Botanical Garden of the University of Banja Luka – Reclaiming of Land Used for Military Purposes

The Botanical garden of the University of Banjaluka is part of the University City complex and occupies 5.3 ha.It is located on a former tactical training area of the tank high school and it was used for military purposes until 2004. At the location of Botanical garden natural horizons were fairly disordered due to devastation with past land use i.e., construction of different pools, bunkers etc. as well as the irresponsible exporting of construction waste. In the period of 2005 to 2008, a detailed rehabilitation and reclamation of land is done. The construction of the Botanical garden was accompanied by a large work which included: demolition, excavation and removal of concrete structures, landfill with suitable soil substrate in an area of 5.17 ha, with an average thickness of 0.8 m. Reconstruction of the land surface has been prepared in accordance with the technical specifications in several phases - analysis of land, transportation of arable layer and its dispersion, and design of reclamation system. Introduction of dendromaterial in the arboretum started in 2009. and continued till today. 266 seedlings of decorative dendro material (Celtis, Betula, Tilia, Picea, Querqus etc.) are planted during 2009 and 2010, while during 2013 in total 146 seedlings of decorative dendromaterial and 244 autochthonous fruits (Malus, Pyrus, Prunus) seedlings are planted. In order to evaluate growth and development, the values of diameter at breast height (DBH) (cm), tree height (m), trunk height (m) and crown spread (m), were recorded in 2012, 2015 and 2016 according to standard dendrometric methods.