The president of the Cabildo de Tenerife, Pedro Martin (PSOE)announced this Tuesday, September 20, 2022, an investment of 4.6 million euros in three years to recover the 2,700 hectares affected by the forest fire that devastated the end of July the mountains of Los Realejos, San Juan de la Rambla, La Guancha and a small part of Icod de los Vinos. Martín stressed that this recovery plan, which was discussed in the Insular Government Council, “comes just two months after the fire ended, a few weeks after it was considered extinguished.” Y will start “in October” with a contribution of 1.6 million euros which, later, and with the support of the governments of Spain and the Canary Islands, will increase by 3 million more.
“Our intention is not to wait for winter to be in charge of recovering the lost forest mass. Let’s make this misfortune an opportunity», he stressed before specifying that the actions will focus on «removing dry material, scrub and easily combustible vegetation, which will be replaced by other native species that, although they can burn, will complicate the spread of fires in the future». These are species typical of the laurel forest such as barbuzanos, fayas, follaos or viñátigos, as well as Canarian cedars which will be replanted in the areas closest to the Teide National Park. Cleaning tasks will also be carried out on forest tracks and slope assurance “to prevent stones from falling in case of rain, as well as erosion.”
These works to protect the territory will serve to eliminate materials at risk of falling and to plant new vegetation that will help fix the soil and provide greater stability in very steep areas that have been greatly affected by this fire, such as the hillside of Tigaiga, in the municipality of Los Realejos. The Island Council subsequently detailed that this initial disbursement of 1,628,198 euros will include a contribution of 250,000 euros from the Government of Spain; another of 500,000 euros from the regional government, and 878,186 euros that the island administration will provide. An expense that will be specified “by way of urgency” to start in a few weeks.
Martín recalled that similar works have already been carried out in the area affected by the fire in Arico, «although it is a pine forest area», and remarked that the idea of the island is «not to wait for nature to do exclusively the work of recovering the territory. We are going to be proactive and help regenerate our forest mass. In 2023, around 1,994,962 euros more will be invested, coming from the three aforementioned administrations, and in 2024, another 993,000 euros.
Action will be taken on the beds of ravines and barranquillos with fund and margin consolidation works. In the tracks Defense elements will be installed against erosion by runoff, reinforcement and improvement of slopes, removal of landslides, protections in water outlets, cobbled speed bumps, dry masonry walls and the replacement of protection barriers will be addressed. sidewall and signs damaged by the flames.
on the trails That run through the area affected by this fire will be worked “in an integral way”, warned Martín, to also replace the signage, the interpretive panels and other elements of public use affected by the fire in the network of tracks and paths. Regarding the work in the forest mass, the density of the masses of trees will also be reduced where necessary, the bushes and the affected vegetation will be eliminated, the remains will be crushed and the damaged radiata pines will be felled before proceeding with the repopulation with vegetation. characteristic of each zone.
royal complaint
The mayor of Los Realejos, Adolfo Gonzalez (PP), showed his surprise on Tuesday morning when he found out, through the press, that there was this recovery plan for the areas damaged by the fire: «It is unheard of. I have found out through this press release that there is a forest restoration plan in my municipality. It seems to me a lack of respect from the Cabildo de Tenerife towards The Realejos. I have asked them to send us a copy and give us a hearing process because this plan is an instrument of territorial planning and action that affects us, since it acts in our mountains. In addition, he insisted on the need to “contemplate, yes or yes, re-create an efficient firewall to avoid the July disaster again.”
Martín replied that “the mayors know that the Cabildo was 24 hours at the foot of the emergency and gave timely information to all the affected mayors, with daily meetings and permanent calls». He considered that “we should all be happy that the Cabildo de Tenerife works within the scope of its forest recovery powers, which does not depend on the municipalities. We should be happy, although now the councils of the municipalities that are going to be beneficiaries of this action will also be informed.
In Martin’s opinion,despite the proximity of the elections, we should all work together and rejoice at the good news. In addition, I make myself available to the municipalities to collaborate with any proposal or suggestion they want to make, even if someone wants to collaborate financially, even if it is not planned.
«We have to be agile. Enough of administrations that promise that they are going to study, that they are going to launch a program. Let’s change proposals, projects, ideas and meetings for concrete actions. And, instead of so many meetings, let’s work, let’s take initiatives, let’s put money into operation to recover our mountains. And meetings later, the ones we want, “Martín concluded.
The investigation of the Civil Guard is still open
The island president, Pedro Martín, was cautious on Tuesday when speaking about the progress of the Civil Guard’s investigation into the origin of the fire that affected Los Realejos, San Juan de la Rambla and Icod last July. And he limited himself to confirming that last week «in the last conversation I had with the Civil Guard, they informed me that they are continuing with the investigation, that they have been working on the matter and that they are still working on it. They are especially concerned about finding, if any, someone responsible. After this fire, we soon had another near attack, and I think we are all determined to try to find those responsible. Martín insisted that “it is difficult to talk about an investigation that is not carried out by the Cabildo, so today it cannot be confirmed that it was provoked, although some of us suspect that it was.”
