Schinias-Marathon

Schinias-Marathon National Park was declared in 2000 in Attica, some forty kilometres north-east of Athens, and protects some 14 km² combining a coastal wetland, a shoreline pine wood and a strip of beach and sea in the bay of Marathon.

The Schinias pine wood is a stand of stone pine on sandy soil, uncommon in Attica, and the adjoining wetland is one of the last left in the Athens region after the systematic drainage of the marshes in the twentieth century. It works as a resting and feeding area for migratory birds crossing the Aegean, with herons, wildfowl, waders and wetland raptors, and it holds amphibians and reptiles tied to the seasonal waters.

Its historical significance is enormous: the plain that extends behind the wetland is the battlefield of Marathon of 490 BC, and the tumulus covering the fallen Athenians stands a short distance away. The declaration of the park in 2000 was directly linked to another circumstance: the building of the Olympic rowing and canoeing centre for the Athens 2004 Games, raised over part of the wetland. The work generated strong scientific and public controversy over its impact on the water system, and the protection was arranged in parallel as a form of compensation.