In the towns of Alto Sil, the border area between León and Asturias, the presence of the brown bear is daily, even in the middle of winter. Borja Martínez, the mayor of Anllares (Páramo del Sil), a district of less than 100 inhabitants, tells humorous anecdotes about his encounters with the plantigrade. But he gets serious when he talks about his early retirement from the mine, at just 42 years old. In fact, life in these mountains is marked by the closure of the mines and the Anllares coal-fired power plant (in 2018) and demographic decline.
The Alto Sil is the part of empty Spain where the bear recovers territory and seeks to turn the page on a time of dirty energy. Paradoxes of history: it is as if it were now the place of reconciliation with an animal in danger of extinction and especially vulnerable to climate change.
Here a powerful Life program is applied, with an investment of 2.8 million euros (co-financed by the EU), aimed at reinforcing this forest environment and adapting it to the new context of climate change. The objective is to provide the bear with food resources and prevent conflicts that its current expansion may cause.
The Life program -which extends to the Palencia Mountain- involves the planting of 150,000 trees of interest to the bear and 25,000 chestnut trees grafted with local varieties at higher levels than would be normal on the Cantabrian coast. It will be a great test for the future.
"This program should help us to know what the needs are for a species like the bear, which is showing a good evolution, taking into account that in the future its trophic resources, its climate and probably many of its behaviors will change" , says Víctor Gutiérrez, coordinator of the area of conservation and restoration of ecosystems of the Biodiversity Foundation.
The display takes into account that warming will lead to a reduction in food availability in some bear areas; something that is already being observed. This is the case of blueberries, whose plants need to be covered with snow for long periods, while now "there is less and less snow in spring and the flowers come out earlier, so frost affects them a lot and lowers production," explains Eduardo Álvarez, coordinator in León of the Natural Heritage Foundation.
To compensate for these losses, less vulnerable species will be promoted, such as the cherry tree, the arraclán (berry) and apple trees, selected precisely for their best adaptation.
This is indicated by María Gómez, a forest engineer from the Oso Pardo Foundation, treading the snow at the foot of a mountain in Palacios del Sil, where the crews have begun to prepare the land. Here, on the slopes of these mountains, cherry trees, which traditionally fructified at between 800 and 900 meters, can be planted up to 1,350 meters, following the instructions of specialists, who predict that this species will rise in altitude in its distribution.
Everything is designed so that the bears have a great feast. In the case of the apple tree, local varieties will be used that will extend the production season, with which the plantigrades will also have late fruits available. "Bears love apples in December and January," exclaims engineer María Gómez.
Eduardo Alvárez explains that climate change will mean a more marked irregular production of oak (acorns) and beech (hayucos) fruits, which may mean that bears cannot find these delicacies in autumn. For this reason, the chestnut alternative is used, which has a constant production, and whose distribution gradient is also increasing at altitude.
Chestnuts are a dry fruit with a high calorific value, an essential requirement for bears to spend the winter.
“Chestnut will become increasingly important in the bear's diet. Climate change could even generate opportunities for its development and fruition in areas that are now hardly viable and at higher altitudes”, confirm the experts from the Fundación Biodiversidad.
"We are really going to see if these species behave well at higher levels and in climate change scenarios," summarizes Guillermo Palomero, president of the Brown Bear Foundation.
The plantations also seek to promote biological diversity, attract birds and avoid the dreaded image of the bear entering the gardens of the towns to perch on the cherry or apple tree.
“We want to avoid conflict between man and bear. The cherries and apples will find it in the bush”, says María Gómez.
In bear areas, in the last 50 years spring has been brought forward by 5 days, and winters have warmed 4 decimals per decade. Global warming, among other factors, favors bears hibernating for less time or not making use of this faculty. All these factors make it likely that there will be more bears active in winter, which can increase the risk of having encounters with them.
Meanwhile, the expansion of the Cantabrian brown bear is clear, according to the latest census carried out with genomic techniques and released a few days ago. Its population has multiplied by four since the late 80s of the last century.
Currently, it is estimated that there are 370 specimens on the Cantabrian coast, of which 250 are found in the western subpopulation and 120 in the eastern one.
The relentless fight against poaching, the protection of these mountains by being incorporated into the Natura 2000 Network and the social support that the conservation of this species has been gaining are the three causes that explain the progress achieved, according to Guillermo Palomero.
The determining role of Seprona or the prosecution of ecological crime has paid off. In these mining basins, "everything was hunted, without the slightest control and with illegal municipalities." Now it is a focus of tourist attraction with its epicenter in Pola de Somiedo (Asturias).
In the end, all this collective effort has served so that "the territory has assumed that the bear also has an economic value and reached the conclusion that an animal is not killed for anything in the world," says Palomero.
To guarantee peaceful coexistence and no incidents, the Life program will develop various initiatives to ensure that winter leisure activities continue to be compatible with the presence of the bear.
Agreements have been signed with the sports and hunting federations in all the autonomous communities of the Cantabrian Sea, as well as with the Spanish Association of Nature Photographers, to disseminate the available information. In addition, a cartoon video has been produced that explains to hikers, trekkers and other visitors to the mountain what can and cannot be done to avoid running into bears.
The messages are very clear. For example, it is highlighted that "never follow the trail of a bear" or that "do not leave garbage that could attract his attention" because that can create habits that bring them closer to men, the video explains. "And if a bear notices your presence, it's a good idea to make yourself noticed by speaking softly and without gestures," she warns.
Precisely, the mayor of Anllares, Borja Martínez, is a source of anecdotes about inappropriate human behavior towards bears; but he returns to the serious tone when he talks about depopulation in the region. "A child has not been born here for 31 years!", He sentences.
In Anllares is the medieval house of Doña Urraca I de León, he tells us, showing another hallmark of this land.
From now on you can also say that the reconquest of the bear has begun with the plantations in this area.
