Work begins in Basses de Gallissà (Bellver de Cerdanya)
The work has started in Basses de Gallissà, in order to return the ecological conditions that will permit the riverbank forest recuperation. Even though the zone is beside the river, it is disconnected due to the ubication of the specks next to the river, which stop the flood of the adjacent zones during the seasonal flash floods. These flash floods help to maintain the water table in a high level, and also bring nutrients and sediments into the land. They are essential for the riverbank forest survival. This kind of forest has the effect of laminating and reducing the speed of the water flow when floods happen, as well as holding the sediment, which prevents the water to transport all of it. Summarizing, the riverbank forest behaves as a shock-absorbing of the effects coming from the big floods.
The work will consist on move the specks away and connect the river to the three pools of the zone with a semi-permanent water flow, which will contribute to elevate the water table and will be permeable to the fish passage. This will improve the ecological conditions and the zone naturalization. Alder trees, willows, ash trees and poplars will be planted in the surroundings of these zones, in order to permit the riverbank forest proliferation. These actions have to be a model useful to be extrapolated to other zones with similar problems.
