Battling the widespread death of Malaga's pine forests: the fight resumes around Malaga city, El Chorro and Sierra Tejeda
The public company Tragsa has awarded two contracts for the felling and removal of more dead trees and Malaga city has formally signed a forest fire prevention contract with another forestry management company
Thousands of trees have died in the province, although the phenomenon is more widespread than just Malaga. Pine trees are the most affected, but not just because of a combination of factors ranging from drought, poor quality soils with few nutrients, steep slopes, high levels of sunlight and too much competition for scant resources thanks to close proximity of these trees. The other blight comes from pests and opportunistic insects such as bark beetles (the ones that bore into the wood, popularly known as 'barrenillos'). They do the remaining damage, the tree dries up and then it breaks apart in a matter of days.
There are several solutions. These include clearing and thinning out the trees, removing wood that could serve as a breeding ground for insects and pests, introducing more variety in the species planted and also looking for more resilient varieties.
Assigned work
Within this context, the public company Tragsa has just awarded two contracts for work in several natural areas around Malaga. The contracts are financed by EU Next Generation funds. The first job lot of work covers the Montes de Málaga Natural Park and the Desfiladero de Los Gaitanes Natural Area. The contract goes to Aprovechamientos Forestales La Mancha for 123,904 euros, including taxes.
200,000-plus
euros is the total cost for both contracts awarded by Tragsa for this much-needed tree-felling operation. This includes felling from the trunk's base, lopping off all branches and chopping all the wood into pieces for later use. This work can be completed manually, with the help of specialised machinery where required.
The second job, also awarded to the same company for 77,440 euros, will focus on the Sierras de Tejeda, Almijara and Alhama Natural Park.
Keeping on the forestry theme, Malaga city council has also signed a contract with Malagueña Forestal, based in El Burgo, for the prevention of forest fires in the city's peri-urban parks and other forested areas close to Malaga city. The contract is worth 600,000 euros, including taxes. .
