The Cultural and Natural Space of Las Médulas, recognized by UNESCO in 1997 as a World Heritage, lacked a forest fire prevention plan in force when it was fire Last Sunday, August 10, the second day of the fire wave that has been primed with the province of León until some 100,000 hectares are razing in just two weeks.
The Environment Prosecutor's Office has initiated an investigation to the municipalities affected by fire to know if they had the prevention plans for which the Montes Law of the year 2003 is forced.
As this newspaper has verified, the City Council of Carucedo – one of the three in which the place is included – awarded just a month ago, on July 14, the elaboration of a “Technical Plan for the Prevention and Fight against Forest Fire and Catastrophes derived from climate change in the Las Médulas ECN in the municipality of Carucedo”. The delivery date is December 2025. When the fire razed the old Roman gold mine, there were no preventive plans in force for one of the most emblematic spaces of the province.
Neither the City Council of Borrennes nor that of the bridge of Domingo Flórez, the others in which the protected area is included, have in force plans and do not consist in the hiring portals that have awarded them. The Ministry of Culture of Castilla y León has not answered the question asked by this writing about whether there were prevention plans in force and is limited to pointing out that “the City Council of Carucedo is done because, like the Junta de Castilla y León, it is part of the Board of Trustees of the Las Médulas Foundation.”
The Caruedo contract that begins the development of the plan will arrive months after they have burned, According to CSIC figure1997.4 hectares of the protected area as a good of cultural interest (BIC) and world heritage of medulla. It represents 63.29% of the protected territory. From the peripheral protection area, another 257 hectares burned, until adding 2,254 hectares. In addition, the fire that originated in the town of Yeres in La Cabrera has devastated part of the Roman channels and has been carried ahead almost all the tourist infrastructure. At the moment, the Junta de Castilla y León has not issued an official evaluation of the disaster figures for cultural and natural heritage, although it has commissioned its assessment.
Carucedo had hired 75,000 euros, with funds from the Junta de Castilla y León and the EU recovery plan, a 'Technical Plan for the prevention and fight against forest fires and catastrophes derived from climate change in the Las Médulas ECN in the municipality of Carucedo', awarded to a cooperative society based in Madrid and specialized in forest management. This plan does include the condition of climate change, despite the fact that the Junta de Castilla y León ruled out before UNESCO in the last evaluation of the conservation of the medulla that climate change was to affect the protected area.
Plan “Integral” and “Impressible”
The contract went to tender on April 8 with its publication on the contracting platform and was awarded by the Berciano City Council on July 14. Only one company went, the winner. Specifically, it is requested to prepare a plan that contains “the planning of preventive, corrective and formative measures aimed at reducing the incidence and effects of forest fires and other environmental risks in the area”.
In the specifications it is indicated in a textual way that “the geomorphological characteristics of the Las Médulas ECN, its high influx of visitors and the recurrence of forest fires in the area make the elaboration of a comprehensive technical plan that allow the planning, prevention, extinction and coordination of the logistics and operational media against environmental emergencies”.
In addition, the risk of climate change is indicated for the place despite the denial of the autonomous government in the 2022 evaluation. “The plan must contemplate measures for the protection of cultural and natural heritage, address the risk of collapse of old mining structures due to the effects of climate change and define action protocols before extreme climatic phenomena”.
Among other issues, the plan that has now to be designed with the completely devastated place must include: “Know the level of fire risk, detachments, floods and snowfall; how to avoid the causes that can lead to an emergency; how Lacks in detection, prevention and protection against risks;
MEDULA PROTECTION LEVELS
Las Médulas are recognized as the largest open -pit gold mine in the Roman Empire, with 1,200 hectares transformed by the system of 'collapse of the mountains'. The environment is the result of the mining activity between the 1st and II centuries and the configuration of a natural landscape due to the introduction of chestnut crop. “Thus, the characteristic landscape of the medulla, with the green of the chestnut trees and the reddish of the mining fronts, was a clear example of union of cultural and environmental values,” The greatest experts of the CSIC point out.
This unique environment in the south of the region of El Bierzo connecting with the region of Cabrera, where water came through tens of kilometers of Roman channels, was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1997. Its protection in Spanish legislation comes from the declaration as a natural monument in 2002 and well of cultural interest in 2010. It is also part of the Natura 2000 network as a place of community. Special protection zone for birds (Zepa). Since 2002 it has the mandatory plan for the management of natural resources.
In this document, where it is marked how the management has to be, several specific guidelines and regulations related to forest fires and the use of fire within its territorial scope are established. Among them that are specifically indicated that “the necessary measures for the prevention and extinction of forest fires within the natural space must be developed, ensuring that preventive actions minimize their landscape impact”. In addition, “establish jungle actions that improve the regeneration of the tree vegetation of natural space as a result of the processes of abandonment of agricultural activity” and maintain the correct sanitary state of the wooded masses. ”
The use of fire was generally restricted: “It is forbidden to make fire, except in specifically authorized places and shapes.” “The burning of vegetation for agricultural, livestock or forest purposes will require an express authorization of the administration of the natural space, which will also regulate how the burning of agricultural plant waste can be made in these areas,” it was pointed out.
At another point it is specified that “the agricultural practices that are aggressive for natural resources must be limited, such as the use of fire for the creation of pastable areas and the elimination of waste from the use of chestnut.” And that “in the land that is burned or affected by forest fires, the space administration must Limit grazing during the time necessary to ensure the regeneration of the vegetation cover, in order to avoid erosion and allow the recovery of altered plant and animal communities. ”
The managing body of the Cultural and Natural Espcio de las Médulas is a foundation called of the same name. Controlled by the Junta de Castilla y León to it also belong to the Diputación de León, the Regional Council of El Bierzo, the municipalities of Carucedo, Borrenes and Puente de Domingo Flórez and the University of León.
