The Dolomites are made of ancient coral reef, lifted and cut into pale towers and pinnacles that turn rose and violet in the evening light in a phenomenon local people call the enrosadira. They are among the most spectacular mountains in the world and, geologically, one of the strangest: a tropical sea floor, standing on end, three thousand metres up.
The valleys below hold a trilingual culture of Italian, German, and Ladin, and a farming tradition of small alpine dairies that has maintained the meadows for centuries. In 2018 a single storm, Vaia, blew down millions of trees across these mountains in a few hours, and the bark beetle outbreak that followed in the dead timber has been killing spruce ever since, a compound disaster that has reshaped the forests.
The organizations here restore the storm-damaged forests toward something more diverse and more resilient than the spruce monocultures that fell, defend the high meadows, and manage the return of bears and wolves in a region where tourism and livestock and wildlife occupy the same slopes.
Environmental Organizations in This Bioregion
6 organizations working across this landscape.
Associazione Comitato Tutela Devero
The Devero Protection Committee safeguards the Devero natural environment from infrastructure development in protected areas, promotes sustainable development
ASSOCIAZIONE SALVAGUARDIA VAL MASTALLONE
The Association is a non-profit organization, whose purpose is the protection and enhancement of the mountain environment of the Mastallone valley and Valsesia with...
Protect Our Winters Italy
POW helps passionate outdoor people protect the places and lifestyles they love from climate change. We are a community of athletes, scientists and creatives.
SAT - Società Degli Alpinisti Tridentini (Sezione del CAI - Club Alpino Italiano)
Selva Urbana
“Selva Urbana” is an association for social promotion, aimed to protect and raise the awareness of the natural heritage in cities and their hinterland. Its founding...
SIMBIO - Sistemi Innovativi di Mantenimento della Biodiversità
SIMBIO’s story began in 2012 when a group of passionate young people started a voluntary association to protect areas of the Amazon from deforestation.