The Loathsome Pine: Forest management

One of the more peculiar pieces of research that has emanated from the university in Palma over the years was one that was published over three years ago which looked at just how much the pine tree was disliked by Mallorcans. The reasons for this "hate" were: pines can be harmful to health; they can prevent other flora growing; they house the processionary caterpillar; they are dirty in that their needles clog up drains when it rains and demand an enormous amount of sweeping-up and that their pollen turns everywhere a shade of yellowy-green in spring. There were two other reasons for the dislike. One was irrational. The pine is "foreign", which is something of a moot point but if it is true then palm trees should also be hated. The other was rational. The great abundance of pines help to spread forest fires.

The university's researchers discovered that, far from there being wholesale support for the pine tree, many a Mallorcan would be only too happy if the pine were to be sent packing, which would be a pretty difficult feat of forest destruction as at least 80% of mountainous forest is pine.

Gabriel Company, the Balearics environment minister, might do worse than to drag this research out. He has said that the notion that the pine tree is "untouchable" has to change. He was speaking as part of a hearing by a parliamentary commission into the devastating fire that affected the Tramuntana mountains in July. His point was that there needs to be greater control of pine-tree growth, which means cutting trees down as a way of improving forest management and so reducing the risks of fires spreading. The research would suggest that it wouldn't necessarily be that difficult to change the "untouchable" notion.

Sadness accompanied the July fire. It was sadness at the scenes of desolation, ones that are all too familiar if not anything like on the same scale. It was sadness at the loss of pine forests and at the realisation that it could take up to eighty years for the landscapes to be restored. But much though people pined for the loss of the pines, there were those who could have predicted the devastation. Hating the pines for their very density and so their potential to spread fires rapidly does not mean their elimination, or anything like it, but it does mean that there should be better management. And some would say that any management would be better than what has existed. Very little.

Critics of Company will argue that his call for there to be greater control is all a bit late and that it is a call which ignores other issues, such as cutbacks to forestry workers. And there is some justification for criticising the lack of proactive management of the forests. A spokesperson for the PSOE opposition has accused Company of only becoming interested in the Tramuntana and its maintenance since the fire occurred and has wondered whatever happened to a forestry plan that was announced by President Bauzá in 2011 and which was meant to have been approved last year. Friends of the Earth had asked the same question a year before the Andratx fire, and I, in an article written in the aftermath of the fire ("The Impotence Of Fire"), repeated the question.

There needs to be a comprehensive plan for forest management. It is remarkable that there has never been one for the Balearics, and the absence of one reflects badly on politicians who have been happy to bask in the glories of the mountain woodland patrimony of Mallorca and the Balearics while at the same time doing very little to preserve it adequately.

It needs to include - a point made to the parliamentary hearing by a spokesperson for the Més grouping - a strategy for biomass. I have suggested that it is unlikely that this would be used in any meaningful fashion as a renewable energy source in the Balearics, but it used elsewhere as it is gathered for export. Removal of biomass can be productive and it can also help, as with better management of trees, with reducing the spread of fire, but it also serves a function in soil regeneration, so it needs its own specific management.

If anything good has come as a result of the fire, it will be that a comprehensive plan will be put in place. But it can't just kept on being put back. It is long, long overdue.

No Money In Mallorca's Biomass

The irony is not lost. Mallorca imports waste from Europe and incinerates it at Son Reus. Italy, a country which sends its waste to Mallorca, creates clean energy using woody biomass that is exported from Mallorca.

In January last year I wrote about the potential to use biomass as part of a programme of renewable energy in Mallorca. The Balearic Government was talking about upping its renewables game by investing three million euros (not a huge amount) on renewables installations, an investment in accordance with a national government wish to raise the contribution of renewables to energy sources to 20% by 2020. Biomass was spoken of as one of these sources in Mallorca. Over 11,000 homes could be served by biomass energy, or so it was said.

The forests of Mallorca possess a great deal of biomass. They possess rather less than they did now that parts of the Tramuntana and the Llevant nature park have gone up in flames, but there is still a good deal to go round and to go to Italy.

Various reasons have been given as to why the Tramuntana fire spread as widely as it did. One of these was that the forest is not sufficiently well maintained, which means that the ground is not attended to well enough. It is littered with woody debris, which burns an absolute treat but which burns as a better treat when it is put to productive purpose. 

It is idealistic to believe that a renewable like biomass could be anything more than a small contributor to overall energy sources. It comes at a cost, and one cost is that of its gathering. But this doesn't seem to deter the operation which does gather biomass and which ships it for use in Sardinia where there is an altogether greater premium placed on ecological energy than there is in Mallorca. Indeed, there is an altogether greater commitment to producing clean energy in Italy than in Spain, despite what the government might say. And as the national government has cut support for renewables, then whatever commitment there was has been diminished.

Between them, Mallorca and Menorca exported 7,000 tons of biomass last year. Productive use in the Balearics stands at less than one out of every ten tons of biomass that is retrieved, and there are very few examples of productive use; one is in Sant Antoni in Ibiza. This is not a project operated by Tirme, the GESA-led coalition of companies that has a monopoly on waste management and recycling in Mallorca and which needed the waste imports to help pay for its Son Reus incineration plant. Tirme accept that biomass is highly adaptable as an energy source but that without governmental support, unlike in Italy, its cost is too great; collection and production would outstrip its return. It's not profitable, therefore.

Although the biomass in the mountain forests is a natural resource and one which, through its very nature, is free, it isn't of course free. The Tramuntana fire reminded everyone of the fact that vast areas of the mountains are in fact privately owned. This ownership came up as an issue when the mountain range was awarded its World Heritage status. It was all well and good talking about opening up the mountains to more tourism, but what about rights and permissions to access private land?

Criticisms of the regional government's environment ministry that the lack of forest maintenance contributed to the fire overlook what is a more complicated situation than simply saying that gangs of workers should be packed off into forests in order to clear the debris and the biomass. The complication comes, in part, because of ownership. These owners have, in turn, been criticised for themselves not having looked after their forests, but then what incentives do they have to do better? One could argue that they shouldn't need incentive and that they have a duty to maintain the forests properly, but this is too simplistic a view.

Were there a genuine incentive, i.e. in the form of payment for the biomass, then the forests might at least be in a better state and might be less vulnerable to devastating wildfires, but such payment needs balancing, and, or so it would seem, the use of this biomass is just not profitable.

It seems crazy that there are tons of a potential energy source lying around in Mallorca's forests doing nothing more than being ripe for adding fuel to fires. It seems crazy that, at a time when environmental concerns are being raised about the extension of a different energy source - the gas pipeline to Alcúdia's power station - that a more benign source is being neglected. But this is so often the story with renewables. They have much to offer but they don't make money.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

MALLORCA TODAY - Profile of Mallorca's pyromaniac

Police and forestry officials believe that the person (acting with or without accomplices) starting deliberate fires on Mallorca is a former fireman or forestry worker or someone in a similar line of work, male, the driver of a white Ford Fiesta and unemployed (and loss of employment could be a motive). The Guardia Civil has pointed to certain similarities with many of the fires - their remoteness but also proximity to main roads (to facilitate the fire-starter's escape) as well as their timing, towards the end of shifts which mean that overtime has to be paid to those who initially attend the fires.

See more: El Mundo

MALLORCA TODAY - Three more fires in one day

Another day, another three fires, one of them near Betlem on the bay of Alcúdia. The smoke was very clearly seen yesterday afternoon from beaches in Alcúdia and Muro. The fire affected almost two hectares of woodland.

Update: In the end, the fire in Betlem was more widespread, 20 hectares being affected before the blaze was brought fully under control.

See more: Diario de Mallorca

MALLORCA TODAY - Son Vida fire not threatening homes

A huge plume of smoke from a fire near Son Vida in Palma will probably have been causing some disruption to air traffic. The fire, which started some time after 2pm, is at a low level of risk as homes are not threatened, but it is requiring the attention of Canadair, water-bombing helicopters as well as several fire crews. It is not known yet if the fire was intentional.

Update: The fire was under control by yesterday evening, some nine to ten hectares of wood land having been affected.

See photo with the short report: El Mundo

MALLORCA TODAY - Intentional fires in Peguera

Two more fires yesterday, started at the same time and in the Peguera area, leading to the belief that they were, as with others, deliberate. The fires, on this occasion, caused relatively little damage.

See more: Diario de Mallorca

MALLORCA TODAY - Nine hectares affected in fire near Caves of Drach

On a day when there were more fires on Mallorca, the most serious was one in forest off the road between Manacor and the Caves of Drach in Porto Cristo. Under control by mid-afternoon, the fire has resulted in almost nine hectares of primarily pine woods being affected or lost.

See more: Diario de Mallorca

MALLORCA TODAY - Pyromaniac still on the loose in Mallorca

The police are looking for a new suspect in connection with the deliberate starting of fires on Mallorca. Yesterday there was a further fire in Na Burguesa in Palma. Two people who were previously detained on suspicion of having been pyromaniacs were released without charge.

See more: Ultima Hora

MALLORCA TODAY - Two arrested on suspicion of being pyromaniacs

The Guardia Civil has arrested a young man and his uncle on suspicion of having been responsible for starting fires that have broken out on Mallorca in recent days. Yesterday there were four separate fires in the Llucmajor area and another in the Albufera park by Sa Pobla.

See more: Ultima Hora

MALLORCA TODAY - Pyromaniacs sought in Mallorca

The Balearic Government and the Guardia Civil believe that the fires on Mallorca - eight in the last day or so - have been caused deliberately. Yesterday there was a dramatic fire near Algaida that was nevertheless brought under swift control, but the sequence of the timing of the fires would suggest there may have been some co-ordination.

Update: Four fires today in the Llucmajor area all started around the same time, strengthening the view that most if not all the fires are being co-ordinated and are deliberate. Meanwhile, a fire also in the Sa Pobla part of Albufera which has affected two hectares.

See more: Diario de Mallorca

MALLORCA TODAY - Thousand evacuated in huge Ibiza fire

Despite the change to the weather, the fires keep raging. There were three more yesterday, by far the worst being in Ibiza where a thousand people had to be evacuated from the Roca Llisa urbanisation in Cala Llonga which broke out at around 20.00 last night and required fire-fighting assistance from the mainland. No injuries have been reported, but the seriousness of the fire required that it was put at level 2 on the scale of gravity, one notch lower than the most serious. The fire claimed some 115 hectares of largely pine forest.

In Mallorca, meanwhile, there were two more fires, one heading towards Puigpunyent from Palma and the other, the more serious, near to the Festival Park commercial and entertainment centre in Marratxí. Three homes had to be evacuated.

MALLORCA TODAY - Another bad fire in Artà

The Artà area, which has suffered from other fires this summer, has been hit by another. 2.7 hectares of pine forest land have been affected by a fire that broke out around 13.00 this afternoon and which required the main road to Sant Llorenç to be closed for a time. There have been two other less serious fires today as well; one above Felanitx and the other, much smaller, near Llucmajor.

MALLORCA TODAY - Four hectares claimed by Pollensa fire

A Saturday afternoon and a not unfamiliar sight. A helicopter "bomber" and a Canadair are flying across the bay of Alcúdia on their way to at least two fires, the biggest near Pollensa on the La Salve finca not far from Crestatx. This fire wiped out four hectares of pine forest. A smaller fire was in the mountain village of Fornalutx.

MALLORCA TODAY - Puerto Pollensa fire: a resident is arrested

Local police have arrested a resident of Puerto Pollensa on suspicion of deliberately setting fire to finca land belonging to a neighbour in the La Solana area of the resort. It would appear that the man arrested was in dispute with the neighbour who had "invaded" his land and had put rubbish onto it.

MALLORCA TODAY - Son Serra de Marina fire 26 August

Another fire. This one started around two this afternoon near to Son Serra de Marina, seven kilometres from Can Picafort. Canadair and other fire-fighting teams are attending.


There has also been a small fire this afternoon in Albufera near to Sa Pobla which was brought swiftly under control.

MALLORCA TODAY - Fires in Cala Ratjada, Son Servera and Génova

Another day, another three forest fires to add to the spate of fires that have broken out on Mallorca this summer. The three today have been near to Costa d'en Blanes in the Génova area of Calvia, in forest in Son Servera and close to the resort of Cala Ratjada.

Cala Ratjada fire update 20.30. The fire broke out around 17.00 and is still threatening homes in the area. The Son Servera fire is under control, though that in Costa d'en Blanes is still also unstable.

Images from the Cala Ratjada fire from "Diario de Mallorca": http://comunidad.diariodemallorca.es/galeria-multimedia/Incendio-Capdepera/Incendio-Capdepera/31224/6.html

MALLORCA TODAY - Small forest fires in Alcúdia and Sa Pobla

The regularity with which forest fires have been breaking out in Mallorca has not stopped today. There have been two more today, one affecting 7000 square metres in the area of Crestatx near to Sa Pobla and the other affecting 5000 square metres in La Victoria, the mountain area north of Alcúdia town. Both fires were brought swiftly under control by a combination of fire crews and water-fighting aircraft.

MALLORCA TODAY - Santa Margalida and Artà fires were not intentional

Investigators looking into the causes of the destructive fires that broke out on Wednesday in the Santa Margalida and Artà areas have more or less ruled out that they were started deliberately and are working on the theory that random sparks from machinery or a car were the cause.

MALLORCA TODAY - Fires hit Santa Margalida and Artà

Two separate forest fires this afternoon affected some 350 hectares of land between Santa Margalida and Maria de la Salut and 250 hectares near Artà. The fire near Artà has required greater demands on emergency services in order to bring it under control, and the two fires have stretched the various services. Road transport was affected by the fires, for example causing the main road between Santa Margalida and Muro to be closed.


Update on this. It was being reported at 05.30 this morning that the Artà fire was still only 40% under full control. The fires, provoked by winds, dry land and high temperatures, caused in all four main roads to be closed, including the main coast road from Artà to Alcúdia.


Further update. The fires in the area around Santa Margalida, Maria and Llubi started up again this afternoon (7 July), but didn't cause a major incident.

Fire, Fire: Balearics ablaze

Pour on water, pour on water.

Ibiza has been burning. So has Mallorca. A couple of afternoons ago, there was a plume of smoke to be seen rising somewhere past Can Picafort. Lazing for a while on the beach, there were suddenly bits of burnt debris drifting on the wind and settling on the sand. Some people started to get into a bit of a panic. There are those moments on a beach when you become aware of everyone looking at something. And there it was. Another cloud of smoke. Quite a bit closer. At which point I thought perhaps I ought also to panic.

Legging it back from the beach, I had visions of a conflagration. Burning houses and exploding cars. Nothing of the sort. It was a fair distance away. By Albufera, en route to Muro town. The burnt stuff was flying about, however. Loads of it, charred confetti, toasted ticker-tape. Seemed a pretty extreme way of finally putting a halt to the golf course, ventured I, but no one seemed to appreciate the joke. As far as I'm aware, the fire and the course were, and are, unrelated.

A Canadair fire-fighter was in full flight, passing low over Albufera and putting on its water-gathering show for those on the beach who hadn't panicked. The air was distinctly smoky. Two fires going off simultaneously, and the wind strong, it smelt like a giant barbecue but later became indistinguishable from the regular summertime whiff of torched sulphur that rises out of the Albufera swamp.

The other fire, in fact between Son Serra and Petra, was altogether more serious, if not on an Ibiza scale. The boys in green are taking rather more interest in this than might normally be the case, as the fire was on finca land belonging to the chief prosecutor for the Balearics. All three fires seemed to have been started either by accidental negligence (believed to be the case in Ibiza) or deliberately.

Mallorca does burn, but rarely dramatically. The Ibiza fire is the most significant on all the islands since 2006. Each year there are minor fires, such as those on the Sant Marti mountain in Alcúdia, invariably the result of a discarded cigarette but little more than a spectator sport for those watching the water bombers.

A campaign was launched last year, usefully of course only in Catalan. You will still see the posters around - "ni 1 foc al bosc" (not one fire in the forest). It was intended as a reminder following the loss of 23 hectares of Balearics woodland to fire in 2008: the Ibiza one alone has affected 400 hectares, the Son Serra fire, 140 hectares, not all woodland, but the two fires show the scale of what have been abnormal events.

There are dense woodlands on Mallorca, but the island is not a Corsica, which is essentially thick forest on high mountains surrounded by flat plains of coast, some within furnace distance of forest. I was once caught up in a Corsica fire. The island burnt a treat, and the police were hunting a German "pyromaniac"; Corsica used to attract some strange fire-starting, lunatic tourists. But what Mallorca does have in common is the mistral (mestral in Catalan) and other winds; it is the mistral that tends to cause as much havoc as the fires themselves in Corsica and southern France.

One other difference is that the Canadair pilots do not have hero status in Mallorca as they do in Corsica. I watched the plane fly into the smoke of Albufera and then lost sight of it for a while. Only when it suddenly roared over within touching distance was I sure it was going back for more water. In Corsica, pilots sometimes don't come back. The fires there are an entirely different beast, the planes diving into valleys of thick smoke, pilots flying blind; it's trees or cables that normally cause them to crash.

The fires of the Balearics have been serious, but rarely, if ever, will they be truly catastrophic in a Corsican style, even if the Ibiza one is being described as a "natural disaster". Not one fire in the forest. There have been three - in so many days. That's bad enough.


QUIZ:
Yesterday - Tears For Fears: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xq81h_tears-for-fears-laid-so-low_music


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.