Line of action:

Terrestrial ecosystems

Status:

Finalizado

Execution date:

2021

End date:

2022

Total budget:

168.956,65 €

Amount of aid from the Biodiversity Foundation:

70.961,79 €

This project benefits from a land management model, that of land stewardship. This tool allows the implementation of conservation actions in the private farms on which we act, with actions that represent significant improvements in the habitats.

Through stewardship agreements already signed with farms in the western Iberian Peninsula, actions are carried out to improve the habitat of key species such as the black stork, the Iberian imperial eagle and the black vulture.

It operates within Red Natura 2000 areas, specifically in the Campo de Azaba, Campo de Argañán, El Rebollar, Sierra de Gata and Valle de las Pilas, Río Erjas and Monfragüe and the surrounding pastures.

The main objective is to promote land stewardship and conservation actions in Red Natura 2000 areas in the western Iberian Peninsula in order to improve the habitat for the black vulture, the Iberian imperial eagle and the black stork.

Its specific goals include:

• Encourage land stewardship in order to promote the conservation of biodiversity in the western Iberian Peninsula among public and private landowners.
• To promote the conservation of the populations of an endangered species such as the black vulture in the Sierra de Gata, Monfragüe and Campo de Azaba.
• Contribute to the conservation of the habitat and the Iberian imperial eagle as a threatened or endangered species included in the Habitats Directive in Campo de Azaba and Monfragüe.
• Improvement of habitat conservation and of the black stork as an endangered wild species in the Campo de Azaba, Campo de Argañán and El Rebollar natural areas.

• Creation of voluntary private conservation reserves in the western Iberian Peninsula through stewardship agreements.
• Monitoring of breeding pairs of black vultures.
• Monitoring and maintenance of the Fundación Naturaleza y Hombre’s dunghill network in the western Iberian Peninsula.
• Improvement of trophic resources for predators to promote the conservation of the Iberian imperial eagle.
• Construction of nesting platforms for imperial eagles.
• Improvement of the quercine forest stand.
• Monitoring of breeding pairs of black storks.
• Wetland monitoring.
• Improvement of trophic resources for black storks.
• Dissemination and communication of the project.

• Conservation, monitoring and dissemination actions have been carried out in Natura 2000 Network areas in the western Iberian Peninsula in order to improve the habitat for the black vulture, the Iberian imperial eagle and the black stork, through land stewardship agreements.
• The agreement established with the “La Parilla” farm for the declaration of the farm as a Private Conservation Reserve has been extended, for which a management plan has been drafted.
• The dunghills have been used to feed more than 300 griffon vultures, more than 80 black vultures, more than 100 kites and more than a dozen Egyptian vultures.
• Iberian imperial eagle and golden eagle specimens have visited these dunghills, confirming the importance of these facilities for the feeding of wildlife in times of scarcity of specific prey in the natural environment.
• Forty-five pairs of black vultures have been detected that have fledged their chicks in the Sierra de Gata colony, with a success rate of 0.82 chicks/pair in 2021, and 47 nesting pairs in 2022.
• Actions have been carried out to promote the habitat of the imperial eagle in the area, such as the release of rabbits, pigeons and partridges, the restoration of enclosures and the installation of nesting platforms built and located in large trees in the Campanarios Biological Reserve.
• Six occupied black stork nests have been detected in 2021 and three occupied nests in 2022, while habitat improvements have helped alleviate the effects of prolonged droughts.