Improving Aquatic Diversity in Picos de Europa

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

BACKGROUND

The Picos de Europa National Park and surrounded area in Spain has a high biodiversity and ecological value, as evidenced by the fact that two thirds of its surface have some form of protection status. Also, in this area productive activities have developed closely related to natural resources, especially in aquatic ecosystems. These activities include: (1) nature tourism (e.g. descent of ravines, visits to the lakes of Covadonga), (2) hydroelectric power generation from the abstracted flows of river ecosystems (Navarro Generacin SA: Navarro y Viesgo SL) and (3) extensive farming, which uses rivers, streams and springs as a source of water for livestock and as a means for the discharge of slurry. The development of this economic activity entails the existence of different types of anthropic pressures on the aquatic environment, such as the regulation of water flows and the presence of infrastructure (e.g. dams, river defences, canals, channeling or mountain water troughs) and organic spills, or the concentration of visitors in certain locations, mainly in the Lakes of Covadonga (the Picos de Europa National Park receives annually about 2 million visitors). A proper management of these activities can minimise the effects they generate on the aquatic environment and its biological communities. When properly managed, part of the infrastructure related to the development of these activities (e.g. reservoirs, water troughs) can have positive effects on habitats and species of Community interest.

OBJECTIVES

LIFE DIVAQUA aims to restore lotic (flowing waters) and lentic (still waters) aquatic ecosystems of the Natura 2000 network in the Picos de Europa National Park and the surrounded areas (Deva-Cares and Sella basins) in northern Spain, where 7 SACs are present. The overall objective of LIFE DIVAQUA is to improve the conservation status of the aquatic habitats and species of Community interest (those included in Annex I and II of the Habitats Directive) and from Annex IV of the Habitats Directive inventoried in these SACs.

The implementation of the project will allow the targeted species and habitats to increase their distribution area, avoiding the isolation of confined populations due to the effect of anthropogenic infrastructures (e.g. weirs or dams) or the absence of appropriate ecological corridors that facilitate their dispersion.

This project will also promote genetic exchange between different populations, increasing their resistance and resilience to stochastic events or climate change and facilitate increase in population size, in the case of species, and the improvement of the structureand function of aquatic/riparian habitats.

The project has the following specific objectives: 1. Restore favourable conservation status to aquatic species and habitats of Community interest in the SACs; 2. Reduce anthropogenic pressure on biological diversity; 3. Promote the sustainability of productive, educational-cultural and touristic activities within the LIFE DIVAQUA area (e.g. hydroelectric, cattle ranching), minimising their effects on the aquatic ecosystems and enhancing biodiversity conservation; and 4. Develop new tools and approaches to improve the characterisation, monitoring, assessment and management of species and habitats.

The project will contribute to the development and application of European legislation in the field of nature and biodiversity by demonstrating best practices and solutions to improve the connectivity of aquatic ecosystems in the Sella and Deva-Cares basins (1 953 km2). This will contribute to achieving the conservation objectives proposed by the Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC), as two thirds of the surface area described are occupied by Natura 2000 sites.

RESULTS

Expected results: Aquatic ecosystems

improvement of the longitudinal connectivity of 186 km of river length (12 km Sella and 174 km Deva-Cares) through the permeabilisation of 11 dams and weirs in the Sella and Deva-Cares basins, the restoration of the channelised Corbera river reach (Deva-Cares basin) and the definition of environmental flow regimes for the rivers in these two basins;

improvement of water quality in the Duje river (Deva-Cares basin) by reducing the run-off processes from the closed Mnfora mine and cattle grazing;

ecological restoration of 6 mountain springs (including Fuente D Spring) mostly affected by anthropic alterations related to cattle grazing (water abstraction, cattle trampling, overgrazing, etc.); and

reduction of the siltation and eutrophication in Covadonga lakes (150 000 m2) related to cattle grazing and trampling.

Habitats of Community Interest

update of the inventory and mapping of habitats of Community interest in the Natura 2000 SACs within the LIFE DIVAQUA area;

improvement of riparian habitat, specifically priority habitat Alluvial forests with Alnus glutinosa and Fraxinus excelsior, along the riverbanks of the Duje and Cares rivers (5.23 ha) and Covadonga lakes (7 ha); and

ecological restoration of 5 fens/bogs,specifically Transition mires and quaking bogs habitat, mostly affected by anthropic alterations related to cattle grazing (trampling, overgrazing, etc.).

 

Species of Community Interest

update of the distribution of aquatic species of Community interest in Sella and Deva-Cares basins (Annex II species: Salmo salar, Petromyzon marinus, Lampetra planeri, Rutilus arcasii, Alosa alosa, Galemys pirenaicus, Lutra lutra, Austropotamobius pallipes, Discoglossus galganoi, Chioglossa lusitanica. Annex IV amphibian species: Triturus marmoratus, Alytes obstetricians, Rana iberica, Hyla arborea);

improvement of habitat and reduction of risks for species of Community interest: S. salar, P. marinus, C. lusitanica, A. pallipes and G. pirenaicus, through the elimination of pressures that reduce their population numbers and migration capacity, and by the definition of environmental water flow regime;

improvement of amphibian habitats by acting in lentic water bodies (springs, lakes, cattle water-troughs, etc.) and reducing the risk of amphibian and fish mortality by improving the Camarmea hydroelectric power plant channel; and

reintroduction of the rare fern species Woodwardia radicans within the restoration actions for the Alluvial forests habitat.