The Regional Secretariat for Agriculture and the Environment, through the Regional Directorate for the Environment, has awarded the contract work for the construction of "Casa dos Fósseis" (Casa dos Fósseis) in the Historic Centre of Vila do Porto on Santa Maria to the company Marques, S.A. for the amount of 355 Euros.

This contract work is listed in the Regional Public Works Charter. It has completion period of 10 months and includes the construction of a building to install the exhibition space for the promotion and dissemination of the rich geological and paleontological heritage of Santa Maria, the island where there is the largest open-air fossil deposit in the North Atlantic.

This work falls within the projects for the creation of the Fossil Trail and the classification of Santa Maria as the first Island Paleontological Park of the world.

The project for the establishment of the Fossil Trail, which is already being implemented, aims to create to create five trails of great paleontological and evolutionary importance for the island of Santa Maria that will meet scientific criteria adapted to Nature Tourism, thus providing a sustainable use of biodiversity and geodiversity on this island.

In order to fully seize the potential of the paleontological heritage of Santa Maria and promote its external projection, the Government of the Azores is developing its classification as Paleontological Park in collaboration with the University of the Azores and IPA (Paleontological International Association).

This classification is intended to create a differentiated product and complement the tourism offer already available on Santa Maria, boosting its competitiveness in the regional context.