Seville (Spain), correspondence
Suddenly three birds of prey take off. Javier Talegón pauses for a moment. “There must be carrion here,” he says quietly, before stepping closer. His soles crack the charred ground where only a few twigs of blackened branches remain. A smell of death mingles with the smell of wood fire haunting the mountain. There lie the charred bodies of four wild boars, gutted by scavengers. For two weeks, this Tuesday, July 5, in the Sierra de la Culebra National Park in north-western Spain, the biologist has been trying to take stock of the damage left by the most devastating forest fire in Spain at the beginning of the century .out of the country. Almost 23,000 hectares went up in smoke between June 15th and 20th [1].
Those responsible for the gigantism of the event? Climate change and the lack of action to adapt to this new reality. Firefighting by local authorities has also sparked strong anger among residents. To the point of a social mobilization in this depopulated part of the territory, usually not very rebellious.
Some of Jose Antonio Moran’s beehives were completely reduced to ashes. © Alban Elkaim / Reporterre
Because the incident was all too predictable. On June 15, Spain was suffocated by one of the earliest heat waves in its history. The vegetation was particularly dry this year due to far too little precipitation. The State Office for Meteorology had declared the highest fire alarm level for the area. In the evening, a dry storm triggered eleven fires.
“All the staff available to the Castile and León regional government should have been available and on alert. It was only 25 percent,” says the UGT union, which has been calling for the fire brigade campaign to be extended for several years. The local government’s intervention protocol only made it possible to put 100% of its resources on alert from July 1st. The 23-year-old hasn’t factored in the climate crisis as summers are getting hotter, starting earlier and lasting longer. Fires therefore start earlier and are more severe. The firefighters’ limited ability to react would have caused them to lose control of the fire.
“We have lost our main economic activity: the forest”
In the days after the fire was put out, crowds came to demonstrate in Zamora, the provincial capital, to denounce failing management of the disaster. Firefighters even went to Valladolid, the region’s capital, to shout their dissatisfaction under the windows of the “junta,” the local government held by the right for 35 years.
“We have lost our main economic activity, the forest,” explains Lorenzo Jiménez, right-wing mayor of Villardeciervos, one of the affected municipalities. “Many people made a living from harvesting porcini mushrooms, timber, animal husbandry, beekeeping, hunting and nature tourism. It is one of the main places where you can see wolves in Spain. A protected national park, the Sierra de la Culebra is home to a particularly rich ecosystem with one of the densest wolf populations in Europe.
“I think the wolf cubs are burned,” Alfonso observes while watching his cows graze in the only green meadow in the middle of a charred pine forest. “I think so, too,” says Javier Talegón, who runs a small wildlife-watching tourism business. The biologist often receives information from breeders, privileged observers of the land they survey daily. “Some individuals managed to escape into some of the packs studied. For others we don’t know. The dense vegetation has to grow back for the wolves to come back. “After twenty days of total closure, he was able to resume his natural history tourist walks in the area that was not burning in early July.
Lucas Ferrero is standing where there was a lookout point for wolves just a few weeks ago. © Alban Elkaim / Reporterre
José Antonio Morán was not so lucky. “All the honey of the season is ruined. Saw. He draws two frames from a beehive with blackened walls: the beeswax has partially melted. Nearby, next to a beehive, only a few deformed wires remain amidst a pile of ash. “There is nothing left to eat in the bees’ action area. It will be at least three years before we can produce honey here again. To limit losses, he must move the hives. Fortunately, he and his wife Yolanda benefit from the solidarity of other beekeepers who welcome their bees. Alfonso was not spared either. “I only have that for the cows,” he gets annoyed and points to the grass square that was spared from the flames. The barn where he stored his hay burned down.
Organize to be heard
“To be heard by politicians or governments, you have to have a voice,” believes Lucas Ferrero, president of the fledgling association La Culebra no se calla (“Culebra is not silent,” in French). It is the result of an informal mobilization: Ana, now secretary of the structure, informed people via WhatsApp groups, while Lucas gathered useful contacts. “Little by little, people from all the villages joined Whatsapp groups. We had to structure ourselves, choose representatives, agree on topics. But always outside of parties and unions. One of their main struggles: that reforestation be done in a sensible way, that we stop only planting pine trees.
“The pine forest is not a forest, but a culture with an economic purpose. These trees grow easily on dry, sloping soils,” explains Javier Talegón. The pines grow fast and their trunks are straight. Ideal for trading, these softwoods have the disadvantage of burning like matches. “Native species like oaks are much more resistant to flame,” the biologist continues, pointing to patches of green and brown on the blackened side of the mountain. Parts of the land are too rocky to be mined, settled by oak trees, he says.
Alfonso, cow breeder, in front of the burnt pine forest. © Alban Elkaim / Reporterre
Denial of the Junta of Castile and León. She announces a “reasonable” reforestation with diversified species that will take into account “ecological constraints”. The pines will form a new forest more quickly, she assures. He also mentions the restrictions “regarding the use of the territory”. Understand: the economic value of the forest.
“From their offices in a capital, their technicians can’t see what’s happening in the villages,” Lucas Ferrero tackles. “We can clearly see here that the water sources have suffered with the pine forests, that the summers are longer and that it hardly snows in winter. You don’t have to be a meteorologist to do this. Why haven’t they changed anything when everyone is just talking about climate change? »
Accounting and short-term management despite prevention
For the sake of economy? “The campaign to put out the fires employs workers within the junta who only work a few months a year and external companies who are called on to campaign on time,” denounces the UGT union, which supports the foresters’ demands. A campaign always “later and with fewer staff”. As early as 2018, they called for the extinguishing campaign to be extended, in particular to have time to clean the mountain of dead branches and dried-up bushes. Las, Juan Carlos Suárez-Quiñones, Regional Government Environmental Advisor, estimated 2018 [2] that “maintaining the system year-round would throw public money out the window”.
Softwoods are ideal for trading and have the disadvantage of burning like matches. © Alban Elkaim / Reporterre
Now the tone has changed. “We are working on a new decree that will allow greater flexibility to allow faster adaptation to risk levels,” promises Reporterre, the consultant’s technical service.
Near his village, Lucas scans the landscape where a wolf watch point was a few weeks ago. “I haven’t come back here since the fire… When we were little we played around here, we hid in the trees. Some were our favorite hiding spots. That oak tree, it was a hundred years old,” he recalls, pointing to a partially charred tree. “And that smell. That smell of burnt wood. Everywhere, everywhere, everywhere. All the time,” regrets Yolanda, the beekeeper, also a member of the association that arose from the outrage of local residents. She and her husband went to all the demonstrations. “If you do the same report again in ten years, it’s because it didn’t work. But in the meantime, she assures him, things won’t be the same as they used to be. The culebra will not be silent.
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In Italy, a historic drought is threatening agriculture
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[2] In an interview with the newspaper Diario de Valladolid.
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To update – Friday, July 15, 5 p.m. — Change in area burned (from 30,000 ha to 23,000 ha) after damage reassessment. This re-evaluation prompted us to change the title: it’s no longer the worst fire, but it’s one of the worst.
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Jul 15, 2022 at 9:19 am, updated Jul 15, 2022 at 5:11 pm
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