The use of flocks of sheep and goats to clear the undergrowth and thus reduce the forest mass that can be combustible in a forest fire is a method that protects the forest but is still not very widespread in Catalonia, partly due to the lack of alliances between forest owners and livestock farmers.
In a report by María Morales in EFE Agro, Josep Maria Sauri, with more than 40 years of experience in silvopastoralism, explains what this method of deploying flocks in forest areas so that they feed and at the same time maintain the undergrowth with a low volume of biomass, thus reducing the risk of fires.
Despite the benefits of silvopastoralism, they say in the report, Sauri says that there is not enough collaboration between those who own forest land and the owners of flocks, due in part to the lack of economic returns from forest management activities and the gradual disappearance of flocks. “Silvopastoralism is coming to an end due to the lack of economic support and the absence of generational change,” he laments.
This shepherd still keeps the undergrowth of Sant Celoni (Barcelona) healthy with a flock of 550 sheep and 100 goats, but he has had to reduce the number of sheep – he previously had 800 – and “several colleagues have been abandoning the trade,” he laments.
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Image: Freepik (IA)
