The experience of involving volunteers in the reconstruction of the collection sites of Arboretum of MBG RAS

The collection of the Main Botanical garden Arboretum, which numbers 1300 taxa and covers an area of 75 hectares since the beginning of 1990, were understaffed. As a result, more than 40% of the collection areas were covered with growth of wild woody plants. To address this problem, in 2013, an organised «Volunteer arboretum program» was launched with the publication of advertisements in social networks. For 5 years, 360 people took part in the program, which worked more than 9000 hours in total. As of mid-2018, about 75% of the overgrown areas had been cleared by volunteers, and work was also begun to restore the introduction nursery.