LIFE BEETLES promotes training action on Natural Engineering Techniques

May 13, 2022

The Regional Secretariat for the Environment and Climate Change promoted a training action on Natural Engineering Techniques on the island of São Miguel, developed by the LIFE BEETLES project.

During four days, senior officials, project managers, park rangers and field workers, totalling 20 participants, had the opportunity to partake in this theoretical and practical action.

The programme included a visit to the native plants’ nurseries in Santo António do Nordestinho and a fieldwork on the Mata dos Bispos Intervention Area, where the LIFE IP AZORES NATURA, with the support of the partner SPEA – Portuguese Society for the Study of Birds, has been developing habitat restoration works.

The action objective was to capacitate the LIFE BEETLES project’s teams, allowing a better assessment of the intervention necessities in the field, implementing natural engineering techniques, and searching for nature-based solutions for habitat restoration and rehabilitation.

There were also built 25 metres of palisades for soil erosion control, a 12-metre fascine for the redirection of rainwater, and 10 micro dams for sediment retention and reduction of rainwater energy. In addition, 77 native plants were planted.

The Regional Secretariat for the Environment and Climate Change considers training and valorisation of its human resources essential to ensure accurate monitoring and intervention in all its matters and intervention areas, congratulating itself on the results obtained.