Line of action:

Terrestrial ecosystems

Status:

En ejecución

Location:

Asturias (Principado de Asturias), León (Castilla y León) and Cantabria (Cantabria).

Geographic scope:

España

Execution date:

2024

Duration:

01/01/2024 - 31/12/2025

Typology:

Sustainable forest management

Total budget:

2,026,790.40 euros

Amount of aid from the Biodiversity Foundation:

1,925,450.86 euros

Chestnut groves are complex and rich social-ecological systems, but they are highly threatened as a productive system and cultural landscape. Rural depopulation, socioeconomic changes, diseases and pests have led to the progressive abandonment of traditional cultural management practices, resulting in their degradation and a reduction in chestnut production and quality. In a Cantabrian scenario with oak and beech forests, neighboring in their production of autumn resources for the bear, the chestnut tree is a species of high interest due to its constant production of fruit, increasingly important as the bear population grows, as more bear herds are active during the winter and in the face of climate change perspectives. It forms forests rich in biodiversity, highlighting groups such as forest birds. It is a species that generates a sustainable, dynamic and social bioeconomy.

This project enhances the value of traditional fruiting chestnut groves through: the treatment and recovery of old abandoned chestnut groves; the conversion of chestnut undergrowth to forest; and the planting of new chestnut trees grafted with local varieties, some of which are at risk of disappearing or have not been catalogued. Local green jobs are generated, prioritizing rural women. The training and education of workers and owners interested in the management and cultural and phytosanitary treatments of chestnut trees is essential to promote an activity with great labor demand and potential as a driver of rural development. The actions are carried out under collaboration and stewardship agreements with landowners. The project fulfills different forestry and environmental strategies, has specialized scientific teams and contributes to the improvement of information and knowledge for good practices in the management of chestnut groves in bear areas, their importance for bears and forest birds and the economic valuation of the ecosystem services generated.

The main objective of this project is to contribute to the recovery, expansion and enhancement of traditional chestnut groves in the bear areas of the Cantabrian Mountains as ecosystems that generate bioeconomy, green employment and rural development and are of great interest for the brown bear and biodiversity.

 

• Signing of collaboration agreements and land stewardship agreements with landowners.
• Recovery treatments of traditional chestnut groves for the production of chestnuts and the provision of ecosystem services.
• Plantation of native chestnut trees grafted with local varieties from bear areas.
• Generation of high-demand green and local employment, education and training in the treatment, conservation and valorization of traditional chestnut groves, giving priority to rural women.
• Valorization of bears and chestnut trees as sustainable tourism assets.
• Improvement of information and scientific knowledge for the management of chestnut groves in bear areas, their importance for bears, forest avifauna and biodiversity, and the valuation for the forest bioeconomy of the ecosystem services they generate.
• Communication and awareness-raising activities.