LIFE MONTSERRAT – Integrated silvopastoral management plan: An innovative tool to preserve biodiversity and prevent wildfires
Project Overview
The project area is the Montserrat Mountain and surroundings in the Barcelona province. The area is mostly forest (64%) and covers 42 487 ha. Montserrat is an emblematic mountain in Catalonia. The mountain and its surroundings are a great natural resource and a significant part of the project area is included in the Natura 2000 network of sites. The mountain is also the location of a cultural, religious and spiritual pilgrimage centre, which is visited by both locals and tourists.
This area, however, has suffered from major forest fires in recent years and the risk of fire remains as a result of fuel load accumulation, the disappearance of crops and the decline of traditional forestry practice. Climate change has also increased the risk of wildfire.
The LIFE Montserrat project aims to:
- Develop ecosystem-based measures to increase the resilience and stability of forests against fires, and to improve the prevention of wildfires in the project area by creating and/or maintaining strategic areas to help prevent the spread, facilitate the extinction and decrease the intensity and extension of wildfires;
- Contribute to the conservation and improvement of biodiversity in the Montserrat area, with habitats and species of high conservation value included in the EU Birds and Habitats directives. In particular, the project seeks to contribute to the conservation of the 16 threatened species that are found in the project area by maintaining and restoring some priority habitats, and improve the habitat of 121 species protected by the international, national or regional legislation by means of the recuperation of open habitats; and
- Contribute to biodiversity conservation by increasing connectivity through the creation of a mosaic of scrub, natural grasslands and forests that will link two Natura 2000 sites (Montserrat-Roques Blanques-Riu Llobregat and Sant Llorenç del Munt i l’Obac).
In order to meet these objectives, the project implemented, evaluated and disseminated an integrated silvopastoral management plan that will include a specific grazing management plan and a forest restoration plan. This plan will foster the multifunctionality and services of ecosystems. The total area covered by the project is 2 782.5 ha.
Project Results
LIFE Montserrat has created a green infrastructure to protect against major forest fires and help to conserve our natural heritage in 14 municipalities around Montserrat. The project has concentrated on areas which are strategically placed for fire prevention, as determined by the Government of Catalonia fire service. In these areas the density of trees has been reduced, there is less combustible material and the structure of the forest has been improved. New open areas have also been created and work done to recover agricultural land with a view to restoring a mosaic landscape that is highly resilient to fire with a greater variety of hábitats and species. The balance of this new landscape is maintained by the use of livestock, with the progressive introduction of herds of cattle, goats and donkeys which will graze extensively.
As part of the LIFE Montserrat project 65 hectares of open areas have been recovered via prescribed burning and 20 hectares with mechanical methods.
During the first semester of 2019 the Associació de Propietaris Forestals dels Entorns de Montserrat carried out further action to recover 70 hectares of open land as part of the project. Although from the administrative and financial points of view this action was not part of the LIFE Montserrat project, it is in line with its aims and will make a direct contribution to fire prevention and improving biodiversity.
Website
https://lifemontserrat.eu/Resources
Links
Contacts
Project Manager: Leire MIÑAMBRES
Email: minambressl@diba.cat