The Region of Murcia will test adaptive sustainable forest management models at two high-ecological-value pilot sites within the SocialForest project. Through on-the-ground interventions, the initiative aims to demonstrate that active forest management is essential to improving the resilience of southern European forests to climate change.
Key parameters will be analysed, such as growth, biodiversity, water-retention capacity, fire and pest resistance, and carbon sequestration. This will make it possible to compare the evolution of managed and unmanaged forest stands, providing scientific and environmental data on the benefits of acting on increasingly vulnerable ecosystems.
Due to its geographical location, the Region of Murcia faces the real risk of losing its forested areas earlier than other European regions. For this reason, these pilot actions serve as a forecasting laboratory for what may happen in similar territories. Thus, these interventions—together with the rest of SocialForest—may establish the roadmap for forest management in southern Europe in the coming years.
A New Life Cycle
The first pilot site is located in Sierra de Burete (Cehegín), in an area of Aleppo pine (Pinus halepensis) of different ages. The experimental activity seeks to assess how forest stands respond to silvicultural treatments through an innovative study on water availability in the subsoil. Managed and unmanaged stands will be compared.
Adaptive silviculture will be applied at this pilot site, adjusting stand density according to the age of the pine forest. In young stands, selective thinning will be carried out to reduce competition and promote the vigour of the most promising trees; in mature stands, thinning and regeneration cuts will be implemented. The aim is to foster a new life cycle of the pine forest, preventing ageing without replacement and ensuring the establishment of future generations of trees.
The Cehegín pilot site highlights a structural problem, as noted by the technical team of the Directorate-General for Natural Heritage and Climate Action, part of Murcia’s Regional Ministry of Environment, Universities, Research and the Mar Menor. “Forest management must guide the evolution of the forest to ensure a positive outcome, preventing trees from ageing and dying without being replaced by younger ones,” they explain, adding that these actions “ensure the continuity of the forest legacy”.
Improving Forest Health
The second pilot site is located in Sierra de Moratalla, within an extensive Aleppo pine forest regenerated after a major wildfire in 1994 that burned more than 25,000 hectares. The forest is extremely dense, monospecific and highly vulnerable to drought, pests and fires. Once again, managed and unmanaged stands will be compared to demonstrate the effect of intervention on ecosystem health and climate-adaptation capacity.
Silvicultural treatments will be applied to reduce tree density according to age, preventing further weakening and optimising growth. Due to its youth, the pine forest does not yet produce enough cones or seeds to recover from a new catastrophic event. Thinning will improve overall forest health and vigour, increasing resistance to pests and pathogens, enhancing ecosystem composition and biodiversity, and generating social benefits such as greater protection against climate extremes, revitalisation of rural areas and improved professionalisation of the forestry sector.
A Warning in the Midst of the Climate Crisis
Both pilot actions are being carried out at a critical time for the forests of southern Europe, which are suffering increasingly destructive wildfires, prolonged droughts and pests. “Abandoned forests are the biggest fuel for flames,” warn the Murcian technicians, who recall that the accumulation of combustible material is now higher than ever. The project leaders stress that active management does not reduce forest area; rather, it prevents weakened trees from dying and being replaced by scrubland, which leads to soil loss, reduced biodiversity and diminished ecosystem services.
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