Environmental Education Camp of Santo da Serra - Eva and Américo Durão

On April 9, 2019, Mrs. Eva de Freitas Durão signed the deed of donation of a rural property to the Associação dos Amigos do Parque Ecológico do Funchal (Association of Friends of the Ecological Park of Funchal), with the aim of creating a landscape unit dedicated to nature conservation and the promotion of environmental education activities.

The Environmental Education Camp of Santo da Serra – Eva and Américo Durão, with an area of 8.7 hectares, is located between 650 and 700 meters altitude, in the center of the parish of Santo António da Serra, district of Santa Cruz, Madeira Island (32º 72' N – 16º 82' W).

This landscaped forest, predominantly populated by Laurissilva trees, has plants from all over the world, is home to an interesting variety of mushrooms, a wide variety of insects and offers refuge to native and migratory birds.

The house was restored, offering visitors an exhibition on the association's history and a library.

Volunteers and hired staff have been working hard to clear and maintain trails, eradicate invasive plants, clear dead branches, plant endemic and native species that were previously absent or strengthen those that were sparsely represented. All the tree species of the Laurissilva are present in the Camp; most shrubs are already thriving and herbaceous plants are becoming more prominent in the understory.

We would love to have more volunteers for these persistent and relentless tasks, but unfortunately, there are many people talking about the environment, perorating about climate change and biodiversity restoration, but few are willing to wake up early and pick up a hoe to plant trees.

On our guided tours, we try to convey the message that there's more to the world than the internet. That we can experience happy moments without cell phones and that we won't survive without plants, clean air and clear water.

In June 2019, while clearing the southwestern corner of the Camp, we noticed that a red oak (Quercus robur), planted at the dawn of the 20th century, was embracing a bay laurel (Laurus novocanariensis), which had sprouted and grown alongside it on its own. Noticing the old oak's weakened branch, the laurel decided to put out a new shoot, protecting it on days of gusty winds.

The tender embrace between an evergreen tree, emblematic of the Madeira Laurissilva, and an oak, a worthy representative of the deciduous oak forests of the Iberian Peninsula, inspired the creation of the logo for the Environmental Education Camp of Santo da Serra – Eva and Américo Durão.

NATUREZA COM TERNURA (NATURE WITH TENDERNESS) is the idea behind the project developed by ECOAMA – Associação dos Amigos dos Ecossistemas do Arquipélago da Madeira (Association of Friends of the Ecosystems of Madeira Archipelago) formerly the Association of Freinds of the Ecological Park of Funchal.