Blue Week in Vila Franca do Campo

SPEA is present with the Project LIFE Safe Islands for Sea Birds and Project LIFE Sustainable Laurel included in the Blue Week of Vila Franca do Campo, which takes place from 6th to the end of June the space AçorArena.

http://lifecorvo.blogspot.com/

The Project LIFE Safe Islands for Sea Birds has intervention on the island of Corvo and on the islet of Vila Franca do Campo and works generally in the recovery of natural habitats in order to encourage the breeding of various seabirds, including Cory's shearwater, since more than half of its world nesting population occurs in the Azores. The Blue Week in Vila Franca do Campo, is in the space of AçorArena and will attend the Exhibition of the Laurel Forest created under the Project LIFE Sustainable Laurel and a Photo Exhibition "Recovery of Atlantic Habitats" about the work developed in the islet of Vila Franca do Campo.

Visit us!

Elimination of Chilean rhubarb in the Peats of Planalto dos Graminhais is about 40 tonnes

The recovery work of the Peats on the Planalto of Graminhais continues with the elimination so far, of about 40 tonnes of Chilean rhubarb (Gunnera tinctoria) of the management areas of the Forestry Service (SFN) and the Project LIFE Sustainable Laurel.

Since May the teams of SFN and LIFE work hard to manually remove almost all the plants in an area of ​​about 100 ha, a task expected to be completed in coming weeks.

The Chilean rhubarb is one of the main threats to the Peats of Planalto dos Graminhais and now, actions that focus on removing this species are being developed . The Chilean rhubarb is native to Chile, and is a plant that can reach over one meter tall and whose leaves can reach two meters in diameter. This plant has characteristics that make it an invasive species, especially their reproductive potential, as each plant can produce up to 250.000 seeds, which are then dispersed naturally.

The Planalto dos Graminhais is composed of bryophites Sphagnum sp. which have a water retention capacity of 20 times its own weight and therefore is an area of extreme importance for supplying water to the local population of Nordeste and in stabilizing the water regime, as well as being habitat for endemic subspecies of Azores, as are example the Woodcock and the Common snipe. Thus, it becomes essential to preserve this habitat, not only threatened by invasive species, but also by the actions of drainage that occurred over the past decades.

-

SPEA has new interns

Earlier in the month of May the Society for the Study of Birds got two new interns. Maria Jesus Iriarte and Borja Iturri have the course "Organization and Management of Natural Resources and Landscape " from a professional school in Gipuzkoa and will support us in the field work conducted by the Project LIFE + Sustainable Laurel for three months.

These interns are very important because they help at the time of greatest field work, the summer months.

Here we give you a warm welcome and we thank you for your presence and collaboration for this project!

The Water Cycle and the Peats of Graminhais

This year the Environmental Centre of Priolo, under the Project LIFE Sustainable Laurel began with the Water Cycle activity with some classes of the first cycle of the School of Nordeste.

The first part of the activity takes place within the classroom, with many practical experiences that symbolize the water cycle. In the second part, there is a visit to several sites that mark different stages of this cycle from the spring to its mouth.

This tour begins in the highlands of Planalto dos Graminhais, a habitat of extreme importance for the supply of water to human populations in Nordeste. The Planalto dos Graminhais is composed of mosses of Sphagnum sp. which has a water holding capacity of 20 times its own weight. Here students learn the importance of this habitat for conserving water quality, since with the rain and humidity, these mosses retain water and release it gradually, allowing to control soil erosion, the flow of streams and restoration of water levels in aquifers. Another peculiarity of these plants is the ability to "purify " water by retaining in its structure metal ions and toxic substances.

Through the rain runoff, groundwater and springs, rivers and streams are formed, so the next stop was the river Ribeira dos Caldeirões in Achada. We passed its spring, the Waterfall and Ribeira dos Caldeirões and then the mouth of it, where the river goes into the sea.