Alonso Miguel delivers forestry equipment on Terceira island under LIFE IP AZORES NATURA Project

Secretaria Regional do Ambiente e Ação Climática

The Regional Secretary for the Environment and Climate Change, Alonso Miguel, delivered today forestry equipment on the island of Terceira, acquired under the LIFE IP AZORES NATURA Project, which is the first integrated LIFE project approved in Portugal and the largest nature conservation project ever designed for the Azores.

Alonso Miguel stressed that "this project, which will run for nine years, has a global budget of 19.1 million Euros, co-financed by the European Union at 60%. It aims to make a significant contribution to the conservation of species and habitats protected by the Habitats and Birds Directives, namely 13 habitats and 24 species, covering all Natura 2000 Network sites on all islands of the Azores, both on land and at sea.

According to the government official, "the area of intervention of the Project on Terceira island is quite extensive, with conservation actions covering about 341 hectares, spread over various locations, with special emphasis on Terra Brava, Furnas do Enxofre, Biscoito da Ferraria, Pico Alto and Tamujal, and Turfeira do Sanguinhal."

The Regional Secretary stressed that "in addition to hiring seven operations assistants to implement the actions planned for Terceira Island, given the considerable size of the intervention area, but especially considering that a large part of the conservation and renaturalisation actions involve the removal of large exotic and invasive species, such as eucalyptus, acacias, or incense, it was necessary to proceed with the acquisition of a forestry tractor, including a set of implements, which today we put at the service of the Region. It will be under the management of the Environmental and Climate Change Services of Terceira island, being a fundamental tool to accomplish the project's goals."

"Just to give an idea of the importance of this piece of equipment, for example, there is a forest production area with 3000 eucalyptus trees in the Pico Alto and Tamujal intervention area alone, which have to be removed for subsequent planting with native species such as heather, cedar and laurel," he added.

Alonso Miguel also mentioned that this is "an investment of about 270 thousand Euros, which corresponded to the acquisition of a 135 hp forestry tractor, equipped with a forestry trailer and crane, forestry winch, shredder and sprayer." He also added that "two operations assistants from the Secretariat for the Environment holding a valid driving license for agricultural vehicles attended a 30-hour training course to operate the tractor and the respective implements."

The Regional Secretary assured that, with this equipment, "it is now possible to fell and collect large trees in areas of difficult access, using the forestry winch, as well as to transport them, using the forestry trailer and the crane." In addition, "with the forestry shredder, all the branches, resulting from the felling of invasive and exotic plants, can be processed and transformed into chips on the spot, and it will also be possible to spray large areas of brambles, using the sprayer, which has a 600-litre capacity."

The government official stated that "following the strong investments that have been made by the Regional Secretariat for the Environment and Climate Change, today we take another important step towards empowering the Regional Public Administration, in this case, for the protection and enhancement of our natural heritage."