Third movement: Hedges and fences

Sunscreen, gardening gloves, and plenty of motivation: in June 2025, it was time once again for the Lucerne Festival team to roll up their sleeves and lend a hand at Gaia’s Farm in Pfeffikon in the Canton of  Lucerne – now for the third time in a row. After planting some 1,000 shrubs in 2023 –including buckthorn, cornelian cherry, privet, wild rose, and wayfaring tree – and tending them for the first time in 2024, the team returned this year for another maintenance day to help ensure that the approximately 400-meter-long hedge continues to thrive.

In warm summer weather and under radiant sunshine, the team joined forces with BirdLife Lucerne to get to work. Armed with gardening tools, they cleared grass and weeds to ensure the young shrubs continued to receive enough light and space to grow. The hedges – now thriving beautifully and apparently a little too tempting for animals like deer and cows – also had to be protected this year with new wildlife fences. That meant driving in stakes, hauling wooden boards across the field, and fastening them with screws.

At the end of the day, the team returned happy and content – with just a hint of impending sore muscles – and settled back into their comfortable office chairs the next day with the satisfying feeling of having once again made a hands-on contribution to promoting biodiversity.

The commitment to biodiversity is a core element of Lucerne Festival’s comprehensive sustainability strategy, through which it systematically and proactively addresses ecological, social, and economic sustainability. In doing so, Lucerne Festival relies not only on strategic and operational measures but also on tangible, hands-on engagement on the ground.