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INPRIMATU
Forests of all colours: "Take Bizkaia with eucalyptus to the forest model that Portugal wants to leave behind"
  • The association Forests of All Colors denounces that Bizkaia, with the dynamic of replacing most of the forest surface with eucalyptus, instead of the sick pine, brings Portugal to the same model they intend to eliminate. In particular, it makes the authorities of the Provincial Council of Bizkaia responsible for what is happening.
ARGIA @argia 2020ko azaroaren 19a
Eukalipto mozketan Gernikaldean. (Argazkia: Zain Dezagun Urdaibai)

"Portugal quickly brings us to the forestry model that it wants to leave behind (...) On the contrary, the official forestry sector and the foral administration are betting on eucalyptus. (...) The tendencies of the subsidies of the Servicio de Montes de la Diputación Foral de Bizkaia favor the planting of eucalyptus (...) Therefore, if we do nothing, most of the 70,000 hectares that covered the pines of California in Bizkaia will become eucalyptus". This is the expression of the new complaint lodged by the association Forests of all colors. Forests of All Colors is a coalition made up of well-known personalities and environmental activism associations such as nature conservation.

According to the association, after the collapse of pine forests damaged by rudimentary diseases, several owners of land have started to plant eucalyptus, after consulting with the authorities. These forest owners, apparently, have not learned from what has already happened with pine and for them Forests of all colors has a message: "We asked those friends. After what has happened to us with the pine Pinus radiata, what do you think will happen, in the medium term, to the health and profitability of these masses of land, if the planting of eucalyptus increases so much? (...) Considering eucalyptus as a cost-effective option is a miscalculation and management for not accounting for the costs of the many collateral damage these plantations entail for all: transforming the water cycle, reducing biodiversity and soil fertility, destroying land structures, reducing jobs and increasing the possibility and severity of fires."

But, as the association denounces, the Provincial Council of Bizkaia, in addition to giving erroneous recommendations to private forest owners, is also making more serious mistakes: "Fortunately, many municipalities in Bizkaia are implementing in their Forests of Public Utility Conservation and Production Close to Nature. On the contrary, many of these municipalities have found threats along the way: new authorities planning to return to productive management; and even more, without reason of delay in the formalities dependent on the Servicio de Montes de la Diputación. (...) A few months ago, a group of scientists from the UPV/EHU and the Society of Sciences Aranzadi published a report on the consequences of the planting of eucalyptus, requested by the Basque Government. We have not heard them speak, but the Deputies' Mountain Services like to keep a happy account of the state of the forests."