In the Basque Country Autonomous Community, a first exercise was carried out between 2018 and 2019 for the establishment of a Mature Forest Network. Thanks to their effort, it was possible to select, characterise and map stands with a high degree of maturity in forest habitats, with the aim of serving as a reference for these habitats in the territory of the Basque Country.
In the first phase, a documentary and cartographic analysis was carried out, followed by interviews with experts, from which a pre-selection of a total of 52 mature stands was made. Subsequently, the pre-selected stands were prospected in the field, in order to proceed to the final selection, by means of the analysis of maturity indicators. Finally, 25 stands were selected as candidates to form part of the Network of mature forests, nine of which are being evaluated in more detail as part of the work of the current LIFE RedBosques Clima to become part of the Reference Stands Network in Spain.
More information: Jose Luis Atutxa Lapatza, jl-atutxa@euskadi.eus
