The Regional Director for the Environment stressed that the Regional Government "has been successful" in channelling financial resources to strengthen the conservation policies for natural heritage, namely through the three LIFE projects under way in the archipelago, representing a direct investment of approximately 23 million Euros. 

Hernâni Jorge also highlighted “the growing investment of the Regional Government in the conservation of nature as well as in the consolidation of the natural heritage as one of the main assets of the Region.” 

The Regional Director spoke Monday during a visit to the rocky slopes of Caldeirão do Cabeço Verde, Faial Island, where the control of invasive flora is under way. The first phase took place over four days and had to be carried out by a team from the Os Montanheiros association that specialises in work at height. 

This intervention of “recovering the habitat of a unique population of 'Azorina vidalii' also included the planting of 280 new specimens,” having been carried out under the LIFE VIDALIA project, stressed the government official.

“The 'Azorina vidalii' population found in Caldeirão do Cabeço Verde is located between 320 and 350 metres above sea level and about two kilometres from the coastline. It is the only one known in the Azores to be found above 250 meters above sea level and so far from the coast,” said Hernâni Jorge. 

In order to recover this unique habitat, the Regional Director stated that the intervention area defined within the scope of the LIFE VIDALIA project covers the area where this species is found and another one, around it. According to him, the purpose “is to create conditions for expansion of the species, which will include interventions in the rocky wall, more specifically in the cracks of the south-facing rocky slope inside Caldeirão," where 'Azorina vidalii' grows." 

“Currently, with LIFE VIDALIA under way, we have the possibility of putting into practice all the knowledge acquired in Faial Botanical Garden over decades of work with this species in order to increase the number of plants in the so-called Triangle Islands (Pico, Faial and São Jorge).” These specific islands are covered by the project, which started in 2018 with the collection of seeds on site and their conservation at the Azores Seed Bank. 

Subsequently, the species was propagated in the plant nursery of Faial Botanical Garden. According to Hernâni Jorge, "there are already about 500 plants propagated from the seeds collected from the original population that are ready to be introduced on the site for population reinforcement." 

The Regional Director for the Environment also said "the planting of these species will be phased" and will only take place "after an intervention to control the existing invasive species."

The LIFE VIDALIA project, coordinated by the Regional Directorate for the Environment, has as its main goal to improve the conservation status of the protected endemic flora species "Azorina vidalii" and "Lotus azoricus" on the islands of Pico, Faial and São Jorge, corresponding to an overall investment of 1.8 million Euros.