Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Recuperating Teno Woodlands
View of part of the Teno Rural Park. Photo: Diario de Tenerife
This month, the Tenerife island council aims to start work on recuperating the woodlands around the Parque Rural de Teno, by planting 30,000 sabinas or savin in English. These are a small tree or bush Juniperus sabina, with scalelike leaves and light-green fruits. It is sometimes cultivated for the tops and young leaves, which are used in medicine as a powerful diuretic.
The Canarian sabina is a small tree that reaches 10 meters in height and grows in the semi-arid, transitional regions between the coastal areas and the zones of laurisilva (subtropical cloud forest endemic to the islands) or pine forest.
The numbers of sabinas were greatly reduced by human intervention in previous centuries, owing to the need for wood and to clear land for agricultural use. Currently there are very few examples left on the islands and those are principally found in the islands of El Hierro and La Gomera.
These savin trees and a smaller number of other species, that have been specially raised in island nurseries, will be planted in a 53 hectare plot within the Parque Rural de Teno.
The initiative is designed to restore areas that, in the past, were covered with this type of vegetation.
A study was carried out, financed by the European Union, analysing the characteristics of other woodlands of this type in Tenerife and La Gomera, in order to understand the ecology of the species and the dynamics of the formation of these woodlands and carry out an effective recuperation.
The Cabildo now aims to carry out a complete program of restoring these woodlands, for which they have obtained assistance from the Programa LIFE Naturaleza. They also intend to publish the results of the program through videos and books to show that not only can it be done, but how doing so helps maintain traditional activities.
Other works are being carried out in relation to this, including resurfacing of various mountain tracks, among them the one to the Monte del Agua and between Las Portelas and Erjos.
El próximo mes se inicia la recuperación del bosque termófilo
Adjudicadas nuevas mejoras Forestales en el Parque Rural de Teno
