Giant Reeds, Eucalyptus Trees and Rubbish Destroy a River in Portugal

Ribeira do Marchante is a vanishing river

There is a river in Quinta do Conde in Portugal known as the Ribeira do Marchante or the Ribeira de Coina. It was once a navigable river that had a lot of water and even supported rice fields back in the 1800s. Today it can be difficult to see, and difficult to find any stretches of water that are not choked with Giant Reeds (Arundo donax) and other vegetation.

In the droughts that are now a new normal in Portugal due to Climate Change, the bed of this river is often dry for much of its course, and for much of the year. Rubbish and fly-tipping litter its banks and surrounding areas.

Some of this trash is in the river itself. This river is disappearing. The land next to it has many Eucalyptus trees. They are known to take a lot of groundwater from any land they are growing in. This non-endemic tree is adding to the threats to the river’s health. I have lived in Quinta do Conde for eight years and have seen the Ribeira do Marchante in much better condition in the first years I was here. In the past I have seen ducks swimming on it, Iberian Water Frogs (Pelophylax perezi)

in many parts, and I have even seen a rare European Pond Tortoise (Emys orbicularis) dive into the water. On World Rivers Day (24 September), with the EcoGrupo Trevo, local environmental conservation group, I went walking the route of the Ribeira do Marchante, including a part that I was not familiar with. I was horrified to see how much Giant Reed is now growing in and along the river. If it continues like this there will be no water flowing. The Giant Reed is an invasive species and creates problems in many parts of the world. It is resistant to fires because it can regenerate, it uses up a lot of water, its roots go deep into the soil making it hard to remove, it spreads rapidly, it grows very quickly, and it displaces native vegetation while destroying wildlife habitat. As for the Eucalyptus trees, several years ago a team of men cut down some of the trees near the Sports Stadium, which is close to the river. However, they left the stumps and soon after the trees sprouted again. 

The Eucalyptus recovers quickly when felled, and also regenerates after being burned in wildfires. This tree is causing a big problem in many parts of Portugal. In addition to all this, paths through the woodland on the banks of the river are being churned up by trail bike riders, people on 4-wheelers, and we even encountered a car actually driving along the riverbed in one part. All of this causes sand to wash down into the river in storms. My conclusion is that the Ribeira do Marchante needs help, and needs help urgently or it will continue to decline fast and will eventually be no more than a memory. I am a member of ESRAG (Environmental Sustainability Rotary Action Group) and this group is very concerned with restoration of rivers and wetland. There is an Adopt a River group. I am also an active member in SAVE THE FROGS! a charitable organisation that, as its name suggests, is dedicated to saving frogs and other amphibians worldwide. There are grants available from Rotary and from SAVE THE FROGS to fund the sort of work that would be needed to save the Ribeira do Marchante. I am hoping that the money can be found to fund a restoration project. I think something should be done to halt the destruction of this river before it is too late.

Portuguese:

A Ribeira do Marchante é um rio em extinção

Existe um rio na Quinta do Conde em Portugal conhecido como Ribeira do Marchante ou Ribeira de Coina. Já foi um rio navegável que tinha muita água e até sustentava campos de arroz no século XIX. Hoje pode ser difícil ver e encontrar trechos de água que não estejam obstruídos por Canas/Juncos gigantes (Arundo donax) e outras vegetações. Nas secas que são agora uma nova normalidade em Portugal devido às Alterações Climáticas, o leito deste rio fica frequentemente seco durante grande parte do seu curso e durante grande parte do ano. Lixo e despejos espalhados pelas margens e áreas adjacentes. Parte desse lixo está no próprio rio. Este rio está desaparecendo. O terreno ao lado possui muitos eucaliptos. Sabe-se que retiram muita água subterrânea de qualquer terreno onde crescem. Esta árvore não endémica está a aumentar as ameaças à saúde do rio. Moro na Quinta do Conde há oito anos e vi a Ribeira do Marchante em muito melhores condições nos primeiros anos que aqui estive. No passado, vi patos nadando nele, rãs d'água ibéricas (Pelophylax perezi) em muitas partes, e até vi uma rara tartaruga europeia (Emys orbicularis) mergulhar na água.

No Dia Mundial dos Rios (24 de Setembro), com o EcoGrupo Trevo, grupo local de conservação ambiental, fui percorrer o percurso da Ribeira do Marchante, incluindo uma parte que não conhecia. Fiquei horrorizado ao ver quanto Cana está crescendo agora dentro e ao longo do rio. Se continuar assim não haverá água fluindo. A Cana é uma espécie invasora e cria problemas em muitas partes do mundo. É resistente ao fogo porque pode se regenerar, consome muita água, suas raízes penetram profundamente no solo dificultando sua remoção, se espalha rapidamente, cresce muito rapidamente e desloca a vegetação nativa ao mesmo tempo que destrói o habitat da vida selvagem. Quanto aos eucaliptos, há vários anos uma equipa de homens derrubou algumas árvores perto do Estádio Desportivo, que fica perto do rio. Porém, eles abandonaram os tocos e logo depois as árvores voltaram a brotar. O eucalipto se recupera rapidamente quando derrubado, e também se regenera após ser queimado em incêndios florestais. Esta árvore está a causar um grande problema em muitas zonas de Portugal.Além de tudo isso, os caminhos pela mata às margens do rio estão sendo agitados por ciclistas de trilha, pessoas em veículos de quatro rodas, e até encontramos um carro passando pelo leito do rio em um trecho. Tudo isso faz com que a areia desça para o rio durante as tempestades. A minha conclusão é que a Ribeira do Marchante precisa de ajuda, e precisa de ajuda urgentemente ou continuará a diminuir rapidamente e acabará por não passar de uma memória.Sou membro do ESRAG (Grupo de Ação Rotary para Sustentabilidade Ambiental) e este grupo está muito preocupado com a restauração de rios e zonas húmidas. Existe um grupo Adote um Rio.

Também sou um membro ativo do SAVE THE FROGS! uma organização de caridade que, como o próprio nome sugere, se dedica a salvar sapos e outros anfíbios em todo o mundo. Existem subsídios disponíveis do Rotary e da SAVE THE FROGS para financiar o tipo de trabalho que seria necessário para salvar a Ribeira do Marchante. Espero que o dinheiro possa ser encontrado para financiar um projeto de restauração. Penso que algo deveria ser feito para impedir a destruição deste rio antes que seja tarde demais.

SAVE THE FROGS DAY 2022 Report from Portugal

 Special report from Quinta do Conde for SAVE THE FROGS Day! 

With my friend, fellow singer-songwriter Ana Lisa Meier, for this year's SAVE THE FROGS Day, we decided to create a report about frogs and wetlands in the Quinta do Conde area of Portugal where we are. Ana is very lucky because she has a colony of Iberian Water Frogs in her garden. They live in, and around, the two garden ponds, which shows how valuable ponds like this are when it comes to amphibian conservation.  Here I am enjoying listening to the frogs and the birds singing.

We went to explore the wetland areas near where we live, took some photos and captured some video footage there. There is an area of wetland behind a sports stadium that depends on a lot of winter and spring rainfall to be of any use to amphibians. This year the rains came very late, after a winter drought, presumably due to the Climate Crisis. The water sadly drains away fast and feeds a river nearby, as well as being absorbed by the sandy ground. I feel this area could be greatly improved as a wetland habitat if some restoration work was done there so that the water was retained longer. 

We went to look at the river, which some years gets nearly dried up, although there are usually some pools left standing. Frogs can be found here and at this time of year you can hear Iberian Water Frogs singing, though they are very difficult to spot. 

 

I once saw a European Pond Tortoise here too. I wasn't able to get a photo because it dived in the water. This species is endangered, so I was pleased to see that at least one was surviving in a wildlife habitat near where I live.  Further along this river there is a bridge and the frogs can be heard loudly there, although we were unable to actually see any. They stop calling when you approach. 

Sadly right by this bridge we encountered some highly polluted water from a drain entering the river. This is really bad because this river feeds an Ecology Park further along its course.  Water pollution is a serious threat to amphibians, fish and other wildlife. 

Back by the stadium and right by a main road are a lot of temporary pools that fill up in winter and spring and are always used by local amphibians. Tadpoles can be seen in the cloudy water but it is always a race against time for them because the pools always dry up, leaving just cracked mud until next rainy season. making the situation worse, people enjoy driving through these pools. I once saw a vehicle stuck in one of them with the mud flying up. I must admit I thought it was funny and had no sympathy for the driver. It was as if this was "Instant karma."

 

Ana and I next went to take a look around the Ecology Park of Quinta do Conde, a place I have written about before in this blog. There is a small lake there and when I last visited, it was full of water and there were plenty of frogs about. Sadly this was not the case this time, though Ana spotted one tadpole. The water was very low and we discovered yet another source of pollution because there was oil floating on the surface at one end of the lake and a trickle of oily water entering it there. Someone had thrown a shopping trolley into the water and a landing stage for visitors to stand on to get a better look over the water had been demolished for some reason. 

 

The Ecology Park was showing neglect and was disappointing, although there are extensive reed beds there, and many other smaller pools and dykes in an area used for allotments that local people grow fruit and vegetables in. Because the water was so low in the lake I thought that Herons and Storks had probably caught a lot of the frogs and any fish that live there. Storks congregate in the fields next to the park, and Herons are also seen here. Storks and Herons, of course, have to find food, and are just as important as frogs. Although our visit to this park was somewhat disappointing, it fitted in with what we were trying to do, which was to conduct an exploration of our neighbourhood, to keep things local. I think it is important for anyone who wants to help with conservation of amphibians and other species of wildlife, to do what you can in the area you live in. This applies wherever you are in the world. If you have found this report interesting and would like to find out more about what you can do to help SAVE THE FROGS, please visit the SAVE THE FROGS website! Now I'm off to help SAVE THE FROGS!