Image caption:

After just a few months the first “residents” of their stony habitat could be seen in Carnino/I. © Gabriele Cristiani

Cairns and drystone walls: seven pilot regions are creating habitats for small animals and plants in the StoneRich project, which was launched in 2023. Stones promote biodiversity, for example in the pilot municipality of Cimolais in Friuli-Venezia Giulia/I. Over the course of a week, volunteers restored and extended a stone wall with the help of two school classes. The pupils then created maps for the flora and fauna of their stone wall in their biology and art lessons. Lorenzo Protti from the Lis Aganis Ecomuseum supported them and was enthusiastic about the idea right from the start: “When we were commissioned to carry out the project, we immediately thought that it would give us the opportunity to rethink human space in nature”. The interplay between the cultivated and natural landscapes is evident here, because without a human hand placing the stones on top of one another, no cavities will be created for the living creatures. “We have given nature a structure in which it can now spread and regenerate itself”, says Protti.

In the mountain village of Carnino in Piedmont/I, the local project team worked with immigrants to clear stones from willows and create cairns. During a subsequent excursion, the project team photographed the “residents” of the stony habitat and investigated them further in a workshop in collaboration with the Marguareis and Alpi Marittime protected areas. The resulting stone structures will serve as inspiration for art schools in 2024. The project is supported by the Carline Foundation, the Binding Foundation and the Valüna Foundation.

Further sources and information:

www.cipra.org/de/cipra/international/projekte/laufend/steinreich (de, en, fr, it, sl), www.biodivers.ch/de/index.php/Kleinstrukturen (de), www.nabu.de/umwelt-und-ressourcen/oekologisch-leben/balkon-und-garten/grundlagen/elemente/22640.html (de), www.avventurasullegambe.com/eventi-notizie/cumuli-di-pietre/ (it), agriculture-de-conservation.com/Tas-de-branches-et-de-pierres-pour-la-biodiversite.html (fr)