A delegation from the European Commission, led by Dorte Pardo-López and Miriam López, from the LIFE Unit of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for the Environment, has visited the main conservation actions of the LIFE+ Desmania project, which is coordinated by the Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and the Environment, and which aims to conserve the Iberian desman and its habitat in areas of Castilla y León and Extremadura.

Representatives of the Biodiversity Foundation and the project partners have shown the main actions undertaken through a tour of León and Palencia. Among the actions visited, the one being carried out in the Pineda Valley (Fuentes Carrionas-Fuente Cobre-Montaña Palentina Natural Park) stands out, thanks to which the impact caused by the transit of vehicles through the Carrión riverbed will be eliminated, enabling a single road.

Other actions visited have been riverbank restorations to avoid erosive processes, installation of gauges that regulate the flow of water intakes and guarantee the maintenance of the necessary water conditions for the species and the elimination of a weir that is an insurmountable barrier to their movements. All these actions will be carried out in the Picos de Europa Regional Park (León).

The Iberian desman (Galemys pyrenaicus) is a small aquatic mammal that inhabits the vicinity of rivers, streams and lakes in mountainous areas and is distributed from the French side of the Pyrenees to Portugal, although it is in Spain where most of its population is found. The number of specimens in the Central System has suffered a serious setback in recent years: the desman is considered in danger of extinction within the Spanish Catalogue of Threatened Species. The decrease in the quality and quantity of river water, the degradation of the riparian forests that serve as a refuge, and the presence of the American mink, an introduced species with a great capacity for expansion and adaptation to the environment, are its main threats.

The project, 50% co-financed by the European Commission, is being developed in Natura 2000 Network areas in the provinces of León, Zamora, Salamanca, Ávila, Palencia and Cáceres. It is coordinated by the Biodiversity Foundation and has among its partners the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and the Environment, the Regional Government of Castilla y León, the Regional Government of Extremadura, the Cesefor Foundation, the Natural Heritage Foundation of Castilla y León, SOMACYL and Tragsatec. In addition, the City Council of Valencia de Don Juan and the Association of Municipalities of the South of León participate as co-financing entities. The project also has the support of the Miño-Sil, Tagus and Duero Hydrographic Confederations, research centres and fishermen’s associations.