Day of the Conservation of Nature commemorated with the visit of the Environment Secretary

Yesterday, thursday the 27th of July, day that celebrated the National Day of the Conservation of Nature, the Regional Secretary of the Environment and the Sea of Azores, Álamo Meneses, went to the municipalities of Povoação and Nordeste to visit the Project Life Sustainable Laurel and to observe closely the good results obtained so far.

The visit began at the headquarters of the project in Povoação, with a short presentation of the results. Next, the participants visited one of the sites where the project has field intervention, the Planalto dos Graminhais Peats of Graminhais, where it was possible to observe the work at the level of regulation of water regime and the removal of exotic species for the recovery of an important area of peat.

Then it was time to visit the greenhouse and plant nursery of the project, where currently the Project nurseries have about 26,500 species. Having been made a tour throughout the production process of native species, we saw from Heather through the Azorean Blueberry and Picconia azorica...

In the afternoon visited the area Labaçal, Sierra Tronqueira of one of the first areas intervened by the project and where it is possible to observe the native forest invaded by exotic species, and weed control after the recovery of the area with endemic species to germinate without difficulty since there are no invasive species on site.

In this day the various stakeholders and collaborators on the project were present: the Regional Secretary for the Environment and the Sea, the SPEA, the Forestry Service of the Nordeste, the Delegation of Tourism of São Miguel, the Natural Park of the Island of São Miguel and the City Council of the Nordeste.

With this visit of the Secretary for the Environment and the Sea to the work of this project Life in a Special Protection Area (SPA) Pico da Vara / Ribeira do Guilherme, it was possible to observe not only the relevance and success of the conservation actions taken, in different areas of intervention, but also note the urgency and importance of continuing this work in the future after the completion of the project, by finding ways to ensure the sustainability of conservation and restoration of this important natural heritage of the Azores.

The Project LIFE Sustainable Laurel, coordinated by SPEA in partnership with the Regional Secretariat for the Environment and the Sea, with the City Council of Povoação and other regional entities, is one of the most important conservation projects taking place in the Azores and seeks recovery of important areas of Laurel Forest and Peats, in the eastern island of São Miguel.

With a duration of 4 years, this is a project with an estimated cost of 2.4 million euros, 70% reimbursed by the Life + Programme, it is up to regional partners 30% financing.