clearing land around boundary fences
Jan 30th 2018, 6:30 am
#31
Polished expat
Joined: Jul 2014
Location: Arcos de Valdevez "Onde Portugal se fez"
Posts: 16,822
Re: clearing land around boundary fences
If you plant trees in a regular two-dimensional grid every 10 metres (which is too close together for most mature trees) over a square kilometer, you would plant 10,000 trees. To Therefore to plant a million trees would take 100sqkm.
You say there are over 100 municipalities in Portugal, and Portugal has a land area of about 91,000 sqkm, so the average municipality is less than 910sqkm, and they're supposed to find 100sqkm, or more than 10% of their land area on average to plant trees?
Is that even vaguely realistic? ..... Or is the initiative just empty words from a politician?
Or are they just going to cram in saplings a couple of metres apart knowing full well that 90% of them will die or have to be weeded out within a few years?
I any case, I wonder how much land you are left with if you take the 91,000 sqkm area of Portugal and subtract developed land and surrounding fire breaks, roads and related fire breaks, agricultural land, land that is already forested, ..... is there enough land left in Portugal to plant 100 million trees?
You say there are over 100 municipalities in Portugal, and Portugal has a land area of about 91,000 sqkm, so the average municipality is less than 910sqkm, and they're supposed to find 100sqkm, or more than 10% of their land area on average to plant trees?
Is that even vaguely realistic? ..... Or is the initiative just empty words from a politician?
Or are they just going to cram in saplings a couple of metres apart knowing full well that 90% of them will die or have to be weeded out within a few years?
I any case, I wonder how much land you are left with if you take the 91,000 sqkm area of Portugal and subtract developed land and surrounding fire breaks, roads and related fire breaks, agricultural land, land that is already forested, ..... is there enough land left in Portugal to plant 100 million trees?
). I thought about that after I'd posted, wondered whether it could possibly be true and was rapidly coming to the conclusion that it couldn't. I was thrown by the slogan, which contains a word that could mean either "per" or "by".So it's a million trees overall by the local authorities. My apologies for the error and thanks for the scepticism
Jan 30th 2018, 6:41 am
#32
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Mar 2013
Location: central Portugal
Posts: 4,111
Re: clearing land around boundary fences
As I see it, you're both partly right & partly wrong.......
I've got my doubts that it'll ever happen (to say the very least) ........ but think the idea is to cut the trees & clear the land of commercial woodland (including roots) to the legal firebreak limits for the appropriate areas & then sporadically replant those areas with indigenous, broad leaved, fire resistant hardwood and/or fruit trees because such trees are considered beneficial to both the fire break (or more accurately fire band) areas & also to wildlife.
This does of course raise other questions such as who maintains the firebreaks every year because grass & brambles will grow every year & as they dry in the summer sun will become highly flammable & who pays for it?
National Govt has cleverly put the onus for this firmly on the shoulders of the land owners (in the first instance) who incidentally don't have the money for it & in many cases, don't know they even own the land & nor can they be traced because the land records are so out of date...... and when they don't do it, the onus falls on local Govt who don't have the money to do it.
So in some ways the theory is fine but in reality, it's not as easy in deed as it is in thought......... but one thing is for sure........... something must be done to improve the situation!
I've got my doubts that it'll ever happen (to say the very least) ........ but think the idea is to cut the trees & clear the land of commercial woodland (including roots) to the legal firebreak limits for the appropriate areas & then sporadically replant those areas with indigenous, broad leaved, fire resistant hardwood and/or fruit trees because such trees are considered beneficial to both the fire break (or more accurately fire band) areas & also to wildlife.
This does of course raise other questions such as who maintains the firebreaks every year because grass & brambles will grow every year & as they dry in the summer sun will become highly flammable & who pays for it?
National Govt has cleverly put the onus for this firmly on the shoulders of the land owners (in the first instance) who incidentally don't have the money for it & in many cases, don't know they even own the land & nor can they be traced because the land records are so out of date...... and when they don't do it, the onus falls on local Govt who don't have the money to do it.
So in some ways the theory is fine but in reality, it's not as easy in deed as it is in thought......... but one thing is for sure........... something must be done to improve the situation!
Jan 30th 2018, 10:23 am
#33
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Aug 2009
Location: Wales/Ribatejo
Posts: 575
Re: clearing land around boundary fences
Where we're staying at the moment,(south of Alcobaca) there's a large area of national forest which has suffered fire damage. When we drove through last week,they were cutting all the affected trees down.There were huge piles of logs along the roadside,and large areas of barren burnt land.
Jan 30th 2018, 11:38 am
#34
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Mar 2013
Location: central Portugal
Posts: 4,111
Re: clearing land around boundary fences
The trees that burned, especially the pines are knackered anyway now & virtually worthless........ The question is, what will they plant in their place?
Feb 6th 2018, 8:38 am
#35
Banned
Joined: Oct 2012
Posts: 26,724
Re: clearing land around boundary fences
Our local Coninente supermarket had a pile of leaflets at the checkouts detailing the new regulations.
Let's hope that are read and acted on.
Let's hope that are read and acted on.
