Choices in the Nature Park

We have national parks, we have nature reserves, but what on earth is a nature park???
We set out to discover which choices made the Nature Park what it is today.
‘We would like a lot of people to visit the park’, begins Tzach Glasser, Manager of the Nature Park at Ramat Hanadiv, ‘We appreciate its effect’. Nevertheless, the more hikers there are, the greater the impact on nature. This is perhaps the unique story of the Nature Park; management that is sensitive to both humans and nature: between the park’s residents – plants and animals – and its visitors, a story that is composed entirely of choices.

Much more than background
Most of the parks in Israel are intended first and foremost for humans, with cycle paths, sailing, playgrounds, picnic areas, lawns for ball games and more. Nature is the background, the backdrop; it makes the visitor’s time enjoyable, it is important and significant, but not the main thing. In the Nature Park at Ramat Hanadiv things are different: nature here is not secondary, it’s not background or a backdrop, and we try to manage it in such a way to create a balance between nature and humans.

How do we do it?
‘Among other things, we created a “zoning map” for the park’, says Tzach, ‘This kind of map divides the area into zones in which different considerations guide our decisions – from “human-focused zones”, where the need for leisure and recreation activities guide our decisions, to “nature-focused zones”, where nature is the main player and human activity is minimal. The park is not uniform, so some zones are more accessible to humans while other zones are more “wild”‘.

The balance and measures are examined and studied constantly, but the choices and questions are daily.

In the Nature Park at Ramat Hanadiv nature here is not secondary, it’s not background or a backdrop, and we try to manage it in such a way to create a balance between nature and humans.

Thorns or benches?
‘Sometimes, when I wander around the park’, relates Tzach, ‘I suddenly see a big, beautiful tree, and for a moment ask myself: “Why don’t we add a bench? It could be a great sitting corner! Why don’t remove some of the climbers?” And then I answer myself: “Wait a minute! We’re not in the Gardens (where intervention is greater and nature is cultivated), we want our visitors to hike in nature, to feel some thorns, to feel the land”. Each time we have to understand the big picture – these are daily choices…

‘People are used to having nature in the background: we open the window to see a bit of nature, we hang a picture of nature in the office… I wish’, inhales Tzach excitedly, ‘that here we will be the background for the animals and the plants, not the opposite; we’ll implement some affirmative action, take the perspective of the gazelles, or even the plants, and reduce disturbances in the knowledge that this space was created mainly by humans but nevertheless we choose to stay in the background.

These moments, when I wander around the park and feel part of nature, while I look from a distance at the cars on the roads, remind me why we are here and what experience we choose to give our visitors’.

The part that is most challenging with respect to choices and interventions is people… you can try to educate, to run campaigns, you have who to talk to’. But our conduct with the animals is more complex…

To leave alone or to remove?
‘Sometimes, I see a sick or unstable tree along the trail, so we (the park’s staff) have to use our best judgement which is influenced by that same management and delicate balance. If the tree belongs to an invasive species, we’ll remove it, if it obstructs the hiking trail, we’ll move it, if it’s not bothering anyone we’ll leave it where it is and let nature do its thing, and the organic material will eventually be assimilated into the soil’.

Management and other animals
‘The part that is most challenging with respect to choices and interventions’, says Tzach, ‘is people… you can try to educate, to run campaigns, you have who to talk to’. Tzach’s smile grows, ‘But our conduct with the animals is more complex… we can tell people: “Don’t go here and there”, or that the park is closed during the evening… but when a bird such as a myna invades, the management becomes more complex’.

And we people have a choice – to act more responsibly with our waste, to be aware of our environment, and sometimes to choose to be part of the background to the plants and animals, and not the centre, just like in the Nature Park.

The situation with the jackals is also challenging. We have a population of jackals that is growing at the expense of the gazelles. Here too, we need to make choices; it’s not a zero-sum game, there are many shades of green. One on hand, we understand that the large jackal population is harmful, and is greatly impacting the gazelles, and this requires intervention, but on the other hand, it’s hard to say whether intervention will maintain a correct balance between the populations. And the main tool that can do the job in this case is not simple to implement – it requires us humans to change our conduct and the responsibility we take for our environment.
Household rubbish, agricultural waste, leftover cat food – all of these attract jackals and cause them to become a “locally overabundant species” – a species whose populations survive and reproduce at an uncontrolled rate. Experience from other places and studies on this topic have proven that if we remove the rubbish and accessible food, the predator populations shrink. As always – the key lies with people.

And we people have a choice – to act more responsibly with our waste, to be aware of our environment, and sometimes to choose to be part of the background to the plants and animals, and not the centre, just like in the Nature Park.

Any question? We will be glad to help