Over the past 30 years, riverbanks have hosted an increasing number of human interventions related to construction and timber harvesting. Gravel pits rarely receive a continuous restoration that goes beyond the obligations linked to the restoration plan. Many of them have been converted into naturalized wetlands and others have been destined for forest cultivation. In both cases, not always with a management that meets the ecological and economic objectives set. In the case of crops and reforestation on banks and nearby, secondary disturbances have also been generated due to lack of monitoring, if not the absence of adequate management. The objective of this project is to improve and maintain the forest connectivity of riparian sections of great ecological potential and the intervention in gravel pits with the vocation of naturalized wetlands. The results obtained will be complemented with dissemination work, environmental education and social communication.

Over the past 30 years, riverbanks have hosted an increasing number of human interventions related to construction and timber harvesting. Gravel pits rarely receive a continuous restoration that goes beyond the obligations linked to the restoration plan. Many of them have been converted into naturalized wetlands and others have been destined for forest cultivation. In both cases, not always with a management that meets the ecological and economic objectives set. In the case of crops and reforestation on banks and nearby, secondary disturbances have also been generated due to lack of monitoring, if not the absence of adequate management. The objective of this project is to improve and maintain the forest connectivity of riparian sections of great ecological potential and the intervention in gravel pits with the vocation of naturalized wetlands. The results obtained will be complemented with dissemination work, environmental education and social communication.

To achieve these objectives, the following actions have been outlined:

• VoluntaTormes Programme: cleaning, reforestation, environmental audit, inventory and improvement of habitats in control sections of the SCI Riberas del Tormes and Tributaries.
• VoluntaTajo Programme: cleaning and removal of degraded and/or non-operational plastic reforestation protectors potentially or effectively harmful on riverbanks.
• Piping for the connectivity of the Almenara Wetland (Salamanca) with the Tormes River.
• Gradual replacement of poplar forest cultivation for the implantation of riparian grove vegetation in the gravel pit of La Cistérniga (Valladolid).
• School of Mayors: technical awareness-raising, training and training session for the city councils of the riverside towns of Salamanca and Valladolid.
• Intergenerational and community Environmental Education Program for the riverside populations of Salamanca and Valladolid.