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INPRIMATU
Sol expresses its concern about the construction projects of four slopes in the Aizkorri-Aratz Natural Park
  • In the Aizkorri-Aratz Natural Park and Special Conservation Area (ZEC), in the municipalities of Zerain and Oñati, the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa is working on the construction of four forest tracks on a mountain of good local people and some private plots, respectively. It is taking place in a protected territory within the framework of the Natura 2000 Network and the Ecological Corridors Network of the Basque Country.
Eguzki Talde Ekologista @EguzkiEH 2018ko uztailaren 20a

The proposal for these new tracks of more than 7.5 km must be framed in the forestry policy implemented by the Provincial Council in recent decades, where among others the public mountains have been used to obtain raw material for the different private industries linked to wood.

A direct consequence of this forestry policy has been the transformation of numerous forest areas in Gipuzkoa into authentic biological deserts, with the disappearance of their natural habitats and populations of wild flora and fauna species.

Objective of the 7.5 km of forest tracks to be built within the Natura 2000 Network, to open the way to forest trucks and tractors to cut wood from different coniferous masses: the Larcius Pine, the Douglas Fir and the Alerting. In fact, in the case of borontate in the Diputación, there is the possibility of using other soft techniques such as air cable, for example.

Of the 200,000 hectares that Gipuzkoa covers, the area occupied by intensive logging is currently 75,000 ha, making us a territory full of mountains and landscapes totally artificialized by the forestry policy of the Diputación. As a result, these lands are now clothed with exotic species and full of the following components: forest tracks, erosion processes, devastated natural landscapes, pests and diseases, etc.

Sol asks the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa and the City Council of Zerain to abandon their intention to build forest tracks in the Aizkorri-Aratz Natural Park and not to grant the City Council of Oñati a municipal permit for the project.

The Provincial Council must also change the direction of its forestry policy, breaking its ties with the timber lobe and renouncing intensive timber production. The negative environmental effects generated by the latter in the mountains of Gipuzkoa are evident in view of its steep slopes and its high purchasing power.