Restoring Israel’s Natural Splendor

Established in 1978, the Quarries Rehabilitation Fund restores abandoned quarries, transforming them into well-maintained nature parks and open public spaces. Quarrying - the process of extracting rock, sand, and other minerals from the ground - adversely impacts the environment. Abandoned or partially-abandoned quarries pose health and safety risks to both people and animals.

Working closely with local authorities, the National Parks Authority, drainage authorities, and the JNF, the Fund restores environmental damage, reestablishing natural habitats and ecosystems with an emphasis on safety, accessibility, sustainability, and conservation. One of our most impressive sites is the Colors Trail in the Ramon Crater, where an abandoned quarry of more than one hundred acres was transformed into an open geological museum.

The Quarries Rehabilitation Fund returns outdoor spaces to the Israeli public. In the remote northern town of Fassuta, quarries were transformed into an open recreational area, including the municipality’s first playground. North of Eilat, in the Arava Valley, the Wadi Shchoret Quarry was magnificently rebuilt, preserving the unique Acacia trees from the mining period, and creating two huge runoff control water reservoirs.

The Fund’s board of directors is comprised of eight representatives from government ministries and authorities and is chaired by a representative of the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure.