PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
Founded in 1978, the Alpe Veglia – Alpe Devero Park, located in the mountain valley of Val d’Ossola on the Italian-Swiss border, is the first regional nature park to be established in the Piedmont region. The park is made up entirely of high-altitude mountain habitats, dominated by two Alpine valleys (in Italian "Alpe") that have for thousands of years been used as summer pastureland and which are a Site of Community Interest (SCI) and a Special Protection Area (SPA) because of their ecological importance. The beautiful landscape is made up of pastures, hay meadows, wetlands, mountain streams, waterfalls and larch woods. The sites host 18 habitats and many plant and animal species listed in the European Birds and Habitats Directives. Of the featured habitats, the planned action concerned Alpine Nardus grasslands, mountain hay meadows and various types of peat bogs. The lack of sustainable pastureland management and the irregular mowing of meadows have resulted in some areas, to the invasion by shrubs and, in other areas, to overgrazing. Both these phenomena could lead to the disappearance of grasslands of community interest. The survival of the peat bogs, on the other hand, was under serious threat because of a drainage system operating in the area. The SCI is one of only two European sites where a rare butterfly of community interest, Erebia christi, has been recorded. First sightings were in the 1970s.
OBJECTIVES
The project’s main objective was to carry out actions for the conservation of the mountain pastureland and peat bogs of community interest. Sustainable management of the pastureland, supported by specific shrub removal operations, helped in restoring the high-altitude meadows, while the peat bog environment could be conserved by shutting off the drainage system. The project also aimed to help increase knowledge about the Erebia christi, by carrying out special studies. The scarcity of information on the ecology and state of conservation of the species, associated with its very restricted distribution, were considered real threats to its survival.
RESULTS
The LIFE project obtained good results in terms of conservation of habitats and species of community interest. For all the habitats, the processes of degradation (including the erosion processes and/or trampling) were halted, the improvement of the floral richness and the absence of new damage were achieved; for the habitat *6230 Species rich Nardus grasslands, on siliceous substrates in mountain areas more specific results were achieved in terms of removal of the excess Nardus through grazing; reduction of the amount of dry residual old Nardus, improvement of the amount of nutrients due to the presence of cattle; enlargement of the area of the habitat (91 ha) thanks to mowing of invasive shrubs. Regarding the species, the stability of the breeding population and of the breeding success for Tetrao tetrix tetrix (Black Grouse) and Lagopus mutus helveticus (Ptarmigan) was verified, slowing the negative trend of recent years. Moreover new data about the status of conservation for Erebia christi (Raetzer’s Ringlet) was collected. The main innovative value of the project concerns the successful implementation of a new methodology for cattle and horse-grazing using temporary electric fences to improve the conservation status of Nardus grasslands. This methodology was used over large areas with the coordination of the Park authorities and support of local farmers. According to the beneficiary, this is the first such case, at least in the Alps. And for this reason could be transferred and used in other Natura 2000 sites with large areas of grasslands that are currently dependent on cattle or horses for grazing (in the Alps, Apennines, Pyrenees, Balkans etc) The LIFE project obtained good results in terms of conservation of habitats and species of community interest. For all the habitats, the processes of degradation (including the erosion processes and/or trampling) were halted, the improvement of the floral richness and the absence of new damage were achieved; for the habitat *6230 Species rich Nardus grasslands, on siliceous substrates in mountain areas more specific results were achieved in terms of removal of the excess Nardus through grazing; reduction of the amount of dry residual old Nardus, improvement of the amount of nutrients due to the presence of cattle; enlargement of the area of the habitat (91 ha) thanks to mowing of invasive shrubs. Regarding the species, the stability of the breeding population and of the breeding success for Tetrao tetrix tetrix (Black Grouse) and Lagopus mutus helveticus (Ptarmigan) was verified, slowing the negative trend of recent years. Moreover new data about the status of conservation for Erebia christi (Raetzer’s Ringlet) was collected. The main innovative value of the project concerns the successful implementation of a new methodology for cattle and horse-grazing using temporary electric fences to improve the conservation status of Nardus grasslands. This methodology was used over large areas with the coordination of the Park authorities and support of local farmers. According to the beneficiary, this is the first such case, at least in the Alps. And for this reason could be transferred and used in other Natura 2000 sites with large areas of grasslands that are currently dependent on cattle or horses for grazing (in the Alps, Apennines, Pyrenees, Balkans etc)
