Regional Government intends to classify Serra da Tronqueira Range and Graminhais Plateau as Special Conservation Area
The Regional Government placed today a preliminary draft of the Regional Regulatory Decree aimed at the classification of the Serra da Tronqueira Range and the Graminhais Plateau, São Miguel Island, as a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) for public consultation on the www.legisgra.azores.gov.pt platform.
The Serra da Tronqueira Range/Graminhais Plateau Site of Community Importance (SCI) covers a land area of more than 2,000 hectares that stretches over the municipalities of Nordeste, Povoação and Ribeira Grande.
The Government's draft proposal states that "classification as SAC aims to contribute to the maintenance or reestablishment of the favourable conservation status of protected habitats and species."
For the Regional Government, “priority” should be given to the promotion of conditions for the conservation of endemic Macaronesian heaths, bogs, wooded bogs and Macaronesian laurels.
Macaronesian mesophilic meadows and raised bogs are other habitats to be privileged in the area of Serra da Tronqueira Range/Graminhais Plateau.
According to the proposal, this SAC will be under the management and conservation schemes established by the legal scheme on nature conservation and biodiversity protection, the Sectoral Plan of Natura 2000 Network and the legal framework for the São Miguel Island Natural Park.
The Regional Government also proposes that the complementary measures and actions for the management and conservation of habitats and species defined in the Management Plan for Terrestrial Areas of São Miguel Island Natural Park be applied to the Pico da Vara Natural Reserve as well as to the Protected Area for the Management of Habitats or Species of Tronqueira and Graminhais Plateau.
The surveillance and monitoring actions will be carried out by the autonomous regional administration service responsible for environmental matters, namely through Nature Watchers, as well as by inspection services and police authorities with competence in this area, without prejudice to the exercise of supervisory and police powers.
The Regional Government moves forward with this draft decree after hearing the municipalities involved and the Regional Council for the Environment and Sustainable Development (CRADS).
The document will be available for public consultation on the Regional Government Portal for the next 30 days.