On January 17 the space of La Celada was projected with a clear and nice sky. Miguel, with the txistorra and wine, has been put to work. “Auzolan,” I have heard more than one of this word in Basque, just that word, declining “in Auzolan.” The area is defined, the most experienced have holes made, the plants prepared -- from children to grandparents, it's a fun job, putting the plant in the hole and surrounding it with the clay hoe. In two hours, the target of planting 1,000 shrubs will be met. However, the Oinez Basoa project of the ikastola de Sangüesa is to reach 3,000 plants this year. Of these 3,000, over 1,350 citizens and businesses across the country are currently supported. In fact, Oinez Basoak offers this possibility, with 10 euros, of adding a plant to the forest that will be the heritage of all. Anyone who wants to protect a tree from anywhere in the world can do so via the website www.oinezbasoa.com. As the members of the project have acknowledged, the companies that have not collaborated with the ikastola and the Basque Country have made an important contribution to alleviating environmental debts. The kids have signaled with a lot of illusion the plant protected by themselves, drawing wooden tables. While some work in the field and others in painting, young action enthusiasts have started throwing balls on their own in gigantic China. This is not the first time. “Grab a lot to throw it out with more force. I have taken a little smaller one, it holds better”...

From landfill recovery to edible forest

The Sangüesa is the fourth Oinez Basoa (Arbizu, Tafalla and Tudela) set up by the Navarre ikastolas. Navarre is a way to balance the ecological footprint generated by Oinez and the forest as such is a living school. What better class?

When the ikastola organized by Nafarroa Oinez raises the possibility of starting the forest, they try to differentiate their forest from others. Iker Armentia, a member of the ikastola de Sangüesa, has explained the characteristics of this newly planted forest: “We are in the old landfill of Sangüesa. The landfill was closed 8 years ago, and one of the goals of our Oinez Forest is to reclaim this space. Even though there is a large layer of land on the trash, the trash at the bottom causes a great pollution on this land. So the plants that we have planted are the ones that adapt well to them: the ones that ask little, the small ones, the ones that don't need much water: Thyme, rosemary, sage...” are the aromatic plants that face, therefore, the gases that come out of the black tubes that protrude over the ground. In addition to the recovery of the landfill, the Sangüesa project will have two other lines. Armentia has continued to explain: “Since there is a great tradition in Sangüesa of cultivating the garden, we will plant an edible forest in another area of 1,500 square meters that is located near here. And it also has a third leg: the rivers are the ones that bind all the peoples here. And the two major rivers of the area, Irati and Aragon, converge in Sangüesa. On the banks of these great rivers we will place huts for birds.”

Next forest, Baztango

The other members of Oinez Basoak have also come to Sangüesa. To learn with the utmost curiosity, Baztan’s working group that this year hosts the Nafarroa Oinez festival. They are the ones who are going to plant the next Oinez Forest. Manolo Lizardi, a member of Baztan, has explained that this fifth will also make its special contribution: “In Baztan more than 80% of the total area is communal. We have asked the General Assembly of Baztan to do Oinez Basoa in a special place, on the grounds on the coast.” In addition to the communal organization, the plants that are introduced will be distinguished: Beech (carpinus betulus) and Portuguese laurel or parrot (prunus lusitanica). “What we call the parrot, the only place that can be found in Navarre is in the Baztan, in the region of Urritzate. And it's a small plant on the Iberian Peninsula. And the beech ash, coming down from the Pyrenees throughout the Iberian Peninsula, can only be found the wild in the Five Villas, between Igantzi and Arantza”.