The Countryside Minister will visit community woodlands in southern Pontevedra, accompanied by directors of the Galician Forestry Association.
In response to an invitation from the Forestry Association of Galicia, on Wednesday 13 December the Counsellor for Rural Affairs, accompanied by the Director General of Forestry Planning and Production, the Territorial Head for Pontevedra and the Provincial Heads of Forests and Forest Fires, will visit the headquarters of the Forestry Association of Galicia and several community-owned woodlands in southern Pontevedra. The primary aim of this visit is for the Councillor to learn first-hand about the proposal for a forest restoration plan for the montes burnt this year.
The Councillor will meet at the Cultural Centre of Xinzo (Ponteareas) with representatives and technicians from the Galician Forestry Association and representatives of several community woodlands, and will include a visit to the community woodlands of the Condado-Paradanta region.
Directors and technicians from the Galician Forestry Association, accompanied by presidents of local community woodlands, presented the report to the Minister on the damage to the woodland of the Association's members in the province of Pontevedra, caused by the fires last October, which recorded losses amounting to €18,938,078. A restoration plan for the burnt forests will also be presented to the Minister.
These proposals are set within the framework of the forestry sector agreement on burnt forests that the collective organisations of the Galician forestry sector recently submitted to the Ministry. The meeting will analyse the forest policy measures that the forest owners associated with the Galician Forestry Association consider indispensable for inclusion in the Galician Forestry Plan, which is currently being drafted and will shape the future of Galicia's forests in the years to come.
The visit is being awaited with great anticipation by the forest owners affected by the fires, who hope to convey to him the need for the Administration to respond with a well-structured plan to recover the lost forest, cultural and economic heritage, shared with all Galician society, which uses and enjoys it free of charge.
To conclude the day, there will be a visit to several neighbouring community woodlands where sustainable forest management has been carried out for years: woodlands with an orderation plan, forest certification and capitalised.
