The area of Nabaridas (Álava) is the territory of the wines, so the landscape is dominated by the vineyards. However, in 2014, neighbors began to revolve around an idea to promote the native oak forest. The question was: What do you do to expand the forest, protect it and maintain its genetics? At that time, they decided to set up a land swap project in cooperation with the City Hall. “The City Hall contacted the owners of the abandoned land in the south of the village forest and proposed to change those land for others,” explains Aitor Senar Enekotegi, a municipal technician at Agenda 2030. The aim of the initiative is to increase the area of protected oak in the area.

Eleven private plots on the road to becoming public forests

The project to expand the forest of Nabaridas has not, however, been an isolated initiative. In 2014 the City Hall received the Conama Prize for Sustainability for several projects that were underway in the municipality: the cleaning and recovery of a landfill, the declaration of the forest as a source of seeds, the initiatives to protect the biodiversity of the village pond… “To these awards we present several initiatives, and here we begin to work more on the idea of land exchange,” explains the technician.

During the following two years, they sent letters to the abandoned owners, convened the first meetings and launched the exchange process. A project of this kind has its difficulties in processing and the technician admits that the process has been long, but that results are being obtained. “The proposal was sent to some thirty owners, seven of whom were the stakeholders and finally the ones who encouraged the exchanges.” Some of them had more than one plot of 18,108,10 square meters and eleven private plots of ecological interest that have moved to the property of the City Hall. This year the first exchanges have been signed, and seeing that the project has been very well received in the municipality, they plan to start the second phase of exchange for the future.

Retrieving the Cinnamon

Although most of the exchanged land was abandoned, in one of them there were planted vineyards, and the change has been surprising. “This is perhaps the most significant case, as it is very rare for grapes to be removed and art to be placed in this region,” says Senar. The forestry guard of the Provincial Council was also surprised that he had gone by signing changes to spend his entire life on the vine, and this is the first to sign in the opposite direction.

“Finally, these roquedos or encinars are the kind of forests that existed at first in this region. Then, with the influence of the human being, the whole landscape is transformed and it is the vineyards that are imposed now,” says the technician. Thanks to this initiative, at least local encination will regain its space a little more.