Murter eco patrol taking care of their cultural heritage.

Members of the Murter eco-patrol on Sunday, April 17, learned about traditional intangible heritage of Murter area. Our young, hardworking environmentalists rolled up their sleeves in order to participate in landscaping of the “Olive is our island” park on Modrave, organized by the Association Modrave Murter-Betina and Association Argonauta.

Modrave is narrow part of the land between the Adriatic Sea and Vrana Lake. It stretches from Prosika to Draga. It is the only place in Croatia that has both sea and lake shores and that consist of two various, natural environments. In the past, Modrave was covered with vineyards, and today it is exclusively under the olive trees. From 1880 owners of Modrave are inhabitants of of Murter and Betina and it took them more than 150 years to fight for estates property rights of this unusual and fertile piece of land.

Association Modrave Murter-Betina has recognized the historical, cultural and natural values of this area and its importance for the existence for the people from Murter in the past and today. At the beginning of 2013, to commemorate the hard work of their ancestors, they began to landscape the presentation park named “Olive is our island,” that tells the story of hard working people from Murter  that used to come with their boats to Modrave in order to cultivate the barren land to feed their families.

Members of Murter eco-patrol and members of the associations Modrave Murter-Betina and Argonauta made an effort this Sunday to ensure that the efforts and knowledge of their ancestors do not go to the oblivion. President of the Association Modrave Murter-Betina, Marina Skračić, talked to children about the history of Modrave area, hard work of Murter farmers and explained the value of preserve of intangible heritage of Murter area. After a small school of history they began to work. In this activity, our eco-heroes participated in pruning of indigenous species of olive and fig trees, cultivating, planting and watering of aromatic herbs, and along with adults they participated in the reconstruction of dry stone walls, traditional intangible heritage of the island of Murter.

This week our ecologists will have a lot of work. In  the activity titled “Sea Quality” they will join scientists in measuring the quality of  the sea  and on Saturday, April 23, they  will participate in the largest one-day volunteer action in Croatia – „Let’s do it“.