On Thursday 16 June at 10:30 in Pescara at the Bar-pastry shop Mary in Piazza Salotto, the associations LIPU, Abruzzese Ornithological Station, and Salviamo l’Orso held a press conference to denounce what appears to be an environmental catastrophe in progress at the Nature Reserve Regional “Sorgenti del Pescara” in Popoli (PE), one of the first protected areas of the Region.
The associations, only after a press release, were able to conduct an inspection with the councilor Mario Lattanzio within a large forbidden area of the Reserve. A staggering picture emerged: the clear-felling of a tract hundreds of meters through the heart of the reserve, with dozens of old-growth trees, including oaks, felled by chainsaws. Furthermore, these works were also carried out during the reproductive period of many species, when nests are active with young.
The associations involved in the press conference will disseminate unequivocal evidence, in the form of videos and photos, of this unfortunate situation, asking for immediate measures from the Abruzzo Region, with particular regard to an investigation of the procedures followed. These works were not carried out, as required by law, with any form of public participation or with any transparency on the projects underlying the intervention. In various protected areas coordinated by the Region, serious breaches are taking place that deserve urgent attention due to the imminent risk of irreversible loss of the unique environmental and cultural heritage.
*The associations are: Salviamo l’Orso, Stazione Ornitologica Abruzzese, Lega Italiana Protezione Uccelli