We advanced in the LIFE Ebro Resilience P1 actions with the plantations on the left bank of the Ebro in front of the meander of El Señorío, in the municipalities of Castejón and Valtierra, Navarra.
This is phase 1 of the environmental restoration of this section, with works on the left bank of the river between the bridges of the N-113 road and the AP-15 highway, a degraded and impoverished area in terms of vegetation, which saw its fluvial dynamics altered by the construction of dikes or defensive dykes.
The planting consists of the creation of copses that allow for a reconnection with the existing riverbank woodlands, enhancing the section as a green corridor that allows for the movement and migration of fauna and flora species. In addition, their arrangement following the flow of the river will facilitate the evacuation of flows during floods. Before planting, the land has been prepared to restore its conditions to support vegetation and absorb water and nutrients.
Vegetation bands are reproduced according to the distance from the riverbed, as in riparian forests, and the species used are those specific to the stretch: white willow, white poplar, black poplar, ash, tamarisk, blackthorn and hawthorn. Elm trees resistant to graphiosis will also be introduced with clones from the LIFE Olmos Vivos project. The multiplication of the plants is carried out in the nurseries that Gestión Ambiental de Navarra, S.A. (GAN-NIK), executor of the work under the technical direction of the Government of Navarra, has in Marcilla.
El Señorío
The planting is part of the subsequent morphological adaptation and restoration of the El Señorío meander, which aims to reduce the risk of flooding, restore the meander to its natural functions in terms of the recovery of fluvial dynamics and the evacuation of flows in flood situations, and prevent deterioration, protect and improve the state of aquatic, terrestrial and wetland ecosystems.
These works are integrated in the intervention zone 1 of the LIFE project that involves the recovery of meanders in the section of the Ebro river between Alfaro (La Rioja) and Castejón (Navarra), the so-called “Combined section of actions”. In the Navarre territory, the morphological adaptation and environmental restoration of the meander of El Señorío is proposed.
El Señorío has a total budget of 1.8 million euros and throughout the process of drafting the project and defining the intervention , informative and participatory actions have been developed, involving local administrations and interested parties (associations, individuals, etc.) through stable participation groups (the so-called co-creation groups) and public conferences and activities, open to the entire population.
The main action consists of the removal of the perimeter dike in the meander and the creation of a relief channel, a river branch that will divert part of the flows in circulation during floods.
Phase 2 of the renaturation will be carried out on the right bank and is scheduled to be executed once the meander has been reclaimed, an intervention that is currently pending land availability.
LIFE Project
The LIFE Ebro Resilience P1 Project (LIFE20 ENV/ES/00327), approved by the European Commission in the LIFE 2020 call, covers three autonomous communities (La Rioja, Navarra and Aragón), has a duration of 6 years and a total budget of 13,310,350 €, with 55% European funding.
This Project is also an example of institutional coordination and cooperation in the intervention section, being its partners the Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge (MITECO), through its companies TRAGSA and TRAGSATEC; Ebro Hydrographic Confederation; Government of La Rioja; Government of Navarra, through Gestión Ambiental de Navarra, S.A. (GAN-NIK); Government of Aragón and the Aragonese Water Institute.