Protecting the Matese Park

The WWF guards - provincial unit of Caserta - carried out another voluntary environmental surveillance service within the Matese Park, with the coordination of environmental surveillance desired by the Park's president, Agostino Navarra. Initially, checks were carried out for the prevention of forest fires and to prevent illegal waste dumping but, during the patrol, the WWF guards came across some illegal mushroom foragers in the forest area of the municipality of San Gregorio Matese, not far from the park area known as 'Campo rotondo'. The illegal practice was sanctioned with fines for the individuals checked. The phenomenon of illegal harvesting of mushrooms and other natural products is widespread and becomes dangerous when foragers are not authorized and, above all, not specifically trained to distinguish edible mushroom species from poisonous ones, sometimes even deadly. It should be noted that one of the mushrooms collected at the end of June 2023 in the Matese Park and seized by the WWF was found to be poisonous. In this regard, the provincial surveillance unit will also intensify this type of control to protect nature and biodiversity for the well-being of the environment and to safeguard the health of citizens.