The president of the Cabildo de Tenerife, Pedro Martín, announced yesterday the launch of a environmental restoration planfor an amount of 4.6 million, in the area affected by the fire that originated in The Campeches at the end of July and that spread through the municipalities of Los Realejos, San Juan de la Rambla and La Guancha.
Martin pointed out that this same year 1.6 million will be invested of own funds and in 2023 and 2024, with resources from the Canarian and central governments, 1.9 million and 1 million will be allocated, respectively.
The fire burned some 2,700 hectares of land and now, said the island president, the goal is to be “proactive” and not wait for winter and nature to do the work, as has been done, for example, with repopulation of Mount Arico after the last fire.
Thus, he pointed out that dry material and vegetation that is easy to burn will be eliminated; Native species will be planted, such as barbuzanos, viñátigos or Canarian cedars, and forest tracks will be cleaned to prevent stone falls in the event of rain and runoff.
Martín also pointed out that the intervention in the area will be used to improve the signage of the trails. Regarding the origin of the fire, he indicated that the Civil Guard continues to investigate with various hypotheses and is “especially concerned” about this case, given that a few weeks after the fire there was an outbreak nearby, in El Tanque, which also “could have been provoked” .
The president of the Cabildo confessed that he suspects that the fire was caused, although “it cannot be said yet”, because all the evidence is not available.
critics
Questioned by the criticism of the mayor of Los Realejos, Adolfo González, to the reforestation plan, he stated that the Cabildo “was 24 hours” at the foot of the emergency and gave “timely information” to all the mayors, with “daily meetings and permanent calls as never before”.
He also indicated that reforestation is the responsibility of the Cabildo, which is going to inform the councils of the affected municipalities, and believes that, despite the “closeness of the elections”, we must rejoice and collaborate with its development, even if some “he wants to collaborate financially”.
According to Martín, the time has come to “be agile” and put aside those administrations that “promise” that they are going to launch a plan. “Instead of so many meetings, let’s work, take initiatives, put money into operation to recover our mountains and meetings later, the ones we want”, he commented.
The works will begin in the month of October and will be carried out by way of urgency.
