Project Background
The VăcăreÈ™ti Nature Park (VNP) is an urban green space in the heart of Bucharest, Romania. The area was once the site for a communist era hydrological project to create a lake in the 1980s; however since the project’s abandonment, a diverse wetlands ecosystem has taken root.
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After becoming a nature protected area in 2016, the park began to provide a space for recreation and relaxation for Bucharest’s residents and tourists alike. The VăcăreÈ™ti Nature Park Association (VNPA), a Romanian NGO, is the organization currently taking care of the park. In 2017, the National Agency for Nature Protected Areas in Romania granted VNPA administrative authority over the park, but government regulations implemented in 2019 rescinded this authority and now prevent the VNPA from legally managing the park outside of general custodial duties. Despite this administrative challenge, the VNPA oversees numerous projects in the VNP from wildlife documentation to trash pickup with the help of volunteers.
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2021
(Google Earth, 2021)
Since 2019, the Balkans region has been experiencing a severe drought, and the VNP has seen a noticeable decrease in water levels (see figure above). Expansive reed areas overtaking ponds, limited government action to enforce park management plans, and the altered hydrology of the area from the original hydrological project has further worsened the water level decrease. The VNPA does not have the means to fully quantify the water level decrease, but the impact is evident through the loss of ponds, which threatens wildlife and puts the survival of this fragile wetland ecosystem at risk. Presently, the VNPA is managing any volunteer projects to address the water decrease. In collaboration with Dan Bărbulescu and Nicoleta Marin of the VNPA, the goal of this project was to evaluate options for water management techniques utilizing volunteers to aid the organization in addressing the park’s falling water levels.
