In this fourth —and penultimate— year, all planned conservation actions have been successfully carried out. In addition to the annual actions that have been repeated since 2022, this year stands out for the successful second application of rotenone, conducted in a broader and more complex setting. We have also completed the remaining interventions in the peatlands, in the area surrounding Lake Djouan in the Alps, and at Font de la Tosca in the Pyrenees.

The first results from the scientific and technical monitoring of the restored sites are encouraging: improvements are already becoming visible and are expected to be fully confirmed in the coming years.It has been an especially productive year for environmental education and outreach, with more than 1,000 participants. There has also been extensive dissemination of results within the scientific and technical communities, and significant progress has been made in knowledge transfer and replicability.

Want to know more? Read the newsletter here.

This year, we conducted our first pilot test with rotenone to eliminate invasive fish species from high-mountain lakes. This action is part of a broader strategy to restore high-altitude aquatic habitats, aiming to transform the restored lakes into biodiversity reservoirs and ecological corridors.

We have also focused on protecting mires, vital habitats for biodiversity and water regulation. Through strategic selective deforestation operations, we have reduced shading and created better conditions for their regeneration. In addition, we have continued the mire protection actions initiated in previous years, such as mowing wet hay meadows and livestock management through the installation of temporary and permanent fences.

Beyond our fieldwork, we remain committed to public engagement. Our participation in events like Science Week and European Researchers’ Night has allowed us to raise awareness about the importance of conserving high-mountain aquatic ecosystems and to connect with the community. Furthermore, our team has participated in numerous scientific and technical conferences and events this year, aiming to share the results and knowledge generated at both national and international levels.

If you are interested in receiving more information about the project, you can subscribe to the newsletter here.

You can read the full newsletter at the following link.

Our summer field campaign has been pivotal, involving meticulous monitoring of high mountain lakes and the study of valuable mires ecosystems. We’ve made significant strides in eradicating invasive fish and successfully carried out the initial restoration initiatives in mires. This hands-on work is providing us with invaluable data, empowering us to make wellinformed decisions to restore and conserve these fragile environments.

The LIFE RESQUE ALPYR project aims to restore and improve the conservation of high mountain aquatic habitats, focusing mainly on ponds, alpine and subalpine meadows, peat bogs and carbonated springs. The project is a continuation of two previous LIFE projects, the LIFE LIMNOPIRINEUS in the Pyrenees and the LIFE BIOAQUAE in the Alps.

If you are interested in receiving more information about the project you can subscribe to the newsletter here,

Here you can download the newsletter in pdf.

Among the target species to be protected are amphibians such as the red frog, the totil and the Pyrenean newt, which is a Pyrenean endemic, the muskrat, an aquatic mammal endemic to the Iberian Peninsula, and seven insectivorous bats threatened by anthropogenic pressure in the two study areas between which we can find the forest bat, the long-nosed bat and the alpine long-eared bat.

With this issue we start a series of annual digital publications that have as main objective to publicize the project progress and share with all of you information from many interesting aspects of high mountain aquatic habitats characteristics of the Pyrenees and the Alps and their conservation status.

If you are interested in receiving more information about the project you can subscribe to the newsletter here,

Here you can download the newsletter in pdf format.