When we talk about participation in the LIFE Ebro Resilience P1 Project, we talk about commitment to real and effective participation. An example of this has been the process around the future uses of land in the meander of La Roza, in Alfaro (La Rioja), considering proposals compatible with its role as a recovered space for the river.
In this section, a deliberative process was launched for the proposal and analysis of the feasibility of actions to be developed in the recovered meander, and in a 2,000 square meter plot that was freed for public use after the expropriation and the action of recessing the defensive mote that led to the recovery of river space.
Several actions have been carried out to gather proposals:
- A field visit to the intervention area on February 20, 2023 with the co-creation groups of the Alfaro (La Rioja) – Castejón (Navarra) section, stable spaces for participation between stakeholders and the technical team of the Project.
- A meeting with the co-creation group dedicated to Nature and Biodiversity issues on March 13, 2023, in which they brainstormed on possible uses for the parcel.
- A public open house for the general public of the tract on May 3, 2023 on future uses of the meander and parcel, where previous proposals were presented, new ones were gathered, and prioritized, analyzed, and developed.
The ideas have been analyzed by the technical team of the LIFE project. Participants have received timely information on the status of the process, the outcome of the process and progress in the implementation of the proposals.
Proposals from the territory
Regarding the future uses of the recovered meander, the analysis was carried out taking into account the environmental limitations, since its 22 hectares have been included in the protected area of the Natura 2000 Network “Sotos y Riberas del Ebro”.
Currently, four proposals are being implemented in this meander: itineraries, environmental restoration of the meander and installation of informative signage. In addition, a fifth one has yet to be scheduled for start-up, the livestock use of the meanderThe purpose of the project is to consolidate a pastureland that will favor the flow of water during floods, specifically grazing sheep, goats or horses to help maintain the relief channel.
On the other hand, in the released plot of landThe project, which covers 2,000 m2 and has the particularity of being annexed to the meander, but outside the meander and the area protected by the Natura Network, is already underway with four proposals that were put forward and approved by all the participants and that, in addition, met the technical criteria.
Specifically, it is the creation of a forest adapted to the planting of specimens of white poplar and elm resistant to graphiosis; the installation of a bicycle parking that is expected to be carried out during the summer, as well as the furniture of the rest area for the cycling route and the installation of material and interpretive panels that will be installed at the end of the intervention in the meander of La Roza.
Meander of La Roza
The intervention is part of the “combined section of actions”, a series of mitigation measures that together have a general benefit and that includes the project planned in the meander of El Señorío, in Castejón, Navarra, and the restoration action in the Soto de Alfaro.
Twenty-two hectares of river plain have been recovered and integrated as a protected area in the Natura 2000 Network, with the removal of 1,343 meters of defensive dikes that constricted the river and the construction of a smaller defense (899 meters) and away from the riverbed, returning this space to the river and the planting of more than 4,000 poplars, poplars and ash trees to facilitate the recovery of the riparian forest that decades ago occupied these lands.
In addition, river dynamics have been improved:
- A relief channel has been created connecting the river to the La Roza meander.
- The drainage capacity of the railroad bridge eyes has been improved.
- Invasive flora species have been removed
- A new wetland has been generated
All that remains to be done in this meander is to conclude the environmental restoration work with the last planting campaign. We tell you here what this intervention consists of.