Prague Plans Reconstruction of Marksman's Island and Ninety Beautiful Trees are in the Crosshairs

[NOTE: You can click on any of these images for a larger version of the photograph.]

During the May Day weekend, which is a holiday weekend here in the Czech Republic, Greg and I went to Strelecky Island (Marksman's Island in English) to relax and enjoy the deep shade of hundreds of beautiful trees. There are many horse chestnut trees on the island, all of which were in spectacular bloom. Maybe because I'm from Ohio, the Buckeye State, I've always loved horse chestnut blossoms, which remind me of tiny orchids:
Strelecky Island divides the Vltava River not far from Kampa, and to get down onto the island itself you can take one of the short flights of stairs on either side of the bridge (known as most Legii). This is how the trees look from the bridge as you look down at the island:
And this is how the trees look on the island itself, almost like a small forest. There are oaks and maple trees in addition to the many horse chestnuts:
The island has a restaurant at one end, and it's the site of a summer theater festival, but I love Strelecky for the fact that you can belly up to the river (no cement embankments -- just grass and mud) or sit on a bench and watch the boats and water birds while enjoying the breeze and the shade. There are lots of different kinds of boats to look at:
Including the somewhat disorienting sight of two people in a swan-shaped paddleboat:
When Greg and I got back to our apartment after our pleasant time on Strelecky, I wanted to know more about the island. Greg did an internet search and found, among other things, an article on Novinky.cz entitled "Strelecky island awaits a 40 million crown revitalization." He translated it for me, and I immediately felt stunned and saddened. According to the article, the mayor of Prague 1 (the part of the city in which the island is located) says Strelecky is completely substandard and needs to be reconstructed so that it can once again be a fully functioning park, "not a single screen for an outdoor movie theater or a place for the homeless to camp for the night." According to the architect of the reconstruction, roughly 90 trees from the total of 300 on the island will have to be cut down.

During this time of climate change, I thought, isn't everyone aware of how important trees are? The beautiful and mature trees on Strelecky are far more important than any promenade. And I can attest to the fact that the park is utilized by large numbers of people other than the homeless (for whom I can certainly imagine it's a better place to sleep than a doorway).

As I've noted many times in this blog, Prague has many beautiful parks, and each of them seems to offer unique opportunities for recreation and relaxation. But I can't imagine anything that could be done on Strelecky Island that would be better than lazily enjoying the river under the shade of beautiful old trees. I plan to write letters to the mayor of Prague 1, and I hope that either the current economic slowdown or common sense will prevent this reconstruction from taking place.