09/04/2018 Restoration of wetlands for the Yellowbelly toad

On April 4th and 6th the first plantations for the reconstitution of wet areas for the Yellowbelly toad in the Foreste Casentinesi National Park were realized. The sites involved were Stradelli, Gaviserri, Rifugio Il Lago and Vitareta, where the interventions for the construction of pools and springs had already been completed. These sites will in fact be the main wetlands of the Tuscan side of the Park where the Ululone will be reported. The activities were attended by the Foreste Casentinesi National Park, the University of Pavia, the Union of mountain municipalities in Casentino and the DREAm Italia - Area Fauna.

19/03/2018 Meetings with stakeholders

Tuesday, March 13th, two meetings were held with the stakeholders of the LIFE WETFLYAMPHIBIA.
In Santa Sofia there was an update day dedicated to hiking guides, operators of the Park's information points, members of the European Charter for Sustainable Tourism and other operators.
In Pratovecchio there was a meeting with the breeders during the event "From the protection of livestock to the quality of the agricultural product: the Tuscan excellences".

10/03/2018 Meeting with breeders

Tuesday, March 13 will be held at 14.30 at the headquarters of the Park in Pratovecchio (AR) an event aimed at breeders entitled "From the protection of livestock to the quality of agricultural products: the Tuscan excellences". The meeting focuses on the role of the breeder as a garrison of the territory, which means treating animal welfare and enhancing the environment where the farmer is located. On this occasion the WetFlyAmphibia LIFE Project will be presented to raise awareness among farmers on the importance of pastures and livestock farming activities in the conservation of the ApennineYellowbelly toad.

The activity is part of the dissemination "E6 action - Awareness project".

Consult the program of the event here.

29/01/2018 Restoration of reproductive sites

The first round in the year 2018 of the Foreste Casentinesi National Park's wildlife volunteer activities, completely dedicated to amphibians, was held this weekend. We thank the volunteers who contributed to the restoration of some yellowbelly toad reproductive sites in the area of San Benedetto.

19/01/2018 Amphibians of Park on WebGIS

The Foreste CasentinesiNational Park has activated a new tool (WebGIS) that allows to access in a simple and direct way to a series of maps on all aspects concerning the protected area: from nature to history, culture and management of the territory. The purpose of WebGIS is to share information, results of research and surveys carried out on the territory, to promote the knowledge of the protected area, to stimulate visitors to a conscious visit and inform them about biodiversity and the history that can be encountered along the paths of the Park.

The tool is the result of the work carried out in 2017 as part of the bursary dedicated to Pietro Zangheri. New maps and contents will be published periodically in order to develop more and more the platform and keep it always updated.

Consult the maps of the distribution of amphibians at this link.

15/01/2018 WetFlyAmphibia on Plant Sociology

Plant Sociology is an international journal edited by the Società Italiana di Scienza della Vegetazione (S.I.S.V.) (formerly Società Italiana di Fitosociologia). It publishes original research articles on all aspects of phytosociology, from community to landscape level.

The last iussue (December 2017) contains an article concerning the C3 action "Production of vegetative material for the botanic restoration of the habitat 6430" and it is available at this link.

 

27/11/2017 Meeting with farmers of Pratovecchio Stia

The meeting between LIFE WetFlyAmphibia and the farmers of Pratovecchio Stia was held on Thursday 23 November 2017. It was very interesting to see the farmers' interest about the project interventions and their memories about the "puddle frog" and its singing at sunset. The yellowbelly toad has in fact disappeared for about 10 years in Casentines Forests.
Farmers have also signaled the presence of springs, ponds and watering ponds in their pasture areas and becoming available to evaluate the possibility of extending livestock conservation operations even in their land.

22/11/2017 WetFlyAmphibia & LIFE Slovenija

Last November 9, Life WetFlyAmphibia was host to the workshop organized by LIFE Slovenija, which was aimed to illustrating to the technicians and managers of the protected areas of Slovenia how to manage a LIFE project. For us it was an honor to receive the invitation to bring our experience as a concrete example of using European financial instruments to carry out conservation projects within a National Park.

About LIFE Slovenija visit www.lifeslovenija.si

21/11/2017 Meeting with farmers and breeders

WETFLYAMPHIBIA will meet farmers and breeders of Pratovecchio Stia (AR) on 23/11/2017 at 17.00 in Pratovecchio (AR). The meeting is part of E6 action "Awareness Raising Project", which aims to inform stakeholders of LIFE objectives, LIFE project activities and good practices that farms can also implement to preserve amphibians.