Biodiversity in Quarries: When Natural Areas Restauration Meet Social Sensibilization

Given the ecological (scarcity of calcareous soils in Belgium) and social potential (Beez is located near Namur, with all level schools), our project aims to combine the restoration of high-ecological-potential biotopes with an education-to-Nature development.

Our goal is :

- Restoring a calcareous fallow land in the West of the study area (~1 ha). This area will host a site-specific flora and fauna. This is a rare vegetation in our region because these species have southern requirements. These have virtually disappeared in Belgium. The permeability of the limestone gives to these trays a warm microclimate quite exceptional for our latitudes. It could also provide a starting point for the natural process of reconstitution of the climax forest ;

- the creation of three artificial floating islands on the settling pond. These islands will provide an original valuation of the pond that will easily be colonized by wildlife;

- the installation of a viewpoint providing views towards the artificial islands, the limestone cliff on which several species of raptors - as the Peregrine Falcon - nest, as well as calcareous grassland restored ;