ŠKODA people

Biodiversity as the foundation of life

Not only the VW Group but also ŠKODA people empathise with protecting diversity in nature

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n the occasion of the International Day for Biological Diversity, the VW Group has invited the employees of all its brands to support nature conservation projects. ŠKODA AUTO has been helping many of them for several years within announced grants and Employee Collections. How did ŠKODA people fare?

Marta Kůrková (SEB/1)

Saved harbingers of spring

 As a child, she would bring home cowslips dug up from the meadow to decorate the rock garden. As a result, she has them all over her garden today. When she went back to the meadow, however, she found the myriad cowslips were no more. So she decided for the so-called rescue transplant. Now she is waiting for the seeds to ripen to reseed the plants.

Have you already chosen the spots where to sow the cowslips?

Yesterday afternoon I went to see the meadow. I’d like to return the cowslips to roughly where they used to grow. It is a meadow near the Jizera River, in Zámostí, close to Krnsko. Cowslips used to grow near the shaft and along the electric poles. The meadow was already mown in there, and no cowslip leaves could be found. 

What do you think would benefit our meadows?

We all know that meadows are plagued by herbicides and the way that hay is now dried. In the past, people would turn it over several times, spilling the seeds so herbs could grow and bloom again. We should remember that there’s no need to mow grass and grow the English lawn everywhere and under all circumstances. I also want to create a butterfly meadow in our village square – it only takes perseverance and the decision not to mow… We will hopefully see results within a year.

Milada Vrbová (GO)

Help for Boleslav

Milada has been leading the non-profit organisation ZO ČSOP Klenice for 16 years, which launched a challenge during the quarantine: Join us and pick up litter when you are taking a walk. It is a replacement for the nationwide “Clean the Czech Republic” events that have been cancelled, which ŠKODA AUTO has been supporting for a long time. The organisers were surprised by how many people took part in the event, both the public and the company’s employees. Nearby municipalities, such as Luštěnice and Vinařice, also participated in the clean-up event. 

What did you do apart from the cleaning?

We revitalised a spring in the Vrch Baba nature reserve. Volunteers removed fallen wood from the spring and had it dug out and cleared with an excavator. One spring was led into shafts as a source of water and the other – a new one – was directed into the pool. We also dusted off the tradition of cleaning wells in Chlum. The two we have brought back to life have now been refilled, and they provide a valuable source of water to animals. We also installed a stork’s nest on a chimney in Debř, which is, to our great joy, already occupied. Helena Fričová