The director of the Biodiversity Foundation, a public foundation of the Government of Spain, under the Ministry of the Environment, Rural and Marine Affairs, Ana Leiva, participated today in Melilla in the presentation of a nursery of forest species. This initiative is part of the project “Research on the conditioning factors of nursery cultivation that influence the quality of native forest species in Melilla”, developed by Guelaya-Ecologistas en Acción Melilla and with the collaboration of the Biodiversity Foundation.

This project aims to contribute to the knowledge and conservation of the main forest species of Melilla, providing native plants of genetic and morphological quality for the recovery of SCIs (Sites of Community Importance), river channels and other local natural areas.

Among the objectives of this initiative is the production and study in a nursery, for one year, of the main native forest species of the Guelaya. To this end, a database on these species will be created based on qualitative and quantitative morphological measurements that will allow us to know the most important parameters for their cultivation and subsequent development in the field, and that will serve as a scientific basis to set the production of the plant for the Autonomous City of Melilla.

To meet these objectives, the cultivation areas will be conditioned with the installation of a greenhouse and shade; the adaptation of the work area and the leveling and placement of a weed control mesh and nursery tables. Likewise, the installation of an automatic irrigation system will be carried out, the collection and preparation of reproductive material such as seeds and cuttings; the preparation of substrates, pre-germination and sowing, cuttings and planting; the carrying out of cultivation work according to the phases of germination, growth and hardening; and measurements and data collection in the nursery of the reproductive and growth process.