Isola Maria Luigia

Partially within the municipality of Martignana di Po, Maria Luigia Island is a fluvial island in the Po river midstream. The Special Protection Area (SPA) owes its name to it, being its main element. Wandering around these surroundings, one can meet wintering and migratory birds that stop on the wide ” esplanades, in the oxbows, or in the woods. These include the great white heron, osprey, and stilt-bird. Between 1997 and 2000 in about 200 hectares, new trees were planted. Plus, in many areas spontaneous white willows develop. In both cases, alien species have entered, so they are to be eradicated. The project aims to improve the young forest by providing more space for local species, and control the non-native ones.

This project is co-funded by the Lombardy Region’s Biodiversity and Climate Call (BioClima) and supported by Fondazione Cariplo. Bioclima is an initiative created within the framework of the Lombardy Plan and the LIFE GESTIRE 2020 project that aims to create public-private financing models to catalyze investment in biodiversity conservation and climate change adaptation projects in Lombardy’s forests and protected areas.