This account is based on a report submitted to FAO by the General Directorate of Forests, Hunting and Fishing, Ministry of Agriculture, Madrid.
Spain may be broadly divided into two contrasted climatic zones, separated by an intermediate zone where the climate is influenced by the other two zones and by local conditions of altitude, soil and topography. There is thus a typical Mediterranean Spain, essentially dry, and a purely Atlantic Spain, humid and with characteristics similar to those of the higher latitude or wet-climate forests. The Provinces of Murcia and Almeria on the one hand, and of Pontevedra, Asturias or Santander on the other, typify the extremes; between them lies the extensive intermediate zone covering the two Castillas, Extremadura, and other provinces, with far less extremes of rainfall.
In keeping with these very broad climatic divisions, there are at least three fundamentally different types of vegetation, which call for corresponding variations in silvicultural treatment and forestry practices. The distinct regional economic and social conditions have in fact given rise to different systems of forest ownership. The national forest policy of Spain has to be sufficiently flexible to adapt it to the varying resources and conditions to which it has to be applied.
General Policy
Spain is deficient in all types of timber, although there is a surplus of other products such as resin, cork and esparto, which can feed the export market.
The country's present annual production of industrial wood is roughly estimated at some 2.8 million m3, and requirements are calculated to be:
|
|
Million m3 |
|
Construction timber |
1.30 |
|
Pitprops |
1.00 |
|
Transport |
0.35 |
|
Paper |
0.50 |
|
Poles |
0.40 |
|
Packaging |
0.60 |
|
Miscellaneous uses |
0.15 |
|
Total |
4.30 |
The general forest policy is naturally influenced by that consideration of the large deficit and the aim is to level out the unfavorable balance by afforestation of unused land and by increasing the yield from areas already under forest. It is not imagined, however, that full self-sufficiency in timber is possible, for there are species that cannot be acclimatized to Spanish conditions and some types of timber that will always need to be imported.
The keynote of forest policy is perhaps reforestation, the problems of which vary according to the geographic region. In the north and northeast, and in the Atlantic strip adjoining the southern frontier of Portugal, conditions admit of reforestation with quick growing species. The possibility of quick and handsome returns has lead to profitable collaboration between private owners and the Government.
The position is quite different in the dry region of the Mediterranean coast and in the central zones of the Peninsula, where it is difficult to acclimatize species other than the traditional pines and oaks, whose slow growth precludes early financial returns. Here, therefore, landowners prefer to graze livestock rather than grow trees, with consequent serious impoverishment of soils and hastening of torrent development. The State, nevertheless, endeavors to overcome the landowners' reluctance to undertaking reforestation by offering special inducements.
Higher yields from existing forests imply an increasing need for bringing all areas under systematic management plans. Many Spanish forests are already subjected to long-term plans, but the remainder are still worked on short-term plans, prepared by experts of the Administration. There has recently been a trend to change over from provisional schemes to proper working plans aimed at the conservation and constant improvement of the forests.
State interest does not end with reforestation and improved yields. The Administration is actively promoting the study and solution of many other problems, such as the control of torrents and "ramblas" (a particular type of torrent found in the eastern parts of the country), avalanche control, the fixation of unstable soils, the achievement of a balance between grazing and forestry, the protection of catchment areas, the construction and improvement of forest tracks, pest control, fire prevention and fire-fighting, the training of professional staffs, research, and improved utilization of forest products.
Administration
Of the 25 million ha. which are in fact classed as forest land in Spain (this includes land actually under forest and bare land), considerably less than half a million ha. belong to the State. According to the latest statistics, ownership of forest lands is distributed as follows:
|
|
Ha. |
|
Public utility forests |
|
|
State forests |
453,827 |
|
Forests owned by communities and public institutions |
5,834,194 |
|
Total |
6,288,021 |
|
Private forest lands |
|
|
Communal forest land |
1,504,566 |
|
Privately-owned land |
16,810,169 |
|
Total |
18,314,735 |
The Spanish Forest Administration is associated basically with the Ministry of Agriculture through the Directorate General of Forests, Hunting and Fishing, and has the following special branches and services: lands; staff; reforestation; economics and statistics; utilization; and management.
The Directorate also controls the fifty District Forest Offices which are in charge of all forestry matters in the respective Provinces. Directly associated with the Directorate are the Institute of Forest Research and Experimentation, (Instituto Forestal de Investigaciones y Experiencias), the highest institution devoted to special research work, and the School of Forest Engineers, where the technicians needed by the State for its various programs are trained. This school, like all educational institutions in Spain, is also the concern of the Ministry of Education.
Also responsible to the General-Directorate of Forests are the so-called Forest-Waterways Divisions, which have the special task of protecting catchment areas, an undertaking closely related to other economic activities such as hydro-electric development, irrigation, and soil conservation.
A parallel body to the General-Directorate of Forests, with the Minister of Agriculture as its Chairman, is the Directorate of the State Forest Domain (Dirección del Patrimonio Forestal del Estado) which, in view of the limited extent of forest property directly owned by the State, is mainly concerned with reforestation on denuded public lands, and with fostering co-operative arrangements with private owners under the special State Forest Domain Law (Ley del Patrimonio Forestal del Estado). State collaboration in private reforestation is either on a fully co-operative basis or by providing cash subsidies, technical advisory services, seedlings from State nurseries or simply seed.
Over and above all these bodies is the Supreme Forest Council (Consejo Superior de Montes), a consultative and advisory body to which forest policy matters of major importance are referred.
The General- Directorate of Forests receives its funds out of the national budget but also uses 10 percent of profits derived from the annual sales of produce from public utility forests belonging to municipalities. Amounts realized in this way are re-invested in the forests in the most suitable form. The State Forest Domain is financed, for the most part, from a large State subsidy and from the income derived from its own capital resources, although this is not very substantial.
Some Activities of the Administration
Conservation of forest land is governed by legislation which prohibits any cultivation, irrespective of ownership, which is not approved by the Ministry of Agriculture. Apart from other measures that contribute to land conservation, there are avalanche control works in the Pyrenees and torrent control works in the slopes of the Sierra Nevada. Extensive control of "ramblas" has been undertaken with excellent results. Control works also exist in the upper waters of many Spanish rivers where marked torrent conditions prevail, and work carried out in the neighborhood of Malaga, for instance, has relieved the town of periodic threats of serious floods. The Seccion de Hidraulica Torrencial in the Institute of Forest Research is responsible for perfecting techniques and methods: it has an experiment station at Lanjaron in the Sierra Nevada.
In the few locations where unstable dunes occur in the Peninsula (in the southwest end of the Gulf of Rosas) fixation has been successfully carried out and afforestation undertaken with excellent results.
As regards forest protection, the District Forest Offices are responsible for pest and disease control and they have adequate qualified personnel for such work. The Institute of Forest Research collaborates closely. The Administration has for some time been preparing a Bill covering fire control for the whole country, based on a Law for Forest Preservation already in force in the Basque provinces. The Bill has been the subject of close study and may be expected shortly to become law.
Feelings in all forests are strictly controlled, with a view to ensuring subsequent regeneration. The Administration also recommends silvicultural measures for improving the natural condition of stands and the quality of the products.
Forest Products Industries
All matters connected with the timber industry are under the control of the Timber Department which is responsible to the Ministries of Agriculture and Industry. It deals with price policies, conduct of industries, licensing, transport, distribution and foreign trade. Increased attention is being paid to the utilization of logging and sawmill waste, and there some fireboard manufacturers are now using such raw materials.
Besides the sawmilling industry, there is a flourishing plywood industry, mainly in Valencia and Bilbao. There are wood distillation plants in the north, and the largest cellulose mill is situated in the Province of Santander, in the heart of an area extensively reforested in recent years The paper industry operates at Guipuzcoa and Vizcaya, and is gradually being developed in other parts of the country.
However, some of the so-called minor forest products of Spain are of such economic value that they should be developed not as secondary but as principal commodities. For instance, there are some 18 million pines being tapped for resin, with an annual yield of some 45 million kg.' This resin gives 20 percent turpentine and 70 percent colophony, with some valuable distillation residues. The importance of this industry is reflected in the remarkable increase in the number of factories processing derived products. A central agency Commercial de Resinas controls sales on the home and foreign markets.
The cork oak, found mainly in Andalusia and Extremadura although there are large stands also in Catalonia and other provinces, is the basis of an industry of particular importance for Spain's trade balance.
Esparto grass, with an average annual crop of 1,300,000 metric quintals, plays a big part in the economy of the southeastern part of the country. It is used in the oil industry and for rope-making, packing, paper-making and so forth.
Conclusion
Erosion and soil protection, reforestation, timber markets and wood-using industries, raise different problems region by region. The course of history, bringing changes in environment, the destruction of resources, and varying land tenure structures and land settlement arrangements, has profoundly affected the face of the Spanish country-side. Government laws and plans must, therefore, be broadly conceived in order to fit a variety of circumstances, and this is the purport of today's national forest policy in Spain.
