“Reclamation Consortium 6 Southern Tuscany and Tuscan universities still together for a safer territory while respecting the environment”. Thus begins the note released by the reclamation consortium itself and which announces that “with the conference at the Teatro dei Risorti in Buonconvento, included in the program of the national reclamation and irrigation week promoted by Anbi, the three-year project was concluded with the which Cb6 involved the Universities of Florence, Siena and Pisa. During the well-attended meeting “Towards the correct management of the hydrographic network between hydraulic safety and protection of biodiversity”, the results achieved so far with the study on the watercourses of the provinces of Grosseto and Siena and the prospects for the future were illustrated”.
“It was a very important job – states Federico Preti, professor at the University of Florence – we managed to monitor 50 sites, evaluating the type and quantity of vegetation present, also finding a way to carry out gentle maintenance, which guarantees safety hydraulics, a high level of naturalness and economic savings. In practice, it is cut only where necessary, and the flood is transferred downstream
making it move naturally.”
“We dealt with arboreal and shrubby riparian vegetation – adds Leopoldo De Simone, researcher at the University of Siena – arriving at operational conclusions that allow for better management. The most harmful alien species that we have identified are robinia pseudoacacia and artemisia verlotiorum, while on the embanked stretches we have dealt with the arundo donax, the common reed, establishing that the best management of this species is continuous cutting, at least two or three times a day. year”.
“We provided the consortium with an important tool for the management of semi-fossophorous mammals – recalls Francesca Coppola, researcher at the University of Pisa – by establishing that the dangerous holes in the banks are created by badgers, foxes and porcupines who build their dens here. To discourage their presence, it is necessary to scrupulously take care of the vegetation, with two or three cuts a year. And try to redevelop the city’s embanked sections, with sowing that favors the presence of wild pollinators to the detriment of semi-fossorial mammals, for example with the flowering embankments project”.
Massimo Tassi, Cb6 maintenance area manager, recalled the importance of these studies: “It was an intense three years – he states – with the universities giving us decisive scientific support. We have had proof that our work also gives results from an environmental point of view, not only with hydraulic safety”.
“This collaboration with the Universities – confirms Fabio Zappalorti, general director of Cb6 and Anbi Toscana – is strategic for our consortium and for the entire regional territory, because it can provide important parameters through which to act. There is still data to be collected and indications to be implemented, which is why the university study will continue for another three years and will provide us with further tools to face the challenges of climate change and sustainability”.
The president of Anbi Toscana also praises this virtuous collaboration: “Thanks to the work of the universities – he notes – we have acknowledged that there is gentle maintenance that takes biodiversity and ecosystems into account and that we have developed together with the Universities. It is precious to be able to combine the work of the Tuscan reclamation consortia and science to protect our beautiful region.”
Fabio Bellacchi, president of the Consorzio di Bonifica 6 Toscana Sud, announced that the project will continue for another three years: “I am convinced that what we are doing must be continued – he observes – and in the next three years we will continue to collect data that may be useful also to provide indications for maintenance in protected areas. We have to work a lot, especially in the province of Siena, in the interest of all citizens.” At the end of the conference, Bellacchi recalled that the priority of the Consortium remains hydraulic safety: “Defending the environment that hosts us is fundamental, but our greatest commitment is to work to ensure that water does not enter the homes of farmers and lives in the city.”
In the participatory final debate, the farmers – appreciating the work carried out by Cb6 and the Universities – recalled the most
present in the area, from regulations that are not always effective to constraints considered excessive. Regional councilor Anna Paris listened to them: “With my work in the Region – she explains – I realized the amount of work carried out by our reclamation consortia. And in this conference I understood the importance of constant, continuous and gentle interventions to conserve adequate flora and fauna while maintaining a balance with safety, given the increasingly heavy hydrogeological risk. I also understand the concerns of farmers, it is necessary for Europe to be aware of the specificities of the territories, while I tell farmers to listen to the indications provided by the consortia”.
