Prague Alleys - the System of Care

At the beginning of 1995 the Project Assessment of State and Proposals for Silviculture Measurers for Selected Street Alleys in Prague was completed. There was information on street alleys in approx. one-third of the City (28 cadastral districts adjoining to the Vltava River) processed. The assessment covered 8,638 tree specimens forming 296 alleys. The alleys were evaluated in terms of their completeness and further prospects. The Project was based on the health and silviculture status found of the alleys (individual tree specimen was determined in its physiological age, health and vitality, for an alley its completeness and prospects were determined). It was found making the summary of evaluations of the street alleys in 1995 that one third of the street alleys does not have positive evaluation in these criteria.

The gradual recovery of street alleys has been continuing. The recovery is carried out systematically following a concept of “Evaluation of the status of street alleys of category I on the territory of the City of Prague”, in which alleys having the worst health status and vitality are determined. The most serious problem encountered in connection with the renewal of street alleys in Prague consists in obtaining approvals of operators and administrators of utility lines. For example, the Green Circle initiative launched a project named "Restoration of Greenery in Lublanska " in 1995, but cutting through the red tape and obtaining all approvals needed to replant the alley which had previously lined the street took more than a year and resulted in an enormous increase of project costs. The most frequent complication is the location of SPT Telecom cables; the company (forced to comply with standards prescribing the layout, spacing and arrangement of different utility lines in the ground) often fails to observe requirements stipulated in land-use rulings and places its cables very close to tree trunks and roots.

Till 2004 the Department of City Greenery of the City Hall planted over 2600 new alley trees in the Prague streets. The most investment demanding projects were the recoveries of alleys in streets Ječná, Slavíkova, Mánesova, and Koněvova. In 2001–2002 CZK 7 million were spent on the recovery and revitalisation.

To be planted such species featuring the highest resistance to adverse factors as for example salinity of soil, direct contact to salts, automotive emissions, ground-level concentrations of pollutants, shade from surrounding buildings, compaction of surrounding ground, overheating, drought, etc. are selected. The newly planted trees in street alleys is substantially higher than the number of tress felled. So in most cases the recovery is carried out the way selected trees are left in the alley till they die. Genus diversity is depicted in the figure below.

The alleys are subdivided into two categories according to the System of City Greenery. The objective is that the City should take care of these alleys which boast importance to whole City and City districts should take care of the rest. Concerning the concept the share of responsibilities in between the Prague City Hall, City districts, and Technical administration of roads will be established so the system would provide for not only recovery yet also maintenance.

2004
Ječná st. – planted 39 trees (Robinia pseudoacacia ´Monophylla´ (picture above)
Janáčkovo nábřeží st. - 25 trees (Sophora japonica)
Korunní st. - 40 trees (Robinia pseudoacacia ´Monophylla´)

2003
Ječná st. - planted 47 trees (Robinia pseudoacacia ´Monophylla´).
Mánesova - 60 trees (Robinia pseudoacacia ´Monophylla´)
Koněvova - 177 trees (Platanus and aceriofolia ´Pyramidalis´).
Sokolovská - 21 trees (Robinia pseudoacacia ´Sandraudiga´)

Fig. - The overall ratio of the newly planted and felled trees in 1995–2003

the overall ratio of the newly planted and felled trees in 1995–2003