The EU sends experts to Vialfrè, among the 144 sites involved in a project for the protection of biodiversity
VIALFRÈ
The Vialfredese hill, in the large naturalistic area Pianezze, is now placed under the lens of expert environmental researchers appointed by the European Union to study, protect and avert the risk of extinction of the Pelobates fuscus insubricus. It is one of the rarest Italian amphibians: a medium-sized toad, anurian amphibian of the Pelobatida family, housed and protected in the natural lake of “Paulet”, one of the 144 2000 nature sites, surveyed between Lombardy and Piedmont.
The intervention of Lake Paulet in Vialfrè is part of one of the six Life insubricus projects, financed this year by the Executive agency for small & medium-sized enterprises (Easme) throughout Italy, as part of the Life2014 2020 European funding program , Nature and biodiversity, worth 5 million euros for the conservation of biodiversity. In this case, the European project concerns the species of a small endemic toad in northern Italy at risk of extinction, the Pelobatefosco (Pelobates fuscus insubricus) and its habitat, in order to significantly improve the conservation status and provide the basis for a population growth also in the period following the conclusion of the project. In recent days, Dr. Alessandra Pucci, project manager on behalf of the Natural Systems Directorate of the Metropolitan City of Turin, made an inspection of Lake Paulet together with colleagues Paolo Eusebio Bergò (naturalist) and engineer Elena Dan to evaluate how to proceed for the success of the project. «Last Friday 18 June – explained Alessandra Pucci – we made a topographical survey on Lake Paulet to define the necessary interventions to be carried out next autumn. For this we must penuse water drainage systems in the winter to create a temporary wetland, suitable for the reproduction of the small amphibian ». The six-year European project is spread over over 6,500 hectares of land in the Lombardy and Piedmont regions.
In the 14 Natura 2000 sites surveyed in the two regions, including Lake Paulet di Vialfrè, restoration and improvement interventions are planned for the wetlands. The activities, which began a few months ago, will end on 31 December 2026, financed with a total budget of 5,215,092 euros, of which approximately 3.9 million euros, equal to 75 per center of the total, insured by the European Union; the rest is co-financed by the Cariplo Foundation and Snam rete gas spa. sandro ronchetti