Guidance Parks and gardens maintenance

Index section Parks and gardens maintenance

• The meadow brown in towns and cities
• Dragonflies and wildlife-friendly river banks in towns and cities
• The wall lizard on Maastricht's fortifications

Introduction

The parks and gardens maintenance of some municipalities does take account of wildlife. One way of doing so is to reduce or abandon the use of chemical pesticides. Since 1992 the amount of pesticide used in the built-up area has been halved: it is now about 9000 kg per year. Other measures are the wildlife-friendly management of roadside verges, which benefits butterflies, and the wildlife-friendly construction of canal banks, which benefits dragonflies. And in Maastricht, the historic fortifications are being managed with an eye to the wall lizard, which has responded by increasing in numbers.