Line of action:

Terrestrial ecosystems

Status:

En ejecución

Location:

León (Castilla y León)

Geographic scope:

España

Execution date:

2024

Duration:

01/01/2024 - 31/12/2025

Typology:

Ecological restoration

Total budget:

915,166.26 euros

Amount of aid from the Biodiversity Foundation:

869,407.95 euros

The Juntas Vecinales, minor local entities and owners of most of the Spanish forests, have been suffering from depopulation and the abandonment of traditional uses, with the loss of valuable habitats associated with pastoralist cultures, resulting in landscapes that are excessively exposed to fires. This situation, aggravated by climate change, calls for the application of management models that make the production of environmental goods and services compatible in a sustainable manner, while at the same time improving their conservation status and their capacity to adapt to climate change.

The area of the Cabrera region is one of the most representative places of the so-called empty Spain, with a density of inhabitants per square kilometer of 0.4, which is why it is considered a human desert. At the same time, it is a natural jewel both for its natural values and its landscapes. It has the potential to generate sustainable initiatives that contribute to the development of the region and that can be taken into account by other neighboring neighborhood councils. In this scenario, the objectives of the project propose a series of actions to be carried out by local companies through synergies established with other public and private entities. For all these reasons, the project is unique and will undoubtedly serve as an inspiration for the future of the area.

Contribute to the implementation of the European Biodiversity Strategies, from the Field to the Table, and the European Forestry Strategy through a profitable ecological transition and with a future for the mountains of the Leonese Cabrera, at risk of disappearance and with threatened biodiversity, but with transformative potential to provide multiple positive externalities to society, by implementing sustainable production models based on Forestry Close to Nature (with scientific-technical basis), contributing to improve the adaptation and greater resilience of these forests to climate change, favoring their conservation and the maintenance of their productive, environmental and social functions. In short, to undertake actions aimed at enhancing the ecosystem services of the forest through the active management of the habitats present, the recovery of traditional uses, the promotion of new uses and the promotion of ecotourism.

This project aims to carry out the GFS -Global Forecast System- in native pine/heathland and grassland areas, increasing biodiversity, improving habitat and reducing the risk of fire in areas at high risk of depopulation (Sierra La Cabrera -León-).

Regarding sustainable forest management, planning actions are included with the development of a technical report for the inclusion of Valdavido in the Natura 2000 Network and to provide a management and planning instrument to the Valldavido Neighborhood Council. It also includes the improvement of fluvial habitats of the Eria River. Specifically:

• planting of 15,000 trees in a reforested area of 20 ha.
• maintain and/or restore the ecosystem mosaic of 12 ha of heathland scrub and 20 ha of mountain pasture.
• work in 10 hygro-turbid areas (6 ha of priority habitats)
• improvement of fluvial habitats of the Eria river in 1,150 meters (spawning area).
• forestry works on 46.50 hectares (16.5 hectares of heathland and 30 hectares of pine forest).

Regarding the bioeconomy, the aim is to improve the carrying capacity of the habitats; reduce the risk of fire; recover the native forest; promote ecotourism and traditional uses (development of agricultural and livestock practices, harvesting management, hedge planting, clearing, sowing with seeds, etc.) and promote new uses (beekeeping, carbon credits, ecotourism, biochar, use of resin and heather, mycorrhizae, creation of a mini-photographic observatory, etc.).