argia.eus
INPRIMATU
Farmers and pastors in Aralar
  • I've dreamed of being a pastor since I was a kid. This year, following my interior, I bought sheep. If I had a living wage, they would end my travels to my job in Pamplona. Will the hobby someday give a trade?
Xabier Maritorena Zubieta 2018ko azaroaren 19a

I had long realized that the cows left the surroundings in the meadows next to the farm. They were exhausted and there was nothing to say about how they swept the fields with the winter rains. Around the house the sheep. Those pigs do not eat cakes or nettles, but at least they do not spoil the field. It has nothing to do with the damage that a sheep or a mare can do on the ground.

I was walking often with my uncle. With him he walked through the meadows near the mountain of Saioa. “Gaie on the mountain and kustik are the mares.” I had never put him in a bad face. He liked to climb the mountain, with a lot of difficulty, but the mares were there happy.

It is not enough for animals to eat, a balance has to be
sought if today's food is not to become anything for tomorrow.

When I would climb the hill with my uncle, while he would take a little break, I would often repeat the same thing. "Do you cover this trail?" Do you realize that you are totally devoured? All these dirty motorcycles are crumbling.”

I have tried to follow closely the controversy surrounding the Aralar tracks. You can all be part of the reason, but you are not able to listen to you. Grazing and livestock, that is, those who walk around the farmhouse, are in a critical state. The consumer wants to buy cheap and if instead of bank asparagus he can buy Peruvian asparagus at a cheaper price, he will do so in the meantime, raising the price of feed and lowering the price of milk.

Again I went to Txindoki, because I had spent my whole life there. If Aralar was so famous, he had time to walk through those mountains! I confess that I was not inspired by admiration, even though it was a beautiful place. All peaks (and not summits) are filled with stones. “Here are few fodder for sheep and cows,” I thought. I do not think there is the necessary balance. It is not enough for animals to eat, a balance has to be struck if today’s food is not to become anything for tomorrow.

And around the slopes… You will only see the runway, the funicular or the highway, those clues will not be used by domestic animals alone. It is a matter of time that simple tourists start using it to spend time. In this area of Baztan, 4x4 car brands are frequent in the mountains where they would not be needed. And the same will happen in Aralar, if it has not already happened, to start walking on the outside of the runway. There is no choice but to close the eyes of a man who does not want to see the traces of his car.

These clues are not only going to be used by domestic animals, but they are going to be seen by yourself, funicular or freeway. It's a matter of time that simple tourists start using it to spend time

I recently went to watch the film Aralar in Donostia and recommend that you see it to you, to the farmers and to the pastors in particular. The mountain is not ours, that of you, just that of the farmers and pastors. Aralar is from plants, streams, trees, mountaineers, researchers, aquifers, endangered mammals, alimoches, red thousands and other birds, mings, snakes and other endangered mammals and many more. Couldn't you see the damage you are doing in Aralar, which you like so much? I think you are running a great risk of paying a high price.

Seek among all a formula to exercise a dignified profession without causing harm to our environment, so that you can learn enough by listening to you.

In the meantime, I will continue to implement what I heard from one of those ecologist “leeks”: “On every mountain turn you give, you’ll always find garbage on the ground, take one from time to time in your pocket and then you throw it away to recycle.” Anyway, man. What “great” we are.