Inventory Plots

In May 2024, the project design for implementing actions in the Pinus uncinata reforestation area (Phase 02) was completed, and administrative processing for its award has begun.

Slope of Cerro del Aventadero. Canton 16

At this time, all planned work, both in the Pinus sylvestris reforestation areas (Phase 01) and Pinus uncinata reforestation areas (Phase 02), has been assigned to a local company with extensive experience in forest exploitation and silvicultural operations in the region. This company is technically equipped to work in areas of very difficult access and conditions.

Work is scheduled to begin this July, taking advantage of the summer period when access conditions are most suitable in these areas, which reach 2,000 meters above sea level and have very steep slopes.

Aerial view of the area where the demonstrative forestry actions are planned to be carried out, taken during the preparation of the executive project.

The pilot actions in Els Ports Nature Park aim to create a climate-resilient forest landscape. They are divided into three sub-actions:

• Informative process to involve a broad group of landowners in the project (C3.1, completed in 2022)
• Drafting of forest planning tools for the nine participating estates (four public estates and five private estates). The Forest Management Instruments, developed in coordination with all the landowners, address forest planning at the landscape scale, covering a total of 5,474 hectares. (C3.2, completed in 2023)
• Implementation of demonstrative actions. The drafting of the executive project for the demonstrative silvicultural actions, aimed at improving forest maturity attributes and restoring open spaces for biodiversity, has been completed. Once authorized by the forest service, we will begin the process of tendering the works, scheduled for late 2024 (C3.3, ongoing).

Currently, technical assistance is being processed to support the Park staff in coordinating the approval process of the drafted Forest Management Instruments and to form a working group of technicians and landowners to promote, in the long term, the deployment and creation of the climate-resilient forest landscape.

Field visit during the preparation of the Forest Management Instruments together with owners, ranchers, technical editors and technicians of the Els Ports Natural Park.

The ESPARC 2024 Congress, organised by the Junta de Castilla-La Mancha and EUROPARC-Spain under the theme “Territories of Life,” brought together more than 170 professionals.

On June 11 and 12, Alto Tajo Nature Park hosted a technical visit of the LIFE RedBosques_Clima. It was an opportunity to revisit the available tools to enhance the forests’ capacity to adapt to climate change from the perspective of ecosystem-based adaptation. The potential for public-private collaboration was also one of the topics discussed.

During the tour, participants were able to observe firsthand the restoration of key ecological processes (such as river connectivity and necrophagy restoration), the preservation of mature stands, alternative community-based forest useinvolving several municipalities, and the restoration of herbivory through wild ungulates in areas where extensive grazing has disappeared. These topics were also discussed in the third webinar of the RedBosques_Clima project.

The event targeted administrative officials responsible for forest management and protected areas planning, with the ability to replicate the visited initiatives in other regions. Attendees included officials from Aragón, Catalonia, the Valencian Community, and Castilla-La Mancha, who are involved in developing work lines related to the content of the visit.

Additionally, it is a communication tool, intended to facilitate an organized discussion on aspects of climate change vulnerability and different management alternatives with landowners and other stakeholders involved in forest conservation and management.

The Adaptometer can be downloaded at HERE.

The LIFE RedBosques_Clima project was presented at the IV Mediterranean Biogeographic Seminar, held in Larnaca (Cyprus), from April 17 – 19 2024. The project was showcased during the “market of experiences”, where professionals from different EU countries could learn firsthand about the objectives of LIFE RedBosques_Clima and obtain documentation about it. Additionally, the event provided an opportunity to establish contacts with other projects and similar initiatives on the conservation of European forests.

This seminar is part of the biogeographic process of the Natura 2000 Network, promoted by the European Commission since 2012 to encourage the participation and cooperation of stakeholders involved in the management, evaluation, monitoring, and financing of the Natura 2000 Network at the biogeographic region level. The process is overseen by expert groups and steering committees for each biogeographic region, with representation from the European Commission, Member States, the European Topic Centre on Biological Diversity, NGOs, and independent experts, among other actors.

The LIFE Programme, as the main financial instrument for the conservation of the Natura 2000 Network, has a prominent presence in the process, which is used to promote ongoing and completed projects.

Within the framework of the LIFE Red Bosques Clima project, the fourth webinar is being convened in which the focus will be on forestry for adaptation to climate change, which will take place on April 15 from 10:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

The climate scenarios anticipate a near future with higher temperatures and lower precipitation, with a greater incidence of major droughts and more frequent and intense forest fires. Preserving the variety of services that forests provide us requires taking actions to improve their adaptive capacity, accompanying the process of change that will inevitably occur, to reduce risks. To do this, given the enormous extension of territory to be managed, and the diversity of existing situations, it will be necessary to use different tools, complementary to each other, and designed according to the characteristics of each place.
Among these tools, forestry will undoubtedly be one of the most important. The accumulated experience in forest management can be directed towards adaptation to climate change, in a manner compatible with production objectives, or biodiversity conservation.

One of the main alternatives for adapting Mediterranean forest landscapes to climate change is the generation of heterogeneous mosaics, composed patches of forest areas at different levels of maturity, along with open areas of shrubland or grassland. Together, these should present greater resilience to disturbances, especially large wild fires.

The diversity of possible situations and the magnitude of the challenge we face will require the use of different tools adapted to each context: forestry, conservation or restoration measures, the use of herbivores (domestic or wild), and paradoxically, the use of fire.

In some places, prescribed burns are beginning to be tested as a forest management tool aimed at increasing heterogeneity and reducing biomass. This event will discuss the effects of fire on ecosystems, its applicability as a management tool in protected areas, the opportunities it offers, and also the risks it represents.

We look forward to your participation! It’s free, and you can register here: