Nature Trust concerned about valley's fate

Nature Trust (Malta) said on Wednesday that the valleys of Buskett and Baħrija are being destroyed.

At Wied il-Luq, limits of Buskett, tractors have disturbed the sensitive valley bed, which is home to restricted watercourse vegetation communities, including species such as the Blue Speedwell Veronica anagallis-aquatica, and the Compact Galingale Cyperus longus. A patch of Cyperus longus has been completely wiped out. Educational activities planned on site were rendered impossible because of the damage to the path near the watercourse.

Nature Trust said tractors also disturbed other sensitive and protected flora in the area, particularly on a patch inhabited by the Stinking Iris Iris foetidissima, a species of wild Iris only found in the Maltese Islands. The valley bed is also populated by Malta’s only amphibian, the Painted Frog, which is protected by law. Because of a lack of law enforcement, people are also still seen collecting tadpoles in jars.

As for the Baħrija valley, Nature Trust said that rubble and fresh tracks indicate that illegal activity has been taking place at the exact location of the habitat of the Maltese Freshwater Crab. Part of the stream alongside a rubble wall has been filled with soil and no water streams run through this protected site any longer.

Furthermore, reeds found close to the area have been cut down and burnt. The reeds used to form a canopy over small pool where freshwater crabs had been observed over a number of years.