The coordinator of Life Tritó Montseny, Daniel Guinart, participated in the final event of the Life WetFlyAmphibia project, which took place on 11, 12 and 13 July in northern Italy, specifically in the National Park Foreste Casentinesi, Monte Falterona and Campigna. During the three days of the Italian project, different visits and conferences were held around the world of amphibians and butterflies, among them, the one corresponding to Life Tritó Montseny.

Sunday 11 July was devoted to popular events, including a thematic excursion and a floristic workshop in the Botanical Garden of Valbonella. In the evening, the naturalist, photographer and TV presenter Emanuele Biggi gave a lecture on amphibians. His presentation was followed by a musical shadow theatre show for children and adults.

On the following day, Monday 12 July, the technical day took place, during which the results of the Life WetFlyAmphibia project were presented. Four other Life projects related to the world of amphibians were presented. In this space, Daniel Guinart, coordinator of Life Tritó Montseny, was able to explain the progress of the project and share discussions with other technicians from European Life projects. The day concluded with the screening of the documentary "Y Pionieri della Terraferma", by Paolo Sodi.

Finally, and as a conclusion to the conference, on Tuesday 13 July, a technical visit was made to the actions carried out in the National Park. It was a good opportunity to exchange experiences in the improvement of amphibian habitats. You can consult the programme in this link.

 

Previous visits

During the course of the Life Tritó Montseny project, we had the opportunity to share experiences and knowledge with the Life WetFlyAmphibia project. The first contact was at the end of August 2019, when we travelled to Italy, specifically to the National Park Foreste Casentinesi, Monte Falterona e Campigna with the aim of getting to know the amphibian conservation projects Life WetFlyAmphibia and LIFE Aunwauen Amphibian and also the LIFE GoProFor based on the good practices of the Life projects.

The second contact with the coordinators of these projects was in October 2019, when they came to visit the Montseny Natural Park and Biosphere Reserve (included in the Natura 2000 network) with the aim of learning about the actions carried out in the framework of the Life Tritó Montseny project.

 

Life WetFlyAmphibia

The main objective of the project is to improve the conservation status of amphibian and butterfly populations in the wetland habitats of the Foreste Casentinesi, Monte Falterona e Campigna National Park.

The amphibian and butterfly species of the area present a patchy distribution due to several disturbance and threat factors, mainly due to the alteration and reduction of their habitats and breeding sites.

The project therefore proposes to carry out several conservation actions aimed at curbing the threats to the amphibian and butterfly populations of the wetlands. These actions consist mainly in the reinforcement of populations and the restoration of wetlands that have been greatly reduced over time (with a consequent reduction of related species). The restoration of these environments not only provides the physical realisation of wetlands, it also provides the management (through vegetation restoration) of these areas to bring back some habitats that are currently in a process of decline.