In the Friuli lowland, since the end of XX century, there has been a large wet area – about 6,000 hectares – created after the last glaciation by the continuous surfacing of underground calcareous water coming from the eastern Prealps. The spring water flowed freely among gravels and sands creating pools, streams and wide alkaline fens alternated by wet meadows on clayed humps.
Only few sporadic fragments of this extraordinary habitat survived after the XX century land reclamations and they are scattered between high productiveness cornfields, hybrid poplar plantations and fisheries.
The incredible floristic richness of those areas - called Resurgences – is at high-risk: the alkaline fen endemic plant populations and the other rare species are in unceasing decline because of the lowering of water table and the dry spells that affect Friuli more and more frequently.