The Union of Mountain Municipalities Amiata Grossetana (UCMAG) will collaborate in the development of some important activities of the Egyptian Vulture LIFE project thanks to an agreement with the High Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA).
UCMAG, which has its headquarters in Arcidosso (GR), in southern Tuscany, has long been involved in bird conservation activities. UCMAG, formerly Mountain Community Amiata Grossetano, was the coordinating beneficiary of three LIFE projects that led to the implementation of protection and redevelopment interventions in areas of the Natura 2000 network that extend in the southern portion of the province of Grosseto and which have developed actions in favor of bats, amphibians and birds of prey.
The LIFE project “Save the Flyers”, in particular, allowed to reintroduce the red kite in Tuscany, where it had become extinct in the 70s of the twentieth century.Thanks to this project, closed in 2014, a resident population of red kites has settled in the High Valley of Albenga, is expanding throughout the province and, in winter, increases significantly due to the arrival of several dozen red kites from central and northern Europe.
With the LIFE project “Save the Flyers”, UCMAG built in 2006 the Rapacious Threatened Center (CERM), a structure that was the focus of the red kite reintroduction program, and which today is the largest center in the world for captive reproduction of the Egyptian vulture, managed by the CERM Association so far.
As part of the LIFE Egyptian project, UCMAG will specifically be responsible for the management of the ex-situ breeding of the Egyptian vulture at CERM and, in addition, will provide support for the release operations in nature of young vultures born in the center.
