The Serra de Collserola natural park has begun this morning the felling of 200 dead trees, most of them pines, due to the persistent drought and to a lesser extent due to the plague of the boring beetle, in the surroundings of the Vallvidrera FGC stop . “We have started in a very frequented area due to the risk of falling,” says Raimon Roda, managing director of this protected space. Likewise, the aim is to clean and fluff the forest in the face of the danger of fires.
Forest management is one of the most urgent challenges in a very dense and populated forest area. The Vallvidrera station, near the Els Xiprers school, the Verdaguer-Vil.la Joana Museum and also the park’s information center, is one of the places where the impact of the drought is most apparent.
In addition to the removal of dead pines and the most weakened ones, during the next few days the oak shoots will be selected to promote the recovery of the forest. The workers will crush branches shorter than seven centimeters to incorporate organic matter into the soil. “The wood that is used will be used to repair the park furniture and for biomass,” details Roda.
The managing director indicates that in recent years 300 dead pine trees have been cut down in Can Caralleu and Cuca de Llum and that actions are planned in the future at some points on the Aigües road. The work will continue for 30 days; The first two weeks will focus on felling and the last two on removing the wood. Barcelona City Council has allocated 67,000 euros to this action.
The main challenge faced by the Collserola park consortium is to improve the state of the forests due to the high risk of fires due to the long drought and high temperatures. Faced with a stagnant budget, Collserola opts for subsidies to have more resources to deepen forestry actions. In this sense, the Biodiversity Foundation has recently denied the aid of 800,000 euros requested for a sustainable forest management project, regrets Roda. In March, they will participate with Creaf, the AMB and other entities in a call for the Life Program of 1.3 million euros, also for forestry and agricultural improvement. Another line explored is to obtain funds from companies that would act as patrons; However, to date no agreement has been reached along these lines.
It should be remembered that the Department of Climate Action committed last January to increase its economic participation in the budget of the natural park from 200,000 euros to 1.2 million.