FIELD TRIPS
Mountain forest habitats
LIFE Teixeres project | Castellón
This field trip is dedicated to the knowledge of conservation actions on species and habitats involved in the LIFE project for the restoration of Taxus baccata woods in the Valencian Community (LIFE Teixeres).
This is the excursion that focuses more on the forest vegetation. It includes the management of populations of old living species such as the yew (Taxus baccata L.)
The excursion will take place in the interior of the province of Castellón, in the Penyagolosa Natural Park. This is one of the most important Valencian sites for relict Euro-Siberian and sub-Mediterranean vegetation, consisting mainly of forests of Pinus sylvestris and P. nigra subsp. salzmannii. Relevant activities have been made, among others, in the Plant Micro-Reserve Barranc de la Pegunta, which hold a scattered population of yews, being the object of several conservation works through LIFE and other EU funds since the late 1990s.
Coordinator of the trip: Daniel Arizpe (CIEF)
Ex situ and in situ conservation
CIEF, Cistus heterophyllus and Natural Park Albufera | València
This field trip will take place in the surroundings of the city of Valencia and will combine both ex situ activities and in situ activities for species and habitats.
The ex situ programme will include a short visit to the Germplasm Bank of the Botanical Garden of the University of Valencia, and a longer visit to the CIEF’s (Centre for Forestry Research and Experimentation) conservation units, including the Valencian Forest Seed Bank, the Valencian Wild Flora Germplasm Bank and the nurseries producing endangered species.
For the in situ actions, two visits will be made. The first will be to see the successful work carried out on the recovery of Cistus heterophyllus subsp. carthaginensis, the only Spanish species to have achieved the legal status of “in critical condition”, a special legal status above that of “in danger of extinction”.
A second visit will show the work to restore the vegetation between 1982 and 2022 after the destruction of the coastal dunes of Devesa de l’Albufera, part of the Albufera Natural Park. This is the largest dune restoration project in Spain, with more than 7 km of coastal dunes now fully restored and plantations of more than 120 species, some of which are seriously endangered in the Valencian Community (e.g. Otanthus maritimus = Achillea maritima).
Coordinator of the field trips: P. Pablo Ferrer-Gallego and Inmaculada Ferrando (CIEF & Wildlife and Natura 2000 Service, Generalitat Valenciana).
Coastal and cliff habitats. Plant Microreserves (PMR) and conservation translocations
Potitxolet PMR (Teulada-Moraira), Cap de Sant Antoni (Xàbia) and Jardí de l’Albarda (Pedreguer) | Alicante
The field trip will have three visiting points. The first is located in Teulada – Moraira, where the plant communities of the PMR Cala del Portitxolet will be observed as well as conservation translocation work, mainly of the Helianthemum caput-felis species. We will also visit a small wetland (El Senillar), the result of the ecological restoration carried out by the city council of Teulada.
Later we will visit the PMR Cap de Sant Antoni and the surroundings of the Montgó Natural Park. The different plant communities and conservation translocation work will be observed, especially those framed in the Silene hifacensis Recovery Plan.
Finally, there will be a guided tour of the Jardí de l’Albarda, created in 1990 and home to more than 700 native species.
Coordinator of the field trip: Joan Pérez Botella.
