We are rewilding a quarry - here’s why
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 31 พ.ค. 2024
- We've been given a chance by our friends at Rewilding Portugal to help restore an old quarry and help transform it into a thriving wetland sanctuary. This is a project that will have many stories to tell as it is one of those very interesting examples of how we can accelerate rewilding.
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⏱️TIMESTAMPS⏱️
0:00 Intro
02:17 The mine
04:38 A unique wetland
06:24 Our project
🔎 ABOUT THIS PROJECT
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Paul de Toirões is an important area for landscape connectivity in northwest Portugal where nature is recovering from years of mining. The 300-hectare property boasts one of the largest water surface areas in the Greater Côa Valley, consisting of lagoons, canals, and ponds. Its diverse range of environments are connected by seasonal flooding which supports a variety of wildlife and vegetation. In an area managed by our partners, Rewilding Portugal, this project presents an excellent opportunity to expand its habitats and establish a stronghold for wilderness in the region. Starting with our first intervention, we aim to enlarge and diversify the habitats through earthworks.
Read more here: mossy.earth/projects/rewildin...
If you think this kind of project is worth supporting then be sure to check out our work at mossy.earth/ where you can become member and contribute to this work on a monthly basis :) - Cheers, Duarte
Hey Mossy Earth! I love watching these video and I have a suggestion! Before you begin the process of leveling out the cliff faces, I would take a census of bird species and burrowing animals using them, the cliffs could provide an important sanctuary for certain bird species when there are few surrounding tall trees/old growth. I would also take a look at the underwater quarry cliffs or get a sonar look at the bottom of the quarry. Someone mentioned finding a few of the old mine workers which I believe is a good idea since they would have a better understanding of the rock composition.
I just saw a video that really excited me as an American, because it's from a verrrrry politically conservative state, but also it proves that building fake beaver dams in an area post-fire helps reestablish the ecology and benefits land owners, ranchers, and helps them co-exist with local wildlife, AND helps prevent post-fire flooding! They got volunteers to help construct the dams out of burnt-out aspen.... Just watch it; it's really great!
"Restoring streams post-fire..." on TH-cam's Idaho Conservation Commission Channel. They keep referring to BLM, which in this context is the Bureau of Land Management. Thanks for all you do!
This was an amazing video, and so educational, but I'd like to know where your brother was finding those papers. I'd love to read then as well, and help some local ecosystems here in Texas be rewilded.
Nature would actually do it all by itself, so more like false virtue...
@@EuroWarsOrg yes nature can do it all by itself, but we like to help it along. What did you mean by false virtue?
The problem with quarries like these, at least in Germany, is that they’re simply too deep. They’re more like giant holes than actual lakes. If you modify the topography around the quarries I feel like you maybe should modify it under water too
That is a good point! Added to our notes for consideration :) - Cheers, Duarte
Even worse, most are horribly polluted. A lot of quarries end up killing birds when they land on the water.
+ garzweiler is so huge that you can't just flod it there is nowhere nearly enough water around to do that. RWE just announced that they want to flood that in a 40years timespan but some already called them out because half the year round the rhine doesnt have enough water to fill anything
@@Facetiously.Esoteric yeah that’s a huge issue as well
@@NilsNone we all know how abhorrently terrible RWE, or the German government as a whole, is with environmental stuff. The state of our rivers is absolutely tear inducing, it makes me physically sick to look at maps of the old Danube and then drive out there only to see a straight highway. That’s not how fish should live
Hi Mossy Earth, a few notes from a quarry manager / environmental manager.
Firstly, this is a fantasy project and you are doing an excellent job. I really feel this could be the tip of the iceberg that could lead to truly exceptional gains for nature.
A few suggestions that may help for this site. You refer to the post working’s landscape as confusing and messy. While it may look like that, to the eye of a quarry worker it all makes perfect sense. And actually very neat for such an old working!
If you could get some input from mineral extraction experts I believe it could save you a lot of time and answer questions you didn’t even know you had yet. Better still I would aim to track down some old staff from the site. Us miners/quarry workers and local types and I would bet a lot that there are still some in the local area. Any staff that had worked the site will have an exceptional understanding of the ground conditions, water flow regimes & groundwater, now under water topography and what wildlife has come and gone over the years. In my experience miners are closet environmentalists!
Lastly I would suggest that you look for a chance to embed yourselves with a quarry/mine as it’s life comes to an end. Many of the tasks you wish to accomplish and very easy and cheap for active quarries to do, we just need to be told what to aim for.
With the huge number of sites that close each year across Europe and the ‘blank slate’ nature of these sites there is more opportunity than we could normally hope for in regards to habitat creation!
Keep up the fantastic work.
Nick
This is very interesting advice, thank you Nick!
What an interesting contribution. Wouldn't it be wonderful if quarries/mines proactively worked with environmental groups at the end of the project's working life.
"Down Under" we see too many suddenly "surprisingly", go bankrupt instead, so that they can't even do the basic remediation that they were contracted to so as a condition of operating.
@@anniehill9909 We used to have the same issue here in the UK. Thankfully the laws have changed in a way that it rarely happens any more.
Infact we are having a new set of laws come in that will hopefully start to place realy value on the end environment.
@@anniehill9909 in Germany you even make a plan what happens with a quarry after its production stop before you even start digging.
What i think ist always funny ist that the best habitats provided for conservation are the ones which have been heavily modified. Atleast in Germany it is like that, because our potential natural vegetation are forests, which do not provide a lot of extra diversity, because we got a lot of woods, so that open landscapes with niches and dry habitats are really needed
@@anniehill9909 in Europe there is ( or was ) a huge plan called "life in quarries" where active quarries had à partnership with environnement experts to create habitat for specific wildlife . Some species thrive in these poor mineral clifs and ponds so it's a thing already ;)
I think testing the heavy metals in the water would be a good idea. Bright colors are often a feature of metal contamination. Hopefully, everything is still within safe levels even if some metals are a little high.
Otherwise i like the area. If i walked through I'd probably think it was natural. Although idk how i feel about removing the cliffs. Some aquatic species like to dig into cliffs for their habitat, as well as birds. But temporary ponds sound like a great addition.
Why bother? if the metals are there, they will be mostly removed by microbial and plant activity.
@@centurione6489 heavy metals stay around and are extremely toxic
"Although idk how i feel about removing the cliffs." Very good point. I saw Bee-eaters in the Video. These birds build nests specifically in vertical sandy cliffs, often over the body of water to prevent predators access. Check for holes in the sand before taking them down :)
@Marisu i am removing my comment about doubt. I'm not qualified to comment. Possibly, in nano amounts. It looks like oxidized copper. But a former miner or metallurgist could test for content. We have many coloured water, and non-coloured former quarries where I live.
@@sianwarwick633 highly depends on the country/area I'd say, the composition of any quarry is different. But I agree that the colour is most likely copper oxide/sulfate, if the color was from heavy metals it would be a literal death soup
The turquoise water is due to the high mica content. Mica being one of several unwanted by-products of the extraction process. We have a lot of quarries here on the south-west peninsular of England, some abandoned and some still being worked. I've explored several of them and once got stuck in wet clay like your Sarah. I couldn't get out and eventually managed to dig each foot out with my hands. It was in Winter and very cold, lol. Great project and such a huge, fascinating place. All the very best. :)
Thank you for the intel! Added to the notes :) - Cheers, Duarte
I was thinking they look just like the flooded China clay mines
@@camillastacey4674 Yes, they do have a lot of mica in from the clay extraction. The first one I saw like that was in St Austell, Cornwall. It looked like a moonscape with the white hills. Fabulous site. :)
@@MossyEarth In very pure soft waters, silica refracts to a green hue. Calcium is generating the more aquamarine spectrum in the waters you are dealing with. Certainly silica is present, but it it being dominated.
@@MossyEarth Here’s an idea when the endangered species native to these areas get on the lease concern list perhaps maybe we should collect their DNA samples and if we can study it enough unlock some of the extinct species whom they’re related to
The idea of making some interventions and letting nature take it from there is very exciting and what rewilding is all about. Very happy about being part of this journey with our partners at Rewilding Portugal and I can't wait to visit the area again soon!
Thanks Tiago! Good luck with the project! - Cheers, Duarte
No doubt, giving nature what it needs is allways the best choice
@@joaquimbarbosa896 You know I don’t know if you thought about this and I’m not sure you get her if you didn’t, but I’d say maybe Genetic scientists can have a Crichton kind of project to aid with this particular endeavor
It’s not a journey, it’s a quarry … at best it’s a project in a quarry..
In the Czech republic, these quarries are a bit mixed, some sandy and others from hard stone. Everyone goes to them and some are actually the most beautiful places you might visit to dive and cold dip! Haha! This project is sooooooo exciting!
Very interesting! I have not really thought of swimming in this one yet, maybe in spring or the Summer! Glad you are excited about the project :) - Cheers, Duarte
@@MossyEarth I live in Slovakia near an area densly packed with quarries and old mines, all flooded. Its relatively popular for fishing, swimming and anything water related. Also i think many of them are a lighter shade of blue/green than one would expect, especially on aerial and even satellite photography going back in years.
I've been a member for a few months and honestly, seeing the newsletter in my email or the transaction in my banking app always leaves me feeling optimistic & proud that there are humans out there doing rewilding that works with the land that's already there and nudges certain parts of it towards abundance and diversity :) For those on the fence about becoming a member, here's one comment who's in favor!
Thank you so much for the nice words, comments like this are really encouraging for us. It really feels like we are building a community of people that share our enthusiasm! Cheers, Tiago
These projects are so cool, I love the bio-diversity you promote in many of your projects! It really helps with how barren we've made this landscape.
Thank you Kattprus! It is at the core of our decision making :) - Cheers, Duarte
Not as barren as a trans woman… that’s REAL diversity…
Spent my wild youth diving and swimming in quarries around New Hampshire ("the granite state"). Looks like a great project, Mossy Earth. If I were you I'd get in touch with as many former quarry staff. I'm sure they've got tips for you about the topography and potential toxins.
Thanks for the tip! - Cheers, Duarte
That's such a unique and exciting project! Our crew filmed a similar project that aimed to bring wilderness back to the UK. The place was home to bears, lynxes, and wolves. Then 70% of the UK's land area was used for agriculture. We followed rewilding initiatives across the UK to learn how various approaches to rewilding the British Isles work and found out whether there could soon be wolves in the Scottish Highlands again.
The color of some of the ponds could be caused by limestone in the surrounding sediment. I have seen similar colors in ponds located in limestone quarries.
Good insight! Noted :) - Cheers, Duarte
@@MossyEarth we have old china clay quarries that look this colour.
I still rely on my parents a lot, but the second I'm financially independent, I will be a mossy earth member. Keep up the good work!
Some of the most beautiful places in the world are those that used to belong to people but were overtaken by nature.
Keep up the good job, guys!
Hi
I come from Denmark and I would love if you could do a rewilding project in Denmark. I know it doesn't look very good for nature in Denmark, just like most of the world. I hope that you will consider Denmark as the next country to give a helping hand.
Hi Jacob, I actually have a meeting in Denmark this Spring so something might come from that :) - Cheers, Duarte
@@MossyEarth great to hear
@@MossyEarth Have you ever done projects in Belgium? Our country is so densely populated and we really need these type of projects here. 😊
In the clip showing fish I was surprised to see a largemouth bass. Then I looked it up and yes they were first stocked in Portugal in 1952! Interesting!
Hi Patrick, Thank you for your comment! Two of the fish species identified in the area are the largemouth bass and the Eastern mosquitofish!
Cheers, Tom Berry
@@MossyEarth Maybe this is a stupid question, but how did fish end up in the quarry to begin with? Is it connected to a river somehow? I thought it was all rainwater.
7:34 The broken soil with moss looks amazing, and the water with small algae to. It truly looks like a lost wonderland
Bravo, Mossy Earth 🤘🏻. The filmmaking in this video is really on point. Especially the drone shots 🦌.
Thank you Patrik! We loved flying the drone around, what an impressive place!
Cheers, Tom Berry
I'm curious which animal species will the trail cameras capture :) can't wait for the update
Nice to see new rewilding projects. Though I wonder how a place like that would've developed without intervention.
Well much of it you can already see and it’s looking great. We just want to give it a push :) - Cheers, Duarte
I love your rewilding projects, we need more biodiversity! Keep going :D
More to come! - Cheers, Duarte
Doing some of the most important work in my eyes, as much as we are ruining nature, it's immensely motivating knowing we can give it back aswell. I'd love to help some of these projects with a hand or two if i can find any local ones!
Well said! Getting involved in any way is amazing!
Cheers, Tom Berry
The strange, seemingly random shape of the quarries is likely a result of the miners following ore veins.
Good insight! - Cheers, Duarte
Yeah miners always look for ways to imcrease their revenue.
East Sacramento county has a number of vernal (springtime) pools. Most have been paved over (suffocating bullfrogs and other animals, of course). It is wonderful to hear the raucous symphony of hundreds of bullfrogs, from a built-up subdivision.
You guys are living my dream.
Keep up the good work! It is so important.
Greetings from the Netherlands!
Great project and seems like nature has already begun taking over.
I really like idea of creating breeding habitat for wetland birdspecies. As a birdecologist myself, I already see some great potentials.
I noticed the little shrub in the middle of the water (minute 5:41), perhaps a Salix cinerea. It seems like it functions as a small breeding colony for grey heron. The situation of a safe island + the type of shrub is typical for breeding colonies of grey heron. I really hope you will save this place for the grey herons and perhaps create more places like this so that other similar island with shrubs (Salix cinerea?) can form. Grey heron colonies may even attract Eurasian spoonbill to nest aswell.
I read the management plan and read about the artificial island and the plans to introduce common reed. Do make sure not to combine those two goals on the same waterbodies. Islands (also the ones with shrubs) are much longer lived when water levels are constant yearround. Whereas common reeds needs dynamic water, fluctuations in levels, in order to thrive.
Good luck on the project!
I love this project! It would be great to see future videos on the plant propagation aspect.
Definitely will include that in a future video. Especially with the use of the orthophotomosaics! - Cheers, Duarte
This project looks like it's a massive amount of work, but it's got so much potential! I seriously can't wait to see all the updates along the way, the good and the bad! You guys are amazing
Glad you are excited about the project Insomniac! - Cheers, Duarte
A problem with open pit mines/quarries is that there is a potential for toxic heavy metals contaminating the water. As for the off color you mentioned, that can often be due to dissolved minerals leaching into the water.
Precisamos de mais pessoas como tu e tua equipa em Portugal. Pena que o governo não financia esses projetos, podia se investir muito mais. Abraço a vocês ❤❤
Adoro o trabalho e devoção que vocês mostram em cada vídeo! Simplesmente incrível. 🥺
Os 161 M € previstos para a JMJ eram muito melhor aplicados se os dessem a esta equipa e podia ser feito no mesmo espaço...
A JMJ que vá para Fátima e use as estruturas que já existem
@@carpediem4091 E os fundos que dão a este tipo de coisas nunca são bem direcionados
It’s awesome to see nature reclaiming an area that was so heavily disturbed by humanity!
What wonderful people you are. Gives me hope for mother earth
The segment at 12:12 was super useful, love that format it helps give us more of a direct idea of exactly what you're doing, when, and where. Also love the project it looks super exciting!
Thanks Bob! We are excited about this project as well :) - Cheers, Duarte
This is one of the most exciting projects for me. Since I was a small child, I've fantasised about what would happen if we just walk away from somewhere - but your earthworks will make it all happen that much more quickly. It will so wonderful to watch the transformations and I will be fascinated to see what difference the reintroductions make.
Well done the Portuguese team. More please!
Really nice drone shooting and so interesting project! We are also making videos to discover some places in Finland with unusual stories!! 🤩
👍🏻👍🏻
Thank you so much, we are really proud to kick off this project and we can't wait to share updates with everyone as soon as we have them!
Cheers, Tom Berry
@@MossyEarth we can’t wait 💪🏻💪🏻
Well done team, I can't wait to see the bird fest in spring!
We can't wait to get back there!
Cheers,
Tom Berry
absolutely wonderful geoengineering project! really wish we could do more of this, rather than war...
For the light blue water; here in central Florida there has been a long history of phosphate mining and thus a lot of old pits that are now reclaimed lakes and ponds. Many of them are relatively shallow and have sandy bottoms. This is what gives them their light blue color and it may be the same for these bodies of water too.
What an awesome job these guys have
Lots of neat edges and pockets and opportunities for diverse ecotones. The abandoned quarry near where I grew up was turned into a groundwater recharge and recreational facility with creek connectedness. It is a bird "themepark"! So fun! Thanks so much for sharing, Mossy Earth.
im so happy to see the process of this kinda project, and seeing people giving recommendation as well. lets bring back nature 🌱
Love what you guys are doing. As long as there is water and plants, wildlife will flourish. Having a good population of fish in the ponds will make a huge difference.
Great stuff! I wish we have something like this in the philippines and the whole of southeast Asia! A lot of diversity in this area we need to protect!
This is such an exicitng project, I cannot wait to see the interventions and follow up videos!!
Many interesting videos to come from this place :) - Cheers, Duarte
Thrilled to see this project happening! It's a huge job and you have my greatest respect for undertaking it. It's tragic that the quarry company that nearly completely ruined this land is not held responsible for the damage they have wrought!!
This is my dream to do stuff like that.
I watched „the salt of the earth“ 9 years ago and since then I have the urge to change dead land into something green. I hope I can start a project like that too one day
We need more of this in the world. Amazing, inspiring and so admirable.
I am so happy for you to document this for people to see more of; Projects of these types will save what we have left so we may regain coexistence!! It really is an incredible thing you are doing for an innumerable number of species.
I'm so glad I found your channel. Maybe you can teach people around the world how to start doing this type of project in their own area, adapting your methods for whatever environment and problems they face.
I'd like to volunteer to help with these types of projects in my area of South Eastern Australia ( I'm disabled and have limited resources to travel).
There are so many places where rewilding of an area could be useful, even areas of land hit by natural disasters like bushfires or floods could be rebuilt/regrown to give nature a helping hand.
Great project! Really nice that you are doing so much to give nature and animal species the opportunity to thrive again! Lots of respect🙌🏼🌳
Wow, that's such an amazing place and what an exciting and wonderful project! Keep up the good work 👍
This is amazing. Im excited to speak to you guys next week about how my family can help all these well thought out projects.
Thank you! - Cheers, Duarte
Can’t wait to see how it will all go! Very exciting!
Oh my. One of my dreams. Restoring landscapes.
Can't wait to see all your progress. Please, more videos!!
😁
Looking forward to each new story! I am grateful for your passion, projects and holistic perspectives Mossy Earth! Thank you for sharing what, why and how you are doing what you do.
Thank you! There are so many interesting ways to restore nature. Glad it resonates. Cheers, Tiago.
I'm glad you're out there, doing what you do, and am happy I became a Mossy Earth member. Keep up the good work.
Thank you, that means a lot to us and we will do our best to ensure we deliver on the impact. - Cheers, Duarte
I think it is great that your team is doing this work. If ever a time comes, and you need a few divers, I will be in the next plane. I am retired and would enjoy donating my time to help.
Awesome as usual ! Really unique wetland! Thank you for funding such important for biodiversity projects!
Thank you! We love this project and can't wait to show you more!
Cheers, Tom Berry
Man, this project is so unique
Glad you like it! And its in Portugal my friend I hope you are glad about that :) - Duarte
@@MossyEarth Couldn't be happier! Specially given how much we NEED wetlands to stabelize our water cycle
Blessings to the noble soul, saving the planet one plant a time!
Great, thanks for all the work you do in the Iberian Peninsula, we need much more like this.
there's a few old quarries near me, most of them have been turned into fishing spots stocked with non native fish but there's one right behind my house that's mostly been left to it's own devices
This is such an exciting project. I can't wait to see the before and after drone shots in months and years to come.
It's going to be so exciting to film and edit all the updates!
Cheers, Tom Berry
When I subscribed, Mossy Earth only had about 87 k subscribers, and now that I see progres with support (237k) I am very proud of the journey that I am a part of.
I have been a sub to this channel since 25k and i must admit their projects always bring something new and exciting to the world of rewilding
Thanks friend! Much appreciated :) - Duarte
The drone view with the program showing interesting species is a great tool ! In the future the knowledge of wildlife management will be much clearer and easy to follow with that ! As someone who manage small swampy reserves it's really intersting !
Very true! We will go a little more ind depth about how we identify plants with this technology in an upcoming video!
I worked for an awesome man when I was younger. He owned a large public works type construction company(roads, bridges, etc)from the 1950’s to the 1980’s. It got so big they started there own gravel pits for projects. He ran a tight and hated waste. Pits were used near jobs and the crews would move around. He purposely mined them so they resembled natural lakes when done not just gapping holes in the ground. He even planted rows of saplings on the project sites and had custom equipment built to transplant them when they were ready and the pit was mined to his satisfaction. Now he did mine one for the dual purpose of being a golf course after, a few to be housing developments, and donated a couple all wild when he was done(an endangered species of bird even moved in). But his crews did the major work while they were there sometimes 20 or 30 years before the land got developed. He really had some foresight.
One thing that has shown great promise in the Netherlands has been to take cuttings of tree branches and bundle them up tight together. Imagine cutting a lot of thin olive branches and sticking them together real tight using a ratchet strap or some larger piece of technology like an excavator. You then tie these bundles up using high-tensile nylon cordage and place all over the pond.
You have now created a literal maze of tiny spaces for fry to find shelter.
Fish eat whatever fits in their mouth. If a large predatory fish can patrol a small pond with no places to hide, it is bound to eat all the fry. These bundles increase their survival rate tremendously!
I noticed the bright blue water in some quarries in my homeland of Florida, and was also curious and did some looking around online to get an explanation. From what I found, the coloration is just light-colored sediments that are suspended in the water, making it look weirdly bright-blue/cyan due to diffraction of light through the water (similar to how the ocean is blue, but tinted a brighter white due to the color of the sediments). Given time, the sediments should settle, though there are flocculents you can get to speed it up if it's a concern for whatever reason. Personally, I'd just encourage plants and other life to start colonizing the water, though, and it'll probably correct itself over time.
I love this, you guys are doing amazing things!!
Yet again beautiful project I am eager to see your progress with it.
I believe this could be a nice example how people who know what they are doing, can speed up natures comeback!
Keep it up!
Brilliant work all you guys looking forward to the progress of the site👏👏👏
Thanks Buzza! - Cheers, Duarte
At 5:55 this looks like some kind of Snipe. I believe it would be Common Snipe in that area
Yes, that Is my guess as well!
Cheers,
Tom Berry
Projects like this were what I fantasied doing when I was growing up, I would watch every single documentaries about wild Life of BBC and Nat Geo. I even considered taking Biology minor since it was my passion but it didn't end up going that way. I thought i was being very unreallistic and still think. But I am glad being proven that it's possible, nonetheless, i'm still sad about it.
Maybe you could join a local organization that does these sorts of projects on a volunteer basis? I'm thinking of doing the same, time allowing
Thank you so much for your comment! We are really proud to be doing all this work and having the opportunity to start projects like this one! Keep an eye out for updates!
Cheers, Tom Berry
I freely admit I don't give money to human causes; I see humanity in a different way then I do about nature. This is an investment I happily make that practices what I preach and the results make my spirit feel hopeful.
Glad you feel good about investing in Nature restoration, I feel good about it too. - Cheers, Duarte
Congratulations on the new project! It reminds me of my Master's thesis a year ago, to restore a small quarry lake in Mata Nacional de Leiria, called Lagoa da Saibreira. Unfortunately, the state manages didn't bother with it, although I surveyed the local people and they were interested in seeing it thrive again.
If this project succeed, I hope you get the chance to apply it in other locations!
Thank you! Ah it's a shame the plans didn't get implemented in the end. Perhaps it could be an interesting next project for us once we have learned the lessons from this one. Cheers, Tiago.
I love this kind of stuff and i really want to work in this field once i'm done with my studies!
We need a lot more people working on rewilding! - Cheers, Duarte
Mining tends to leave toxic metals in the rain water that collects in the open cast mine. Reed beds might clean up the water.
Love this. I’ve always thought quarries are a perfect place to start conservation.
I really like the idea of this project , taking something of such extreme human intervention and returning it to nature.
Thank you so much! We are really excited about this project!
This is going to be an amazing place for animals and birdwatchers! Would be great if you could add a bird viewing area too… with a sign that asks to donate to the project. Love your work! Thank you for all you do for nature.
I really like your channel. It's proof that there's hope for the future and that climate change can be reversed.
This is one of the best channels in this site.
Thank you Ale! That really means a lot to everyone who works on these projects and also who makes these videos. - Cheers, Duarte
We've got a nice quarry near us ( actually 2)where we go swimming often. It's populated with fish, in late spring there are frog eggs and such, everywhere are trees Nature has truly conquered it back.
But it has probably been deserted 100 Years ago or more, so nature had plenty of time to get back
Nice to hear! This quarry is already looking amazing and hopefully it improve even more after this work! - Cheers, Duarte
Looking forward to more updates. Thanks for all you do!
i look forward to seeing your work taking affect on the site in the next video. Thank You for all the work you do to help nature.
I am really excited to make the videos following up on this work! - Cheers, Duarte
Thanks! We can’t wait either. Cheers, Tiago
This project is very interesting! When it comes to mediterranean habitats, it would be cool to see you work on restoring the laurisilva forest ecosystems, relicts of which can be found in Madeira but which weere all over the Mediterranean basin once
One thought from a fellow conservation biologist: to create habitat for amphibians and reptiles, small structures like cairns are generally quite beneficial. Whenever you might be remodelling the topography and therefore moving material, you could separate stones with a sieve. It‘s actually not even much additional work and can easily be done with the machines showed in the video. You‘ll probably want to separate the stones bigger than 10cm in order to get optimal cairns.
Mainly Alytes obstetricans and Epidalea calamita will benefit if you create some cairns in the temporary ponds and surroundings.
Whereas for the reptiles i‘m mainly thinking about Natrix astreptophora which could use these structures, maybe also Natrix maura. But if you‘d construct some cairns on sunny places of the terrestrial surrounding, you might even promote species like Hemorrhois hippocrepis, Rhinechis scalaris, Coronella austriaca/girondica Macroprotodon cucullatus/brevis and Malpolon monspessulanus, as well as a number of lacertidae and geckoes.
And Guys from Mossy Earth: Awesome work so far! Hope for much more to come :)
This is the most fantastic thing I have seen in weeks
That's amazing to hear! We are very excited about the potential of this project. Cheers, Tiago
My god the quality of the videos somehow still impresses me as time goes by.
Thank you Wew! - Cheers, Duarte
With Permaculture, a draw for water is created right off. Stabilizing the soil, with plants, is next I think. Your ideas sound good and will make a great area. I recall uses of plants and even small water creatures, to clean and stabilize sewer ponds and wetland areas in California. Would be back anywhere up to 40 or more years but was very helpful. The bullrush/reeds were part of that.
This video seriusly deserves more attention
You guys are great, I’ll join your membership as soon as I can. You deserve it!
The bluegreen color of some of the ponds is due to light reflection of tiny particles. Usually it is seen i limestone quarries, but also in lakes and coastal areas with silt or fine sand. Can also be other particles as algae or bacteria.
Yes, we think it's the high pH of the water in this particular pond that changes the bacteria that grow there hence the colour. This was probably the pond used for washing so that's why it would be different from the other ones. Cheers, Tiago
I love Mossy Earth (and the people/organizations they work with) because of how they approach projects. Some people and organizations seem to believe that their burning desire to save the thing (flora, fauna, a specific area etc) they focus on is somehow enough and since they have this desire, they know best and basically do what feels right or what looks "right" visually (e.g. planting a bunch of trees in an area because trees are great and it looks good when that specific area might not be able to support a mass planting of trees or simply needed small, visually unimpressive fauna, flora, moss, lichen, and mushrooms introduced instead). Mossy Earth builds relationships with groups/organizations that know the area. They use facts, tech, science and, when possible, appropriate, and needed, they talk to people that live in the area and make use of the vast knowledge they might have about the nature surrounding them. Their methods make me so happy because the more accurate information you have, the higher the chance that things go the way you hoped and predicted. In some instances you can speed up the process and easier course correct if things go sideways or something unexpected happen, and when working with nature that can very much happen.
This whole rambling comment is basically just me wanting to say thank you to Mossy Earth and any other organizations that agree that knowledge is key in working effective environmentalism. I am so glad I found Mossy Earth. Thanks for all the beautiful work you do.
Really interesting project. I wonder, in Portugal is/was there any obligation on the quarry owner to restore the site? And where sites are 'restored' do companies do a good job in your eyes? We have a lot of gravel workings in my part of the UK and they are landscaped at the end f operations, but I have no idea how good the landscaping is for nature, and whether it can be improved.
That’s a great question. In the case of this specific quarry it was clear that no restoration work was going take place unless we intervened. More generally though, there are regulations in place but how strict they are depends on when the activities stopped. Unfortunately I don’t think these are often well enforced at the moment. Hope that makes sense, Tiago
The entirety of Dartmoor in the UK used to be covered in ancient oak forests before they were cut down several hundred years ago, now its a barren, mined out landscape used for sheep farming and war practice, would be awesome if a project like this could come to Dartmoor.
Are there any oaks left?
I suspect you would have a fight with the people who like Dartmoor the way it is. If I remember properly deforestation there started in the New Stone Age with the arrival of the first farmers.
@@releventhurt Very few, the small, Wistman’s Wood is the only piece of untouched ancient woodland left.
@@francesconicoletti2547 either way Dartmoor is a barren man-made unnatural landscape, and with the latitude its on it should be a Temperate rainforest, locals are stubborn but hopefully it'll change someday.
Another wonderful project that shows how much work the team is putting into every little nook and cranny. Congratulations and best of luck with this new site
Thank you so much! 🙏
Cheers, Tom Berry
Your videos are waaaay way to short. I love you channel. A source of optimism and joy
It's pretty tough to make the 15 minute videos already haha but we will take the lovely compliment thank you! This year you can expect a bigger mix of short videos (5 mis or so) and longer ones too (20+ mins). - Cheers, Duarte
@@MossyEarth i appreciate your efforts. A suggestion for a future project. Reforesting the erroded areas on the Transylvanian plateau. Look for Cluj Napoca on Google Earth, then pan to the E/SE, and zoom down to about 8-14 km eye altitude. You'll know exactly what I'm talking about. I once measured about 10000 hectares of reforestable land before i gave up. All with 200 km radius of each other.
Will you make playlists for the different projects where we can see the progress the landscapes are making would be really cool, to have something like a timeline and see, how it started, how it progressed and how it end (eventhough it never ends cause nature :P)
Good idea!
If i was a part of the 1% I'd offer 25% of all earnings to this channel.
Haha thanks Hunter! That is a lovely complement but I am not sure we would be as efficient with so much money as we are now with our small budgets. - Cheers, Duarte