Hunting and Fauna. The Committee for the protection of animal and plant biodiversity was born by the will of the Province and has as its objective the management of environmental restoration in particular in the mountainous and hilly areas of the Vicenza area.
"Because environmental restoration means life - explains the manager of the provincial sector of the same name Ferdinando Bozzo - we intervene in areas degraded by man or abandonment, to stop the advance of the forest, recover natural habitats, biodiversity and the landscape . It has been shown that habitat improvement interventions are the only useful tool for recovering and increasing the presence of wild animals in the territory and guaranteeing their conservation. "
Specifically, wild animals cannot live in the dense forest, but they return to frequent it if clearings are created. In the same way, the fish do not survive the strong currents of an unobstructed stream, but if small deviations with stones and pebbles are inserted, inlets suitable for fish life are created.
The Province has been involved in environmental restoration for many years. A “green” vocation that has deep roots, to the point of being among the few Italian bodies to provide for a specific sector and a specific chapter in the budget for these interventions. Until the cleaver of the state struck here too. And, as if that were not enough, the historic manager Ferdinando Bozzo is now retired.
Hence the idea of the Committee, which for now includes Hunting Areas and Alpine Districts, but to which the world of fishing looks with great interest, given that many watercourses also need renaturation interventions.
The President of the Province of Vicenza Achille Variati has already given his blessing: "We have been collaborating for years with hunters and fishermen and, beyond a few exceptions, we know that they are driven by a" healthy "passion, a love for the environment that it makes real sentinels of the state of health of our forests and rivers. Now that the reform has drastically reduced the area of competence of our institution, as well as our resources, their help becomes even more important. For our part, of course, we provide experience and technical knowledge gained over many years of environmental restoration ".
Experience that is also of the hunting and fishing associations, to which the post-intervention is historically entrusted, because it is useless to deforest, clean, grass, re-naturalize, if there is no one who takes care of the area and guarantees its maintenance.
The Committee. Technically it is called "Committee for access to RDP measures (Rural Development Plan) or other public funding". Concretely, it deals with environmental restoration at every stage: from the drafting of projects to participation in regional, national and European calls, up to the organization of interventions on the territory. It is chaired by Renato Graziani, President of the Vicenza Nord Area.
First objective: the calls of the Region. The Committee has already been at work since the beginning of the year to be ready to present environmental improvement projects within the specific measures of the RDP to be issued soon. With the help of provincial technicians and territorial hunting structures, over 800 hectares of hilly and mountainous territory were analyzed and 70 hectares were identified on which to intervene. "On the plate there are about 500 thousand euros - concludes Bozzo - we are ready to invest them in our territory."
(November 9, 2015)
LDC extension