On Sunday, June 5, 2022, as an activity framed in the celebration of World Environment Day, the Mariñas-Betanzos Rural Development Association organized an environmental volunteer day within the LIFE FLUVIAL project, with the collaboration of the National Association GN Medio Ambient. The conference took place in the Monte das Moas, in the parish of Mántaras (Irixoa), with the involvement of the partners who own the land.
In 2019, the Community of Forests in Common Hand of San Antón, with the support of Leader aid, transformed an area of 3.8 hectares, previously occupied almost entirely by eucalyptus, with the planting of leafy species such as oak , birch, cork oak, chestnut, walnut and cherry. This transformation is a demonstrative example of the productive skills of the forest carried out in a sustainable way, as opposed to the usual implantation of fast-growing exotic forest species.
The workshop, a continuation of another with similar characteristics carried out in the same place in June 2021, aimed to control eucalyptus sprouts from seed, recurrent in areas where the presence of this species is common. At the same time, the volunteers contributed to the collection of waste in the vicinity.
The activities began with a brief introduction to the Mariñas Coruñesas e Terras do Mandeo Biosphere Reserve and the LIFE Fluvial project. Then, under the supervision of specialized monitors and with the instructions of the residents of the area, a large group of about 35 volunteers was distributed throughout the area of action to undertake the scheduled work.
At the end of the day, and after the complicated location of the eucalyptus shoots among the vegetation, approximately 150 of them were uprooted.
