One day, by chance, Elena Fuentes Salazar, a neighbor of Icod de los Vinos, heard on television that a Spanish tree, specifically, the millenary holm oak from Lecina, in the province of Huesca, had been chosen as the European tree of the year and not He hesitated to take the initiative and submit the application to apply for the millennial dragon tree since he thought that he also had a chance of achieving this distinction.
He did it without taking into account the consequences, and came to think, after time, that the request had been forgotten in a drawer until two weeks ago he was warned that the imposing bush, one of the most emblematic and visited symbols of the Canary Islands , had been selected by the organization Bosques Sin Fronteras and aspired to become one of the ten most beautiful trees in Spain. If he succeeded, he was on his way to Europe to follow, why not, the same steps as the Carrasca de Lecina.
He hurriedly communicated it to the City Council, the current owner of the copy, to gather all the information that was required since the vote began on October 21, and the mayor did not hesitate to give him his full support.
Among the ten rivals of the Drago Milenario is another Canarian specimen, the Pino Esrengado, from Arico. They are joined by the moral de las storms, from La Sequera De Haza (Burgos); the Carballo del Bosque del Banquete de Conxo (Santiago de Compostela); La Sabina de Blancas. Region of Jiloca (Teruel), Roble de Los Manaderos, Piedralaves (Ávila); the Oak of Los Perros. Village of El Álamo-El Madroño (Seville); the Olma of Nuevo Baztan, (Madrid); the Millennial Oak of Rute, (Córdoba); elTejo de Aranga, Cabrales (Asturias) and El moral de Villovía (Burgos).
So far, Drago has 3,400 votes and is in third place but has an important difference with the first and second candidates. Therefore, Elena encourages you to support the candidacy at the link https://arboleuropeo.es/votaciones-arbol-del-ano-en-espana-2022/#top. The voting period ends on November 21 and the name of the winner will be announced on the 27th.
Being elected would mean competing at the European level with fifteen other countries and participating in exhibitions at the European Parliament, in Brussels.
The Dracaena draco, its scientific name, was declared a national monument on February 23, 1917, it is 18 meters high, 20 meters in perimeter and more than 1000 years of history.
“It is not only the tree but what it represents”, Elena emphasizes, who remembers that for many centuries all kinds of vehicles passed under its branches as there was a road and it is still standing.
For this reason, in April 2017 the then senator and councilor of the PP in the Consistory Isabel Garcia presented a proposal in the Upper House to advance in the resolution of the request before Unesco and defend the candidacy of the dragon tree as world heritage.
