The flamingos are back at the Saline di Priolo. They had fled three years ago because of the fireworks
The oriented nature reserve was and is the symbol of the rebirth of an area compromised by oil activities. With the return of the birds he returns to having his jewels
The pink flamingo has returned to nest in Saline di Prioloin Siracusano, after three years of absence. It is the result of the settlement in the reserve of a small nucleus of frozen pairs.
The Saline di Priolo are a site of high naturalistic value, a Symbol of environmental rebirth within a large area affected by the effects of several decades of strong oil industrial impact. The concrete sign of how negative trends can be reversed. The homonymous oriented natural reserve, entrusted to the Italian League for the protection of birds (Lipu), had its genesis in December 2000. It was created with the aim of « protecting the system of basins of which the saline is established which houses extensions Phragiteti and Salicornieti which, together with the wet area properly said, offer particular receipt to the rich migratory and permanent avifauna ».
«Nature has shown that it still be able to win – underlines the regional councilor for the territory Giusi Savarino –. The return of the pink flamingo is not only an ecological conquest, it is a powerful signal that invites us to believe in a Sicily capable of rebirth, even in the most complex territories. Obviously not all the problems in the area are solved but this is a nice example of how the roads for the restart of an area, even degraded, can be manifold and compelling ».
THE Environmental regeneration projects They are very important. For the high industrial concentration and for the activities of the same in the past decades the reserve is part of a deposit plan of the Environment Ministry and is placed within the borders of polluted sites of national interest (Sin) with the obligation of legal to submit these areas a reclamation.
The Saline di Priolo are, in particular, a site on the network « Nature 2000»Which hosts priority habitats and protected species at the Community level and which in 2015 became famous for the First ascertained nesting of the flamingo in Sicily. The return takes place after three years of absence due to the abandonment of the colony following theexplosion of fireworks close to the areain the area that houses a market and where events and musical events take place.
Councilor Savarino adds: «We can no longer allow that there are different phenomena that put this unique natural heritage at risk. The challenge is not to prevent the close economic activities, but build together clear and shared rules. We have to work for one smart coexistencewhich allows commercial operators to continue their activities, but in full compliance with law and biodiversity. It is a duty towards future generations ». And again: «The salt pans offered the territory a rare occasion of image conversion, attracting Thousands of visitors every yeareven from abroad, and returning to the community a place of beauty, peace and hope. Preserving this miracle of nature also means protecting antourist and cultural opportunities which can represent the engine of a new sustainable economy ».
Precisely from the Saline di Priolo he had among other things beginning in 2021 The extraordinary journey of the young flamingowho started from Sicily came later an itinerary of 4,500 kilometers up to the south bank of the Persian Gulf. By establishing the travel record between different continents longer carried out by a flamingo, and officially documented.
