A “buffer” forest, to be saved for this function. And which for the same reason is unsuitable for a new school: it is the vision of the Let’s save the trees of Gallarate Committeewho fights cagainst the destruction of the grove in via Curtatone in Gallaratedestined to make way for the new Cascinetta-Cajello single school complex.
Photo gallery
Walk in the woods of via Curtatone in Gallarate 4 of 8
The initiative promoted by the Committee to raise awareness of the area with a naturalist guide took place on Saturday: «The group of around thirty participants entered the area under the guidance of Walter Guenzanian ornithology enthusiast who collaborates with Lipu and Gio (Insubrico Ornithology Group) and who carried out a survey for the Committee to survey the biodiversity present in this 20,000 square meter area”.
As Guenzani stated in his introduction, the walk was not intended to be just the discovery of
richness of the forest, but also highlight the critical issues of the Grow29 project, in wanting to locate the future school
in a heavily polluted and noisy placebetween a motorway, a railway and an arterial road. «Not there
I took you to a beautiful place”he stated, walking along the only path in the area and leading those present along the motorway barrier that will run alongside the school complex, “amidst the noise of the cars which made it difficult even to listen to the speeches”.
In this context, as Olivia Pastorelli of the Committee stated, it is no coincidence that the forest has remained intact up until nowbecause it had been thought of by the city administrators themselves as protective band for the health of the inhabitants of the Cascinetta district and nearby public housing: «This forest is not empty, but it is full of health and life that we cannot deprive ourselves of» he reiterated.
Then moving into the greenery, Guenzani explained the naturalistic aspects of the area, which is home to numerous varieties of birds, not only sedentary – such as the blackcap or the great tit, which nest in the surrounding trees and bushes – but also frequenters of the woods – such as the spotted woodpecker and swift – to draw nourishment from an environment that is among the few still intact and spontaneous in the area. Guenzani argued that the area, completely unsuitable for a school, it could instead be redeveloped and “regenerated” with cleaning and forestry improvement interventions to become a park for public use.
«These trees muffle noise and defend us from pollution. Cutting them would mean increasing already serious environmental problems and turning the area into a heat island. Why not instead make the forest an educational use, bring children here to teach them to observe and listen to nature? This would be a real lesson in civic education”, argued Elisa Giaccherello, of the Committee, supporting Guenzani’s proposal.
“The forest was created by the inhabitants of the neighborhood themselves and for them it must be preserved,” he added Filiberto Zago, while some citizens of the neighborhood recalled how they themselves, as children, had come from nearby schools to plant here
of new trees. The interventions also highlighted the problem of traffic and the greater transport difficulties that would arise with a more congested school far from the areas of residence, with the risk of an increase in school dropouts.
Finally, a question to close the initiative: what can be done to save the forest? They tried to answer Alessandro Pennati, of the national federal council of Green Europe, e Claudio Spreafico, of Legambiente Ticino and Malpensa Committee Network and representative of the associations in the Ticino Park community.
Pennati supported the need for «a civic component emerges beyond the town CouncilThat citizens build a critical mass, spread the Committee’s initiatives to save the forest and make everyone aware and understand the importance of this area. Faced with major environmental problems, every citizen can do a lot by defending what is close to home.”
Spreafico, bringing the support of the associations he represents, underlined the attention of the Ticino Park on this area and argued that the battle to preserve the territory must be articulated on different levels, institutional, legal, scientific and
especially the mobilization of citizens. Human actions, concluded Guenzani, now come to influence every natural corner; if, from a Lipu investigation, high percentages of microplastics were found even in the blood of swifts, which almost never touch the ground, this means that we must completely rethink man’s coexistence with nature, starting from the design of city and neighborhoods. Rethinking urban regeneration and saving the forest of via Curtatone is not impossible, political will is necessary, reiterates the Committee, which invites you to sign the petition and makes an appointment for new
initiatives.
