Sowing seeds and planting saplings: Hope Bridge Korea Disaster Relief Association restores wildfire-hit areas in Uljin

[Financial News] Hope Bridge Korea Disaster Relief Association and the Korea Arboreta and Gardens Institute (KAGI) joined citizens in restoring forests in wildfire-damaged areas of Uljin County, North Gyeongsang Province. They sowed seeds and planted saplings in forests damaged by a major wildfire in 2022.
Hope Bridge said on the 19th that the two organizations held an event for the “2026 Forest of Hope 2nd Acorn Volunteer Group” at a wildfire-damaged site in Uljin County to mark the 25th Mountain Day. Around 100 people took part, including some 80 citizen volunteers aged 15 or older and 20 representatives of the two organizations. Around 100 citizens also participated in last year’s first-cohort activities.
Participants received training from KAGI experts on the damage caused by the Uljin wildfire, restoration progress and ecological restoration methods. They then sowed seeds by throwing “seed balls”—made by mixing seeds of locally native plants such as gulchamnamu with blended soil and shaping the mixture into balls—onto damaged slopes. They also planted oak and azalea saplings themselves.
The Uljin-Samcheok wildfire in March 2022 burned for 10 days and damaged 16,302 hectares of forest across the two areas. Ecosystems in wildfire-damaged areas take a long time to recover. Research by the National Institute of Forest Science found that forest wildlife and soil, among other things, had not fully recovered even 20 years after a wildfire. Trees take time to grow and animals to return and settle, while soil forms through long cycles of ecosystem processes.
One citizen who took part in the volunteer work said, “When I saw the burned wildfire site, I could feel firsthand the wounds the forest had suffered.” They added, “I hope the seed balls we shaped from soil and scattered today, along with the young saplings, take firm root, so that by the next generation this place will breathe again as a green, lush forest.”
Hope Bridge Korea Disaster Relief Association plans to continue medium- and long-term forest restoration projects, focusing on areas hit by major wildfires, including Uljin and Cheongsong. It will support the recovery of affected areas’ ecosystems by planting native species and conducting follow-up monitoring.
Hope Bridge Korea Disaster Relief Association Secretary-General Shin Hoon said, “Hope Bridge will continue its forest restoration work alongside supporters and citizens until wildfire-damaged areas recover into healthy forests.”

[email protected] Jang In-seo Reporter