Number and characteristics

The number of community woodlands in Galicia is high and continues to increase as new woodlands are classified. By the end of 2018 there were a total of 3,312 community woodlands in common ownership classified across the four Galician provinces.

The distribution of community woodlands across the Galician territory is not uniform, either in number or in area, with some areas where this type of property makes up the majority of the forest area and others where its presence is minimal. If their distribution is considered at a provincial level, Ourense stands out, where almost 38 per cent of all the community forests in Galicia are located (1,258 forests in 2018). In contrast, the province of A Coruña has only 297 community forests classified as such in that year.

In 2018, the average area of community woodlands in Galicia was just over 200.55 hectares. The average area of community woodlands in Lugo and Ourense was around 220 hectares, while those in A Coruña and Pontevedra were somewhat smaller, at around 160 hectares.

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[1] With two exceptions to this characteristic: expropriation and exchange.

[2] Many community woodlands in Galicia (especially in the provinces of Lugo and Ourense) have been divided or distributed into “sorts” or “tenzas”, as if they were private plots, a division that is illegal for the purposes of acquiring ownership; therefore, regardless of how much time has passed since that distribution, they remain community woodlands.