This activity is part of the European project “LIFE GLOBAL” or “Transnational Strategy for the Restoration of High Conservation Value Natura 2000 Areas in the North of the Iberian Peninsula from a Global Change Perspective.”
EThe LIFE Programme is a financial instrument of the European Union dedicated exclusively to the environment and climate action. Navarra participates in this project together with Galicia, Castilla y León, Álava, and the North Region of Portugal, with a total of 10 partners. LIFE Global aims to restore 10 habitats and 3 priority species, located within Natura 2000 protected areas. In the case of Navarra, this restoration strategy focuses on 3 habitats: Cantabrian wet heaths with Erica ciliaris and Erica tetralix (4020), Cantabrian acidophilous grasslands (6230), and Mediterranean temporary ponds and lagoons (3170*).
SThese are considered priority habitats, showing an unfavorable conservation status and hosting a high diversity of wild flora and fauna species that are highly vulnerable to the effects of global change. The conservation and restoration strategy aims to address six main threats: the reduction of the area occupied by HIPs or of habitats for priority species, the presence of invasive exotic species, impacts caused by anthropogenic conditions and climate change, loss of genetic diversity, and the lack of standardized data.
What does this have to do with Baztan?
Within the NAVARRA NATURA 2000 network, Baztan has 3 Special Conservation Areas (ZECs): ZEC Belate, ZEC Aritzakun-Urritzate-Gorramendi, and ZEC Regata Orabidea and Arxuri peatland, where these heaths and grasslands are present. While Gorramendi hosts a significant area of the acidophilous grassland mosaic with wet heaths, the Belate and Arxuri peatlands and the Alkurruntz wetland play a key role in conserving wet heaths (4020*).
Why Belate?
Belate is one of the most important peatlands in the central-northern Iberian Peninsula. It contains a peat deposit almost 4 m deep and more than 15,000 years old, a very rare record in the area. However, by the 1990s, the peatland vegetation had almost disappeared. To the drainage network, which had drained nearly the entire peatland, were added the historical impacts of the road built around one side of the peatland, fertilization and liming, and a very high livestock load, especially in the summer period. Belate already has an important history of restoration actions, which began in 2002.
These actions have focused mainly on the hydrological restoration of the peatland, vegetation restoration, and livestock management, and were also carried out through the European LIFE TREMEDAL project (2012-2015). As part of this European project, a pilot experience was carried out on the slopes of Urdanbidegi (the location where the Volunteering Day will take place). This experience aimed to restore a wet area with high potential for the development of valuable vegetation, occupied by a Lawson cypress (Chamaecyparis lawsoniana) plantation. The intense shade produced by this plantation hindered the development of sphagnum and typical peatland communities. Furthermore, the terrain’s own orography, with relatively steep slopes, prevents water retention and, consequently, the development of this vegetation.
To reverse the situation, 36 cypress trees were felled and transverse dams were installed to improve water retention, and the area was fenced off. The volunteering activity will start at this site, observing on the ground the results of a restoration experience, as well as the vegetation characteristic of waterlogged and hygroturbous areas. From here, the volunteering activity will continue at a second site, where cypresses were also felled, with the medium-term goal of restoring the area’s potential to host typical peatland vegetation.
