Habitat Restoration
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Increase area where restoration and rewilding actions are implemented
Improving
Greater Côa Valley
Portugal
Problem: A trend of land abandonment and declining agricultural activities over recent decades has resulted in the spread of homogeneous scrubland and forest across large areas of the Greater Côa Valley. This makes the landscape vulnerable to intense, large-scale forest fires, endangering people’s lives and properties, as well as wildlife.
Action: Land abandonment also offers an opportunity for large-scale landscape restoration. The location and topography of the Greater Côa Valley mean this landscape has the potential to become a major migration route for wildlife. Rewilding Portugal is working to find areas of land to purchase or bring under their management, where they will restore ecosystem function and connectivity. These areas will create stepping stones of restored habitat to contribute to a large-scale wildlife corridor along the Côa Valley. The introduction of natural grazing in these areas will increase habitat heterogeneity, bringing benefits for wildlife and reducing the dangers of wildfire.
Indicator: This indicator measures the number of hectares where restoration and rewilding actions, including natural grazing, hunting bans, and restoration of grassland, ponds, and native forest habitats, have taken place.
Methods
The areas purchased by the project and where ecosystem restoration actions have been implemented were mapped on the ground using a handheld GPS device. GIS software was then used to create a database, calculating the area affected by each type of restoration intervention.
Sorraia horses grazing in the Greater Côa Valley. Photo: Rewilding Portugal.
Results
The area under restoration and rewilding at the start of the project in 2019 was 0 ha. By the end of the ELSP funding period in 2024, 997.4 ha land had been purchased across three sites and management contracts had been signed for three other sites covering 566 ha (Fig.s 1-2). In total 11 ponds were created or restored, forest regeneration was initiated across in 10.5 ha and 22.5 ha grasslands were restored. Natural grazing by Sorraia horses was introduced across a total of 656 ha.
Figure 1: Land area purchased or placed under management agreements for restoration in each year. Values are cumulative and include area added in previous years.
Figure 2: Location of intervention sites within the project area. Scale 1: 400000.
Lessons learned
The main challenges encountered were delays related to purchasing land and negotiating management contracts. In some cases, identified land purchase opportunities were found to be no longer available, or a price could not be agreed. Finding large properties to buy, and locating their exact boundaries, was difficult as there was no cartographical information associated with the land registries in the region, and many landowners have left the area. Approaches to overcoming these difficulties included talking directly to representatives of local communities, such mayors, and placing posters expressing interest in buying land for nature conservation in cafes, post offices, etc. Once the first plots of land had been secured by Rewilding Portugal, more landowners started to contact them directly, making the process easier.
The introduction of semi-wild Sorraia horses for natural grazing was successful. The animals adapted well to the landscape, moving freely through the grazing areas, and they are already having significant effects on the vegetation. In 2023, a herd of 16 Tauros was introduced to the Ermo das Águias area, to provide a diversity of grazing function, and the animals adapted well to the landscape. However, on several occasions the Tauros escaped from the project area into neighbouring properties, because the Tauros were able to cross the Côa river, which had previously acted as a natural barrier for the horses. After two such escapes, the Tauros herd was moved out of the project area to a secure property outside the Côa Valley, to avoid further conflicts with local communities. However, new properties recently acquired by Rewilding Portugal near to Ermo das Águias should allow the creation of secure conditions for Tauros, which are planned to return to the Greater Côa Valley in 2025.
A herd of Sorraia horses in the Vale Carapito natural grazing area. Photo: Rewilding Portugal.
Tauros arriving in the Greater Côa Valley. Photo: Rewilding Portugal.
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