Rising temperatures and fires are the main risks for the brown bear, which has nevertheless managed to escape critical extinction. It suffered in the Cantabrian mountain range at the end of the 20th century: it has increased from 50 to 60 specimens that existed then to about 370 today.
This was announced by Víctor Gutiérrez, coordinator of the Biodiversity Foundation’s area of conservation and restoration of ecosystems, during the presentation of LIFE Bears’ progress with a future project in the Leonese district of Caboalles de Arriba. Municipality of Villablino, here ” the need to rehabilitate degraded areas, create healthy ecosystems, and have rich food” to facilitate the conservation of this species.
The brown bear continues to this day, although it is in danger of extinction. has managed to break out of the critic subcategory thanks to the social service of more than one organization over the last three decades.
“Very vulnerable to global warming”
However, it remains “very vulnerable to global warming”, which puts you in less or no hibernationin addition to seeing a reduction in the amount of wild fruits it feeds on, such as blueberries.
This LIFE project aims to “strengthen the recovery” of vegetation, which is supported in eight areas of the Natura 2000 Network and includes “management and adaptation to climate change” and “Reconciling human uses with nature conservation“.
Guillermo Palomero, president of the Oso Pardo Foundation (FOP) and coordinator of the project, stated: “We will plant a total of 150,000 fruit trees and 25,000 chestnut trees at higher elevations” on private or public farms, thanks to custody agreements that prevent “trees from being touched in certain years”.
The operation started in October 2020, “We have planted 36,700 trees so far” and is scheduled to end in March 2025 with the aim of growing fruit trees at an altitude of more than 900 meters on approximately 155 hectares, while chestnut trees provided by the autonomous government of Asturias will be deployed on another 55 hectares.
“A few years ago we believed the bear was gone, disappeared because there were only two population centers… a lot of social work was done to save it‘, Palomero confirmed.
Forestry Works
Technician Eduardo Álvarez of the Castilla y León Natural Heritage Foundation (FPNCL) added that in addition to planting new trees, this initiative aims to improve the trophic resources of existing forests through forestry.
“We will do some work to contribute” trees receive more light and bear better fruit, eliminating competitorsHe noted that in three forests in the mountains of Palencia and three other forests in Leon, in addition to the fields in the clearings, “to be able to monitor how they respond to certain scenarios.”
FOP forest engineer María Gómez, in the town of Palacios del Sil in León, explained how “mixed masses, i.e. different fruit varieties that are better adapted to climate change, are planted so the whole is much more resilient.”
Trees planted in this municipality cherry tree, apple tree, mustard tree, birch, mountain ash and blackberrythe second is “very important because it grows fast and bears very similar fruits.”
Also important is the “chestnut” planted in the vicinity of Páramo del Sil, because its fruit has a high caloric value and helps the brown bear to survive the winter.
Bears with a Future is co-funded by the European Union’s LIFE programme. With the participation of the Ministry of Ecological Transition, Biodiversity Foundation, FPNCL and Tierra Pura Foundation, agricultural activities are carried out by forest teams, which are coordinated by FOP and consist of the local population, thus providing local employment.
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