NATUR-SMART.- Meeting and visit to the Galician pilot areas
The NATUR-SMART project, Conservation of biodiversity through integrated agroforestry management models and the creation of associative networks, which received just over one and a half million euros from the Biodiversity Foundation last year, met for the fourth time, in Galicia, on October 1, 2 and 3, with the coordination of COSE, the Confederation of Forestry Organizations of Spain. The project is implementing different models of integrated agroforestry management and the creation of associative networks with a gender approach to promote forest management on private forest lands.
In the current context of climate change and to increase the resistance and resilience of forest systems in these pilot areas, the diversification of the types of exploitation will be carried out, the inclusion of ecological restoration methods, the valuation of ecosystem services and biodiversity conservation, and adaptive and participatory management.
On day 1, a project management meeting took place with the introduction and general summary of the project, by Patricia Gómez, manager of COSE. Subsequently, the actions were presented and the indicators and results, proposals, changes and modifications were specified, as well as the budget review and the resolution of doubts.
On October 2nd, a visit to the pilot area of Vilar took place in Folgoso do Courel, in Lugo, formed by communal and private forest. This forest, which burned in the summer of 2022, is within the Natura 2000 Network in an area of high ecological interest in the Serra do Courel. Several actions are being carried out on the land to regenerate the forest mass cut down after the fire and promote multifunctional use with different types of forest uses, compatible with the characteristics of each action area. Among others, work is being done on the recovery of an old path, clearing, selection of buds and pruning, mowing to recover a pasture and the establishment of a small plantation of aromatic and medicinal plants.
In the afternoon the group attended a screening of the documentary film “Corre o vento”, by local filmmaker Paula Fuentes and Guillermo Carrera, ending the day with a guided tour by the president and technician of the Montañas do Courel Geopark to the Campodola-Leixazós geological fold.
On 3 October, a visit was made to Entreoslameiros, a joint management group of privately owned forests located in Lousado, in the municipality of Piñor, Ourense. The forest is dominated by a mass of naturally regenerated Galician pine (Pinus pinaster), where preventive and multifunctional forestry will be carried out, highlighting the interspersed granite outcrops and stone ditches that separate the plots.
It also has a mass of deciduous broadleaves, where the elimination of invasive species, the control of the bush to reduce the risk of forest fire spread and promote the mycological production of the area and nature tourism is planned. In those areas where pine trees are interspersed, these should be progressively removed. This mass may be used for firewood for domestic use. This area has a relevant protective interest for biodiversity and water resources and will be eligible for certification as a biodiversity ecosystem service.
NATUR-SMART has the support of the Fundación Biodiversidad of the Ministerio para la Transición Ecológica y el Reto Demográfico (MITECO) within the framework of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR), financed by the European Union – NextGenerationEU.
