SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, March 9. (EUROPE PRESS) –
The Cabildo de Tenerife, through the Natural Environment and Security Management area, has restored in two years more than one hundred hectares of degraded land in the island’s natural spaces, planting more than 158,474 trees that had previously been produced in the nurseries islands of La Tahonilla, Las Eres in Fasnia, Aguamansa and El Portillo.
“The treatments for the eradication of the American pine forests (Pinus radiata) will be resumed shortly for their replacement by Montervede and Canarian pine forests,” said the councilor for the area, Isabel García, who also assured that “restoration work will be increased in the rest of the autochthonous plant formations, in total some 6,000 hectares are going to be treated, so the plant production and the area to be repopulated in the coming years will be significantly higher than the current one”.
According to García, “environmental improvement and the restoration of degraded spaces consists, above all, in the control and eradication of exotic species and their replacement by native species that are produced in the island’s own nurseries”, while recalling that the fires are one of the causes that can generate this environmental setback.
Thus, he indicated, “this work involves curbing soil erosion, in addition to improving biodiversity and even contributing to the increase in aquifers”, and recalled that “the production of endemic or native plants ensures the survival of native species and It even brings citizens closer to specimens that could otherwise be in danger, either due to human action or due to displacement factors generated by invasive alien species”.
The counselor also recalled that in La Tahonilla there is an office to the public of species produced in the nursery.
The plant production techniques in these nurseries take care of fundamental aspects such as the origin of the seed and its genetic quality in order to ensure that the specimens produced adapt in the best possible way to the destination area.
In the nurseries of the Cabildo different species are produced, thus in Las Eres (Fasnia) they work fundamentally on the production of plants from the basal floor (cardonal-tabaibal), in La Tahonilla (La Laguna) plants from the vegetation floors of thermophilic forest and Monteverde and in Aguamansa (La Orotava) for thermophilic forest, monteverde, Canarian pine forest and punctually for summit scrub, and in the Teide National Park in the nursery of El Portillo (La Orotava) to those species of high mountain or retamar-codesar.
MORE THAN 200 VEGETABLE SPECIES
Between the four nurseries, more than 200 endemic or autochthonous plant species are produced and an average of more than 88,040 specimens per year.
Similarly, 90% of this plant is used for the restoration of ecosystems, reforestation and public works, while 10% is for sale to individuals and companies.
Among the species that produce the greatest number of specimens for each vegetation stage, we can highlight the sweet tabaiba (Euphorbia balsamifera) or the balo (Plocama pendula) for the basal stage, juniper (Juniperus turbinata), guaydil (Convulvulus floridus) , peralillo (Maytenus canariensis) or blood stick (Marcetella moquiniana) for the thermophilic forest floor, faya (Morella faya), white stick (Picconia excelsa), parrot (Laurus novocanariensis) or viñátigo (Persea indica) for the Monteverde floor or laurisilva, Canarian pine (Pinus canariensis), escobón (Chamaecytisus proliferus) and cedar (Juniperus canariensis) for the pine forest floor and the Teide broom (Spartocytisus supranubius) and the summit lambskin (Adenocarpus viscosus) for the broom floor -codesar or high mountain.
In addition to these majority species in number, other species reproduce and repopulate in smaller numbers seeking specific purposes in terms of biodiversity, such as the recovery of threatened or endangered species such as the pigeon beak (Lotus berthelotii), the Guanche rose bush ( Bencomia exstipulata), jarilla de Cumbre (Helianthemum juliae) or silver thistle (Stemmacantha cynaroides), the improvement of the populations of the two species of Laurisilva doves for which they use, among others, the Sanguino (Rhamnus glandulosa) and Mocan (Visnea mocanera) or even to promote beekeeping by means of broom, Teide broom or red tajinaste (Echium wildpretii).
