The Fondazione Parco del Piano di Magadino has commissioned the firm Oikos – Consulenza e ingegneria ambientale Sagl of Bellinzona to design a five-year naturalistic management plan (2020-2024) for the Santa Maria nature reserve and amphibian breeding site of national importance. The project was funded by the Canton, Municipalities, and the Confederation.
An analysis of the recent history of the Santa Maria project area shows that approximately 80 years ago, it was surrounded by a meander of the Ticino River, which carved out the depression that still exists today and represents the most significant wetland in the reserve.
Surveys conducted during October 2019 highlighted the deficits and main problems encountered. The state of conservation of the most relevant habitats for the biotope, characterized by water determinism (pools, reed beds), was found to be fair; however, the herbaceous, shrub, and tree phytocoenoses immediately adjacent to them were heavily invaded by neophytes. The degree of alteration of the indigeneity of plant populations is often high, and exotic species are dominant in most cases. This situation indicates that current management to counter the phenomenon of invasive species is not effective either in areas under a management agreement or in areas outside of it; in the latter, the situation is particularly aggravated by the presence of a very extensive and established population of Reynoutria xbohemica, which is worryingly expanding in the reserve as demonstrated by numerous new outbreaks/populations observed even outside the embankments.
