A Book of ...

The Nature Reserve is a protected area Schioppo Zompo The Region of Abruzzo included in the City of Morino (AQ). Her 1025 acres are located in the Valley Bush, deep incision that extends for about 30 km in NW-SE direction in the heart of the Lazio-Abruzzo, between the Regional Park of Simbruinis and the National Park of Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise.
It is very interesting to try to "read" in this area the variety of environmental and human components; their integration is derived from a complex landscape and recognizable. Cultivated fields, vineyards and woods with stately oak trees characterize the areas closest to the town while in the higher areas, columnar beech and yew inhabit the forest crossed by the stream Romito.
At the top of the reliefs, on sunny walls and overhanging comes the spectacular natural waterfall Zompo the Schioppo. The aquifer, contained in a system of karst caves still unknown, rises in response to winter precipitation, flows and generates the waterfall right at the contact between the two rows of limestone and impermeable rocks underlying. These mountains have witnessed many times in the centuries to disastrous earthquakes, the last of which was that of 13 January 1915, which led to a turning point in the environmental and social character of the Valley Bush.
The abandonment of the medieval settlements and displacement of settlements towards the valley floor, close to the communication routes, have resulted in the "splitting" of the urban centers, with the new building next to the old nuclei ruderizzati.
This is still one of the most noticeable features of the built landscape and social relations between the inhabitants, divided between the three different groups of Morino, Grancia and Rendinara.

Water ...

Hidden from view, the water flows inside the mountain, creeps in karst valleys, wells and sinkholes, pushing between the fissured limestone rocks that form these mountains. Fills caves, digs conducted and resurfaces in copious springs. Among these, Schioppo that gushes from a vertical wall and creates a spectacular waterfall over 130 meters in height: is one of the rare karst springs intermittent Apennines; has been active in the spring when the water table rises to the melting of snow at high altitude.

Forests ...

From mountain peaks to valleys cultivated, the vegetation is very diverse and species-rich rare and valuable. Willows and Poplars, with black alder, along the banks of the river, while Mosses and liverworts form a soft carpet on the rocks near the waterfall.
Below this, an unusually low altitude (700 slm), resists a forest of beech, with many secular examples. On the cliffs, with a favorable microclimate, took office the Holm; Hop hornbeam, Orniello, Country Steel, Cerro, make up the forest in the lower range.
And also a population of Tasso (Taxus baccata) of considerable importance, the subject of an intervention funded by the European Union: the LIFE project "Conservation of Apennine beech woods with Taxus and Ilex".

Experiences ...

One hundred ways of thinking, to speak, to listen ... a hundred ways to smile and discover.
And 'thinking about these one hundred (and many more) ways of being and feeling, that the Reserve conducts its activities to raise awareness and environmental education, with the primary objective to reflect on “sustainability- indefensibility” of socio-economic models in place.
In the Reserve are working to help citizens to be active participants in decisions affecting
the area in which they live, to improve the quality of life and environment.