IT23-T Parco Nazionale del Gran Paradiso

The Gran Paradiso National Park (PNGP), founded in 1922, is a Public body subject to the supervision of the Italian Environmental Ministry and it is the first Italian national Park. The PNGP institutive reasons are based on wildlife and landscape conservation. The protected area was an ancient Royal hunting reserve of the Alpine ibex, which was established in 1856. For preserving the only remaining population of Alpine ibex in the Alps, extinguished from all over Europe, was established before the Royal hunting reserve and then the first Italian national Park. The Park Authority pursued the goal of environmental protection and social economic promotion of local populations, enhancing and preserving the specific environmental characteristics of the Gran Paradiso National Park and, anyway, the areas included within the perimeter of the park. The Park Authority is responsible for the conservation of 720 km2 of Alpine environments, located between 800 and 4061 m a.s.l. Specifically, the PNGP aims are represented by: management and protection of the protected area, preservation of biodiversity and landscape, scientific research, environmental education, development and promotion of sustainable tourism. The National Park owned since 1947 its vigilance service, constituted by Park Wardens, that monitor the protected area. The presence of this service allowed the beginning of many different monitoring projects, in particular focused on the presence and distribution of alpine ungulates (alpine ibex and chamois), which now represents one of the longest series available (since 1956). Through the years research and monitoring activities widely broadened and now interest the eco-ethology of different species, in particular the alpine ibex (since 1994), the chamois (since 1993) and the alpine marmot (since 2006). In 2006 started a monitoring project, focused on animal biodiversity and based on selected taxa (birds, butterflies, grasshoppers and crickets, surface active macro-arthropods). This project continued over time thanks to the cooperation with CNR-ISAC. Moreover, in 2006 started also a project devoted to the study of the ecology of alpine lakes. Main purpose is the comprehension of ecosystem functioning and the promotion of the conservation of the freshwater ecosystems.