SUMMARY OF THE PROJECT

Project title: Re-qualification interventions of SIC Ganna’s Lake

Objective

The country around Ganna’s Lake, Pràlugano’s Torbiera and the first leg of Margorabbia’s river is a very fine wet area with low anthropic impact on natural and wildlife targets.

Today this area presents some management problems connected with human presence also because territory activities has been falling into decay. The consequences of these interactions are that wide stretches of water are going to be filled up by plants, reed thickets and deposits.

These questions, in which the European Community is interested, are connected to six habitat (two of these are priority ones) and to the amphibian fauna. Moreover we can observe some problems, in which are involved inhabitants, with the presence of Austropotamobius pallipes and birds usually living in a humid area.

Aims of this project are: 1) to stop the filling up of wet land with deposits and the drying up of the ground; 2) to make fauna and flora live in a better habitat; 3) to complete the planning on natural targets; 4) to sensitize tourists to natural themes and addressing them in places where the direct impact on fauna is low.

Actions and means involved

To join the aforesaid targets we intend to carry out hydraulic action applying naturalistic engineering technics on the whole ecosystem. It means to arrange stream and little rivers, to remove deposits from stretches of water and in general to manage the hydric level taking care of the consequences on aquatic fauna (fishes, amphibian, Austrapotamobius pallipes) and on flora living in the interested habitat. Therefore direct actions will be carried out concering the creation and the arrangement of amphibian reproductive places, the elimination of barriers which obstruct the passage of ichthyic fauna and develop area to improve and preserve reproductive places for Austrapotamobius pallipes. According with the control of the hydric-level some actions will be carried out in favour of different habitat bound to humid environment. The elevation of water level in wet areas and the reduction of transport solid from stream towards the humid zone will especially have many good repercussions on the wood rich in Alnus glutinosa (habitat 93E0) and Rhynchosporion. The exact calibration of the water level will be done by making changes on the threshold of wet area. A preliminary monitoring of the hydric-level range lasting one year and then by a monitoring of the results lasting another year. For this aim some automatic water level loggers will be located allowing the monitoring for the years following the project too.

The drawing up of the management planning of SIC is going to be completed and it will be realized during the early months of 2004 before the project’s beginning. Therefore according with this project we intend to realize : 1) an action plan to protect the ichtyic species (especially crustacean Austrapotamobius pallipes); 2) a yearly recording of data campaign aimed to birds of the humid zone.

These little plans will both integrate the SIC planning through management directions and intervention proposals in favour of considered elements.

The negative effects across the area dued to tourism will be reduced by territory actions (protection with balustrade arrangement of areas addressed to tourists) and sensitizing actions on tourists (new publications on natural aspects and educational courses will be realized).

Expected results

This project intends to improve and develop the natural area with the purpose to avoid new actions for many years. This result will be obtained following the four aforesaid objectives. We expect a final resolution of the filling up with deposit of the wet area by deposit.The hydraulic and vegetative monitoring will particularly allow to calibrate the water level of wet area (thanking to the build thresholds) and contemporaneously to protect habitat and vegetation. The actions in favour of fauna (amphibian and Austropotamobius pallipes) will make these populations grow.  We will obtain a complete tool thanking to the integrations foreseen to the management planning concerning ichthyic fauna and birds.

Nearly St. Gemolo’s little Lake, the construction of an attraction place for tourists and the sensitizing actions realizing will allow to join the last result in a low impact area. Information poster designer, publications and sensitizing of aimed groups of tourists will allow to extend the effects of these activities for the following years.