Why a cemetery should not be planned or be built on the ground that is used by Järva Discgolf Park.

Besides the reason that Järva Discgolf Park probably cannot continue, the location is not suitable for a cemetery.

Course localized at a dump
In spite of the areas beauty and lush vegetation the course is located at a dump that was built during the 60´s to the 80´s: Granholmstoppen. The whole hill, but also the plain areas south and east of the hill contains earth that is contaminated by petroleum, asphalt, concrete, bricks, plastic, metal etc. This contaminated soil is covered by a thin layer of soil To be able to build a cemetery at this location vast amounts of contaminated soil need to be removed and be cleared to a great cost and be replaced by clean soil. While doing this much of the present trees have to be removed since they are in the way or since their roots will be destroyed. Another opportunity is to cover the contaminated soil, but there are vast amount of soil and most of the trees have to be removed since the roots will be covered with too much soil. The remaining trees close to the filling will be left in depressions in the landscape with more moist conditions so the trees might die anyway. While adding new amounts of soil on this rather unstable geologic environment the risk for sinking and even slides will increase. The dump has had several landslides in the past. At one occasion thousands of tons slide up to 300 meters away to the south-east during a slide. Removal and adding of soil might change the stability of the hill.

From unattractive to attractive environment
One of the reasons that Järva Discgolf Park got to use the area in 1994 was that the area could not be used to much more. The area was neglected and unsafe and was often used by drug abusers. The area was not maintained and was littered, partly by forbidden dumping and partly by rubbish that had not been properly removed during the plantation and the finishing of the area. This rubbish at the surface has been removed by Järva Discgolf Park. The trees in the area were just young trees about 10 years old. Now 15 years later the trees has grown a lot and the trees at the courses hole has been thinned out and trimmed so a pasture like environment has been created. This environment is much appreciated by the players but also by the visitors that uses the area as walking area and appreciates the beauty of the area and that the area is safer nowadays. The nice lawns were earlier just high grass areas tolerably put in order during the 80´s.These areas have been leveled and refined during 15 years and have also been cut regularly. All these measures have been done by large efforts but with small resources, often by hand by Järva Discgolf Park with some help from members from Järva Discgolf Club

Landscape design
Järva Discgolf Park is a creation of the artist Mats Löf with help of the landscape architect Jonas Löf. Without their efforts the Granholmstoppen would look like any other dump that is overgrown with weed, dense young forest or shrubbery, where nobody would think of build a cemetery. The course is a unique example of a new type of landscape architecture that creates beautiful environments with relatively small achievements in an environmentally friendly way for sports and recreation. A number of beautiful and peaceful landscape rooms have been created that forms the discgolf courses´ holes. he holes have both a practical function as challenges for the players and as an esthetic experience. Granholmstoppen was an environment of high grown weeds and young trees that gradually have been improved to a park with several different small parks. These parks, the holes of the course have lawns that are bordered by edges of a wood, trees, bushes and meadows. The design is inspired by the english landscape garden style with pelouses; undulated, sloping lawns that are surrounded by meadows, shrubbery and trees. The result is a varied landscape with contrasts in light and with a spatial diversity. The trees are regularly thinned since they grow a lot due to the fact that they are still young trees. The holes are often placed at hilly areas to increase the difficulty in the game. This means that interesting park areas have been developed. The equipment of the course is discretely placed in the environment. For example there are no signs at the tees.

Accessibility and traffic
Järva Discgolf Park is mainly located on very hilly areas. The ground is with other words not suitable for a cemetery regarding the accessibility for disabled persons. The main part of Järva Discgolf Park is also located relatively far away from surrounding roads, which would mean that new roads have to be built far into the culture reserve of Igelbäcken to solve the traffic to different parts of the cemetery.

Järva Discgolf Park, a unique facility
Järva Discgolf Park is one of the absolute best courses in the world and has an international reputation. The course is an innovator of course design and an exemplary for many course designers around the world. The course is run by the company Discgolf Park. Järva Discgolf Park has around 15-20 000 visitors per year, mainly from Sweden, but also from around the world. In addition there are the people that use the area for promenades. The house Villa Albastro was built by Järva Discgolf Park. Nowadays the house holds the restaurant the White House and here you pay your round at the course or buy discgolf equipment. The course is an environmentally friendly maintained without weed control, fertilizing, irrigation etc. The course is planned at a similar way as a golf course with a rhythm and variation of the holes that is located in connection with each other through the landscape. A reorganization of the course will not be done without great achievement that will result in that almost the whole course needs to be rebuilt. Suitable ground is not available for this. This would also take several years.

Sport, culture and nature
Discgolf is one of the fastest growing sports in the world with about 3000 courses in the world and millions of players. In Sweden the number of players is estimated to about 50 000. It is a cheap and accessible sport. It is one of few sports that have the landscape as an arena. Discgolf is a recreation activity but also a competition sport. Discgolf is the biggest sport in the Swedish Frisbeesport Federation, which is an association within the Swedish Sports Confederation. It is a quiet and peaceful sport, but to combine a cemetery close or as a part of the course is not to recommend. For example may a funeral ceremony be disturbed by an unsuccessful throw or by a call from a player that praise a successful throw. We believe that discgolf is a sport that suits perfectly within the culture reserve of Igelbäcken since it combines culture, recreation and nature in a unique and environmentally friendly way.

Links:
Film from Järva Discgolf Park
Stockholm Discgolf Open