Save the Saint Anastasia Gorge

The Environmental Program entitled "The Gorge of Saint Anastasia, Ways of Environmental Downgrading," is taking place during the school year 2008-09, by the environmental team of the Iraklion Art School, which I am honoured to coordinate. The objective of the program is to showcase the Saint Anastasia Gorge, which is found in the Gouves township, but begins at the Kenourgio Horio in the Episkopi municipality. The gorge has taken its name from the small church of Saint Anastasia that is found in the beginning of the gorge on the side of Kenourgio Horio.

It can be walked in all seasons, with small water torrents visible during the season of big rainfalls.

We can include it in the natural monuments that have suffered damage, as it has been certified by public services (Environmental Agency, Forestry).

The damage, which is located mainly in the section found in the Gouves municipality, are mostly due to the devastation suffered from the Anopolis quarries and Tsimendothomi.

During the rainy season, inert materials and cement flow down and end up at the seabed of the gorge, resulting in the creation of a thick layer of inert materials, muddy silt and other noxious deposits.

Damage has also been caused by the non-controlled activities of the shepherds, who, in their effort to shape string paths on the gorge's walls, threw boulders from its sides down to the seabed. This added to the alteration of the national environment and contributed to the burying of natural springs which used to continually flow, creating small lake-like bodies of water.