Regional Secretariat for the Environment and Climate Action provides training to Nature Rangers for monitoring Pico Mountain Trail

July 17, 2025

The Regional Secretary for the Environment and Climate Action, Alonso Miguel, highlighted the training of Nature Rangers on Pico Island to monitor and supervise the Pico Mountain Nature Reserve Trail, with the delivery of new mountaineering equipment and clothing during a climb to Piquinho on Wednesday.

“More than the amount of this investment, which reached about five thousand Euros, it is important to highlight its importance and usefulness in ensuring that our Nature Rangers have the necessary resources to regularly patrol that area and ensure the monitoring, surveillance and inspection of the trail. It is located in a very special area, classified as a Nature Reserve, as part of the Pico Island Nature Park, which is a priority Geosite of international importance for the Azores Geopark and also covers the Special Conservation Area of Pico Mountain, Prainha and Caveiro, within the Natura 2000 Network," he said.

The Regional Secretary highlighted the importance of the work carried out by Nature Rangers, pointing out that this equipment will enable them to "patrol the mountain trail once a month during the winter and twice a month during the summer. This is a major step forward in terms of monitoring the trail and a significant portion of that protected area, supervising the behaviour of hikers at a time when demand for the mountain is increasing as a result of growing tourist flows."

"The regular presence of Nature Watchers on the trail is also a fundamental contribution to monitoring the several protected species present, with special emphasis on Silene uniflora cratericola, an endemic and extremely rare subspecies, whose presence is only known on Pico Mountain, at altitudes above 1,200 metres," he added.

“The renovation of the Piquinho geodesic landmark has made it safer for visitors, improved the landscape at Portugal's highest point, and enhanced the Pico Mountain Nature Reserve by upgrading infrastructures that had not been maintained for about three decades and were, therefore, in an advanced state of disrepair,” he explained.

The Regional Secretary also highlighted, as part of the strategy to enhance the safety and monitoring of Pico Mountain, "the importance of the CICLOPE project. It intends to support search and rescue operations, namely the rescue of visitors in the Pico Mountain Nature Reserve, as well as ensuring, throughout the year, the operation and monitoring of the video surveillance and visitor tracking system on the mountain. This represents an annual investment of 55 thousand Euros under a protocol established with the Madalena Humanitarian Association of Volunteer Firefighters."

Alonso Miguel concluded by recalling that "a contract-programme was recently signed between the Regional Secretariat for the Environment and Climate Action and the University of the Azores for the technological modernisation of the Pico Mountain Observatory, an investment exceeding 250 thousand Euros for the purchase of new technological equipment to support scientific activity. This reflects the Region's strategic vision of leading cutting-edge initiatives intended to promote scientific excellence as well as a deeper understanding of atmospheric and climatic dynamics, with a view to environmental protection and the safeguarding of people and property. It leverages the privileged location of the Pico Mountain Observatory, at an altitude of 2,225 metres."