The urban green system is the only element of nature in towns and villages; however, the current and future state of the so-called free or green areas in Sofia is not quite clear. There are far too many contradictions in the way the public perceives the role of the woods. On the one hand, the concept of the commercially exploited coniferous trees is deeply rooted in people’s minds and on the other hand, there is the opinion that the main function of the woods is to serve both recreation and preservation of natural and landform resources purposes.

The Union of Bulgarian Park and Landform Experts has been implementing a two-year project on the basis of an individual member organisation grant with the financial support of the Prague Open Society. The project is a continuation of the fruitful cooperation between the organisation and the University of Central Anglia, Birmingham along the lines of multipurpose use of vegetation and the role of the public, local authorities and business circles for creating public woods in Birmingham and its surroundings.

The main idea behind the project is sharing Britain's considerable experience in putting into practice the notion of creating public and urban woods. The objective is for this idea to be applied in Bulgaria too and to dispel the notion that the public still expects timber production to be the sole product of the woods. The project seeks to involve and collaborate with municipalities, local public and private organisations, volunteers and other physical entities.

Over the last six months all primary and secondary legislation together with the urban green areas policy in Bulgaria, have been analysed, with special attention being paid to recent developments. A number of questionnaires have been developed to target a range of civil servants, experts, and citizens - all participating in the process of creation, management, maintenance and use of public parks and gardens. By the end of the first year Britain's experience as regards creating public woods is going to be summarised.

The output of the research will be a Manual on Planning Sustainable Public Woods in Sofia reflecting the existing standards and taking into consideration the opinion of the public and some experts about the multifunctional use of the woods. The project is highly relevant due to the following:

1. Not only the existing open spaces but also the puropse-laid-out green areas with well developed vegetation are jeopardized by being build up or destroyed after being given back to their rightful owners, or by illegal construction.

2. Because of the current economic situation and the increasingly higher prices of transportation services in Bulgaria large groups of people such as the elderly, teenagers and children find the urban green areas and gardens the only accessible "pieces" of nature.

The Union of Bulgarian Park and Landform Experts believe that the overall result from project activities will be useful to a large range of specialists, governmental and non-governmental organisaitons in their work on park and reserve maintenance so that in the future we can take better care of the environment closest to us.

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