New forest management model that lowers the risk of fire

Today the Catalunya La Pedrera Foundation has presented a new land management model, the outcome of the LIFE Montserrat project, which has created a green infrastructure to prevent major forest fires and foster the conservation of the natural heritage in an area encompassing 14 towns around Montserrat Mountain.

Since  2015, a set of actions has been promoted to make this region richer in biodiversity, less vulnerable to forest fires and better adapted to climate change scenarios.

Forest management actions have been taken to lower tree density, reduce the fuel load and improve the forest structure. New open spaces have also been created, and the recovery of farming areas has been encouraged with the aim of restoring the extremely fire-resilient mosaic landscape with a wider diversity of habitats and species. The balance of the new landscape is maintained through livestock, with the gradual introduction of herds of cows, goats and donkeys in an extensive grazing system.

The scope of the project encompasses 32,000 hectares of land, including the Montserrat Mountain Natural Park and a sector of the Sant Llorenç del Munt i l’Obac Natural Park.  This action, which was carried out on 3,000 strategic hectares to lower the forests’ vulnerability to fire, has become a successful model applicable to the entire Mediterranean region.

The project is coordinated by the Barcelona Provincial Council, and the participating beneficiary partners include the Montserrat Mountain Board, Firefighters of the Government of Catalonia, the Association of Landowners Near Montserrat, the Department of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Food of the Government of Catalonia and the Catalunya La Pedrera Foundation.