Rewilding started in 2021 in the lowlands of the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region, at Fossavecja, in the Municipality of Fiumicello - Villa Vicentina
This unique initiative proposed by the local Council for the Environment and quality of life, a body that includes environment experts, associations and politicians, played a key role in continuing activities to rewild publicly owned agricultural land. The area is also included in the Regional landscape plan that foresees the creation of an ecological corridor, restoring meadows, ponds, small woods, hedges and invasive species eradication.
Rewilding took place with afforestation and the recreation of wetlands, encouraged by the existence of underground springs.
Afforestation has been carried out by volunteers who planted more than 370 trees and shrubs, provided to the Municipality by AIAB-APROBIO-FVG in the context of the PUR Project – AccorHotels Plant For the Planet.
The initiative can represent a new deal to overhaul intensive agriculture in the lowlands, with the aim of restoring air and soil quality, ecological networks and wetlands.
In the midst of croplands, a woodland stretching five hectares was created. Soon after this was followed by further forested areas that created an ecological corridor with more than 400 trees donated by local nurseries.
Restored meadows and wetlands have the scope to encourage nesting of bird species that prefer open grasslands like the red-backed shrike, and the European pond turtle, an EU community interest species. This once very common semi aquatic species in terrestrial ecosystems, but now threatened, has been spotted in the canals around the woods.
Rewilding also has an educational purpose, teaching us that bringing nature into croplands not only diversifies the landscape but improves the quality of agricultural products.
Rewilding took place on an agricultural area previously under soybean and maize cultivation with chemical weeding.
Two ponds were created in an area that prior to drainage was a wetland. In the first pond, a thick vegetation of reedmace, common reed, yellow iris, rush, marshmallow, pondweed and widgeon grass was re-established. On the shorelines a thick vegetation of common water plantain and common reed resettled together with loosestrife. Around both ponds willows have been planted.
Seven months after the first intervention, the return of migrant and winter birds has been astonishing. Since February 2021 some 51 species of birds have been spotted, including 23 aquatic birds and 8 birds of prey.
Among the 98 spotted birds in the restored wetlands, 23 are included in Annex 1 of the EU Birds Directive, threatened species that are vulnerable and require specific conservation efforts.
The vulnerable species found in the area include the Pygmy Cormorant, the Little Egret, the Great Egret, the Red Footed Falcon, the Hen Harrier, the Marsh Harrier, the Northern Harrier, the Golden Eagle, the Great Bittern, the Little Bittern, the Squacco Heron, the Purple Heron, the Golden Plover, the Ruff, the Wood Sandpiper, the Common Kingfisher and among fish the emery.
The rewilding process is promising and could inspire other municipalities who want to turn agricultural land into wetlands, grasslands and forests.
The return of birds has been much more positive than expected, according to Paolo Utmar, the ornithologist in charge of bird monitoring. Hopefully other key wetland species like the Little Bittern, in constant decline, will come back and nest in the ponds. Increasing wetlands will encourage other species to return. As for the return of species such as the Bunting and the Red Backed Shrike, significant results are still to be seen as the presence of these birds is linked to shrublands that have still to colonize the area.
It is paramount to expand the area to encourage open field nesting birds: so far only the Red-Backed Shrike have been spotted.
According to the botanist Nedi Tonzar, the process of revegetation and plant colonization in agricultural land will take place more slowly due to the warming seasons. At the moment, croplands around the wetlands are colonized by adventive species and weeds. In the wetlands some marsh plants like cattail and marsh reeds have taken over the ponds, due to abundant fertilizers.
It is therefore paramount to mow the ponds to prevent the overgrowing of aquatic plants. Rewilding is also consistent with the European Nature Restoration Law that sets out the goal to restore 20% of the EU’s land and sea ecosystems by 2030.