnezera swimming areas.
All city meadows can be seen on the interactive map: https://bit.ly/Pilsetasplavukarte
The role of cities and settlements in preserving natural diversity has significantly increased, so urban areas often serve as refuges for local wild plants. Urban meadows enrich the green areas of the neighborhoods, attract pollinators, provide an experience of getting to know nature for residents, and also provide a series of ecosystem services – rainwater capture and purification, cooling of the city, binding of carbon in the soil, and others. An appropriate management plan has been developed for each urban meadow.
Until the end of May, early mowing will take place in all city meadows. Its purpose is to limit unwanted expansive species – ryegrass, ryegrass, ryegrass. Also, early mowing helps to weaken invasive species – Canadian goldenrod, multi-leaved lupine and others. These plants are the first to grow, so early mowing is one way to control them. In urban meadows, meadow plants sown in previous seasons develop more slowly, are smaller and will not be affected by mowing. On the contrary, mowing will allow meadow plants to develop better, as they will not be overwhelmed by unwanted plants. The second mowing is planned for the end of summer.
In urban meadows, the invasive species Canadian goldenrod, curly sorrel, many-leaved lupine and eastern giant thunderbolt are also being controlled by digging up unwanted plants and preventing them from flowering. On the other hand, in the fall, the already usual urban meadow sowing clean-ups will take place – the seeds of meadow plants collected this summer will be sown in them.
Every year, the experts of the Latvian Nature Foundation carry out vegetation monitoring in the city meadows, after which the collected data show a clear positive impact on biological diversity. An increase in the number of existing species has been detected in almost all meadows, with a distinct predominance of local flora. A positive impact is also created by the fact that meadow areas are starting to form a network of interconnected green corridors.
Urban meadows are created in the LDF project “urbanLIFEcircles” with the aim of preserving, improving and sustainably managing green infrastructure in cities, increasing biodiversity, restoring and improving the connectivity and health of ecosystems, as well as providing residents with new recreation areas. The “urbanLIFEcircles” project is implemented by the Latvian Nature Foundation in cooperation with Riga Municipality, Tartu City Municipality and Aarhus City Municipality, as well as several partners from Estonia.
The project is financed by the EU LIFE program, the State Regional Development Agency and the Society Integration Fund, and it will take place until 2027 with the minimum achievable goal of 45 urban meadow areas with a total area of 15 ha. Together with the city meadows, which are expected to be established in 2024, there are currently 42 meadows in Riga with a total area of 14.43 ha.
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