Fossil deposits of Santa Maria are examples of preservation of the authenticity of the Azores, says Marta Guerreiro
The Regional Secretary for Energy, Environment and Tourism stated today that the recognition of environmental heritage also involves the preservation of local specificities, adding that the Government is working towards the identification of Santa Maria fossil deposits and the implementation of their protection status.
Marta Guerreiro stressed that "what is at stake is the protection and maintenance of palaeobiodiversity as well as the integrity of geological values and the natural and cultural resources and values associated with them on Santa Maria Island."
The Secretary for the Environment spoke after completing the Fossil Route maritime trail and landed in the fossil deposit of “'pedra-que-pica” (stepping-stones), an important landmark of this island.
For Marta Guerreiro, "the dissemination of the island’s rich heritage, which includes the largest open-air multispecies fossil deposit in the North Atlantic, promotes the diversification of the Azores in terms of nature tourism offer."
"The Government of the Azores has developed over the last years a series of initiatives, with special emphasis on the Fossil Route, for the interpretive route of Pedreira do Campo and on the House of Fossils, always bearing in mind the protection and dissemination of the geological and paleontological heritage of Santa Maria,” said the government official.
The Regional Secretary stressed that the easternmost and oldest island of the archipelago of the Azores "has unique marine fossils in the regional and national context," adding that its fossil deposits "are a true outdoor laboratory with international relevance, according to recent scientific studies.”
"Given its particularities, the history and geological and paleontological heritage of Santa Maria require an interpretation and dissemination accessible to all those who live or visit the island," said Marta Guerreiro.