On Sunday, October 25, the XVI Transhumance Festival was held in Madrid, an example of sustainable livestock practice, strongly linked to the territory. The Secretary of State for Rural Affairs and Water and President of the Biodiversity Foundation, Josep Puxeu, and the Director of the Biodiversity Foundation, Ana Leiva, participated in the celebration.

In this way, they have expressed the support of the Government of Spain for shepherds and this livestock practice, thanks to which natural itineraries have reached the present day that have been, over centuries, true ecological corridors that link man with his landscape.

Transhumant grazing is respectful of natural resources and ecological cycles, so that it contributes to the prevention of fires and the dispersal of seeds and, therefore, favours wild biodiversity in flora and fauna associated with livestock. In addition, it allows the legacy of domestic native breeds to be kept alive, selected and adapted for millennia to each territory.

The regulations on the National Network of Livestock Trails, in which all the ravines and those other livestock routes that guarantee their continuity are integrated, makes them one more instrument of nature conservation policy, while making it possible for them to be used culturally and enjoyed by all citizens.

Highlighting the value of cattle trails

The Biodiversity Foundation collaborates in the development of several projects that contribute to highlighting the traditional grazing practices of our country and the National Network of Livestock Trails. Among them, it is worth highlighting the creation of two dissemination centers and other activities around livestock trails.
One of them is the documentation and information center for cattle trails in Malpartida, Cáceres, which will be inaugurated soon. The centre, which is intended to be a scientific benchmark for the activity, aims to disseminate the heritage, natural and development values of the National Network of Livestock Trails, thus allowing the extension of the uses of these roads.

The other transhumance activity centre supported by the Biodiversity Foundation is Brieva de Cameros, in the mountains of La Rioja, where the aim is to develop the area socially and touristically, offering visitors the possibility of getting closer to the historical heritage of transhumance.

In the Basque Country, another associated project is being developed, in this case within the framework of the Empleaverde Programme. The initiative, led by the Society of Basque Studies, has the mission of studying and transmitting good practices in the management of mountain pastures to shepherds.

Also within the framework of the Empleaverde Programme, the Foundation supports the “Cayado y zurrón” project, of the Directorate of Rural Development of the Junta de Extremadura, which consists of an extensive training plan (livestock management, feeding and veterinary care) with the aim of enhancing the figure of the shepherd.

Finally, the Biodiversity Foundation also collaborates with the production of the ten-episode documentary series “Transhumant Footprints, Transhumance in Spain”, co-produced by Domingo Moreno Producciones Cinematográficas, Canal Odisea and Spanish Television, and soon to be broadcast by this channel. The series will show the present of one of the most important natural, economic and cultural phenomena in the history of Spain and also aims to contribute to the declaration of the National Network of Livestock Trails as an itinerary of European Cultural Heritage.