The volunteer program that has been in charge of keeping the cat’s tail under control in the municipality recently completed a decade of uninterrupted work. The proposal, initiated in October 2011, and organized by the Buenavista del Norte City Council with the collaboration of the Abeque Association and the Teno Rural Park, has managed to reduce the affection of this invasive exotic species in much of the municipality’s territory.
Around 3,000 people have participated in the volunteer actions. Many of them belong to different groups such as hiking clubs, mountaineers or climbers associations, groups of boy scouts and the fundamental collaboration of the Canary Shepherd jumping groups, thanks to which it has been possible to access points of difficult access to those that are impossible to reach by walking. The participation of people at an individual level is also noteworthy.
The Councilor for the Environment, Esteban Lorenzo, stresses that “this decade has meant a before and after for the control of the cat’s tail in Buenavista and has been strategic as a learning process about our natural environment, the conditions that afflict it and the solutions that, as a society, we can contribute to improve it day by day. We live on a jewel of nature that we have to pamper and learn to care for and for that it is essential to minimize the threats that threaten it. ”
Lorenzo appreciates the involvement of organizations and volunteers and ensures that the intention of the City Council “is to continue supporting this campaign and strengthen measures and actions aimed at conserving the natural environment, a basic resource for the future and our survival on the planet.”
The proposal to control the cat’s tail began due to the concern of a group of neighbors about the incidence that this invasive and extremely dangerous species was having, especially in vulnerable ecosystems of the Teno Rural Park, in which it was displacing to the native flora and dangerously transforming its natural state.
During all this time, one or two actions have been called each month, establishing areas of action in which volunteers carry out reviews every four months. In these spaces, while progressing in the elimination of the mature plant, the areas already worked are also reviewed to eliminate the new seedlings that re-sprout. In this way, it is possible to successfully reduce the hatching rate of the species.
Each of the organizations that make this project possible fulfill specific functions. The City Council, as the organizing institution, is in charge of managing permits, payment of insurance, processing and payment of transport and management of the volunteer registry; The Teno Rural Park coordinates the areas of action and controls the evolution of the results of the campaign, also providing work materials; and, finally, the Abeque Association, is in charge of making the calls, channeling volunteering, supervising the different activities and promoting environmental awareness.
