The forest in the protected natural area of Poblet (Conca de Barberà), of enormous environmental value, is sick. The drought, in a climate emergency context, has favored the advance and devastating effects of boring insects, in the form of plague. The main victim, for now, the pinaster pine ( Pinus pinaster ). Planted 60 years ago to reforest Poblet, with less capacity to adapt to the lack of water, it is experiencing an unprecedented mortality rate.
The seriousness of the situation, in which thousands of pine trees are collapsing without the possibility of survival, has forced Acció Climàtica to draw up an emergency plan. The most traumatic action, announced yesterday by the Generalitat, is the felling of the affected trees in an area of about 50 hectares, in the Torners ravine area.
If action is not taken quickly, the plague could spread throughout the natural area of Poblet, warns Acció Climàtica. In total, it now affects, to varying degrees, 10% of the park's 3,000 hectares.
"These forests that are collapsing and dying are currently out of season, which means that the climatic conditions have changed so much that they can no longer survive," Anna Sanitjas, director of Forest Ecosystems and Environmental Management, lamented yesterday .
With felling, we also want to avoid the high risk of forest fire that the presence of thousands of dead trees, converted into a huge amount of fuel, means. It is a strategic enclave. Experts warn that a forest fire here would exceed the extinguishing capacity. "We can't maintain a continuous mass of dead trees, it would be a huge fire", warns Ester Trullols, director of the Natural Site of National Interest in Poblet.
The Climate Action shock plan goes beyond this selective logging. We want to deploy a fund action, which will also serve as a test bed for other Catalan forests affected by drought and pests. "We want to promote active forest management to have healthy forests. If we have very thick forests, where the trees are constantly competing for water, we end up in these situations of collapse. If we have strong trees, with more space between them, able to resist drought and climate change, we will have forests of the future", reasoned Sanitjas.
Felling will begin in September, once the forest fire campaign is over. In the area where the action will take place, the mortality is 80% of these pines, but after the summer it is predicted that it will be 100%.
Affected trees have thousands of insects that pierce their interior: between 10,000 and 30,000 beetles in the most extreme cases. The voraciousness of these insects paralyzes the circulation of the sap and the tree ends up drying out. Colonization of the trunk is what ends up being fatal.
In the precious natural area of Poblet there are centuries-old trees and monumental specimens, of incalculable value. Clearing the forest of dead trees will promote a natural regeneration, with native species such as the oak, which is demonstrating a better ability to adapt.
The main species affected, the pinastre pine, although it is typical of the Mediterranean area, is originally from the north of the Peninsula. It is much more vulnerable if it suffers from water stress. The first effects began to be seen in the spring, when there were trees that went from green to showing reddish colors on the tops. In just three months, mortality has skyrocketed.
Many of the trees in Poblet were born 80, 90 or 100 years ago, in conditions that have nothing to do with today, in a climate that was colder and more humid. The landscape will change irreparably, as experts warn, because of the climate crisis. There will be tree species that will not be able to adapt and will gradually disappear from our forests. The future will tell if, in Poblet, it will be the case of the Pinus pinaster.
