Navarre and Gipuzkoa are to jointly implement the European project “Life+ Irekibai”, which aims to improve the conservation status of the riparian habitats and species of the Rivers Bidasoa and Leitzaran, and their tributaries.
This morning, a new collaboration project involving Basque and Navarrese entities to promote the improvement of the basins of the Rivers Leitzaran and Bidasoa, and their tributaries in a coordinated manner was presented in Andoain. Ainhoa Aizpuru, the councillor responsible for Economic Development, the Rural Environment and Territorial Balance on the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa, Isabel Elizalde, the Government of Navarre’s Minister of Rural Development, the Environment and Local Government, Paco Alonso, the Director of Water Management Works in the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa’s Department of the Environment and Water Management Works, Iñigo Ansola, the Manager of URA, and Mikel Francisco, representing the HAZI Foundation, all took part in the presentation.
The name of the project, IREKIBAI, is a play on the words IREKI (Open) and IBAI (Rivers), the project’s chief aim being to eliminate the obstacles and problems in our rivers; in a sense, opening them up.
The project partners, which are from both the Basque Country (Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa, URA and the HAZI Foundation) and Navarre (GANASA, a public company run by the Government of Navarre), will bring together their skills and competences to ensure the conservation status of the habitats and species of Community interest in the Natura 2000 sites located along the rivers in the two regions.
The European Union’s financial instrument for the environment LIFE+ is funding 60% of the project, which has a total budget of €2,999,372 until 2020.
Removing obstacles
For a range of historical and geographical reasons, a great many obstacles have been allowed to build up along the Rivers Leitzaran and Bidasoa which break their continuity. Consequently, the ecosystems are altered and the more sensitive species living in them (semi-aquatic mammals, such as the European mink or the desman, and fish, such as the salmon) find their distribution areas reduced. This, together with genetic isolation and other associated effects, poses a risk to their continuity and ability to cope with other pressures.
River obstacles are, therefore, very important in the management of the Cantabrian Natura 2000 sites and provide the focus for the main line of action in the Management Plans for the riparian Special Areas of Conservation.
They have also been the main focus of attention for the different bodies of local government responsible for river management both in the Basque Country and Navarre. The joint approach to the issue is noteworthy, the systematic work performed in each region having received a boost from a number of cooperation projects involving the two territories conducted over recent years.
The general objective of the project, to improve the conservation status of the river habitats and species of Community interest within the Natura 2000 sites located along the basins of the Rivers Bidasoa and Leitzaran, is the fruit of this context and all the work performed previously.
This core idea finds expression in the following specific objectives:
- To restore those waterways deemed most convenient in cost-benefit terms -Rivers Leitzaran (basin of the River Oria) and Bidasoa- through actions to increase the permeability of obstacles, control non-native invasive species, restore habitats and correct impacts.
- To increase knowledge regarding how to manage and restore these environments.
- To disseminate the project results and raise general public awareness regarding the values and environmental services provided by our rivers.
Main actions planned:
In the River Leitzaran, the dismantlement of a wide range of obstacles which are now out of use and have become the chief pressure on a river which, this apart, is still free of threat will be addressed.
In total, four minor obstacles on the river’s Ubaran tributary will be annulled and the Inturia and Oioki dams will be removed from its main course. One action already successfully completed in the first few months following the launch of IREKIBAI has been the removal of the Truchas Erreka fish farm, consisting of a dam, concrete tanks, channels and abandoned buildings occupying one hectare of the riverbank. The original state of the riverbed has been recovered and vegetation is now growing back in the area.
Certain barriers to the natural flow of the river will be removed from the basin of the Bidasoa: the Bera, Endarlatsa and Ituren weirs, the latter on the River Ezkurra, and 2 minor obstacles on the River Txaruta.
In addition to these main actions, the project also includes improvement of the ecological status of the target rivers by restoring the riverbed and banks. In Navarre, there are plans to address the problem of the American mink, an invasive species which exacerbates the critical situation of the European mink (in danger of extinction).
Finally, IREKIBAI will monitor the targets of these actions in order to assess whether the results are adequate or the approach to work requires modification. The Pyrenean desman, allis shad, sea lamprey and salmon populations, and the effectiveness of the fishways installed on obstacles in use will be studied. The changes which the actions scheduled produce in the rivers and the effect of the project on society and the services the rivers provide will also be analysed.
GENERAL INFORMATION
| Project partners | BASQUE COUNTRY: Gipuzkoa Provincial Government (coordinating partner), Basque Water Agency URA and HAZI Foundation. NAVARRE: Government of Navarre, through Gestión Ambiental de Navarra S.A |
| Budget | 2.999.372 € |
| LIFE+ funding | 60% |
| Duration | Until 31 December 2020 |