The Spanish afforestation program

FAO SECRETARIAT

LIKE most other countries of the Mediterranean region, Spain is sparsely wooded, even though a forest area of 25 million hectares is quoted by official statistics. Of these 25 million hectares, 10 million are treeless "maquis", grazing lands or pastures, 10 million are park-forests or more or less degraded forests, and only 4.5 million are considered well-stocked forests. The actual forested area in Spain is therefore only slightly higher than one third of that which is officially recorded, and does not even reach one tenth of the total area of the country.

It was not until the middle of the nineteenth century, when the Forestry School and the Forest Administration were founded, that the progressive destruction of forest resources began to be checked, and that serious attention began to be given to their restoration. Since the reforestation law of 1867, a great many legal dispositions have been passed in order to stimulate private owners to cooperate with the State in carrying out afforestation, but this legislation was only successful in limited zones in the north of Spain. Similarly, the hydrological forestry divisions created in 1888 for the afforestation of watersheds contributed little towards an overall reforestation program, although there were some outstanding isolated achievements.

A dynamic forest policy was only formulated in Spain after 1940; at that time, because of the shortage of foreign exchange, timber imports, which in 1936 amounted to 600,000 cubic meters, were practically halted, and the Forestry Administration had to face heavier demands on already impoverished national forestry stocks. To prevent a further deterioration of the situation, the State Forestry Resources Law was passed in 1941, establishing a new body, the Patrimonio Nacional del Estado, for the purpose of restoring, conserving and increasing such resources.

Similarly, the elaboration of plans for the erection of new dams for irrigation, for electric power and water supply, showed clearly the need for erosion and flood control. Due to the intricate orography of the country, every Spanish river is, in fact, a true torrent, with an extremely variable flow. ¹ This torrential character of the Spanish rivers has always caused great damage. ²

¹ The flow of the Gaudalquivir river varies between 8 cubic meters per second and 11,000 cubic meters per second; that of the Segura river varies between 6 and 2,000 cubic meters per second, and this variation is not much less in the majority of Spanish rivers. It is therefore necessary to construct extremely large and expensive dams.

² The example of the large San Antonio-Tremp dam can be selected. The capacity of this dam (220 million cubic meters) has been reduced by 25 percent over 25 years, which supposes a loss of 16,000,000 Kw-hours per ear, besides the loss of 800 cubit meters of soil/km²/year.

A law was passed in 1951 for the compulsory afforestation of the watersheds feeding regulative reservoirs.

Another law was passed in 1952 for assistance to free private enterprise for afforestation which was designed to complement State action by enrolling private interests in the work of reforestation, through a system of grants and loans; this particular law also had some social objectives.

Thus, these three laws aim at:

1. Establishment of a solid forest reserve able to supply a steady volume of industrial timber.

2. Erosion control.

3. Creation of a "peasant" forest economy closely integrated with farming, whose immediate objective is to be the provision of domestic timber requirements.

They constitute the framework within which the present Spanish afforestation program is being developed.

Execution of the program

The Spanish Administration has never formally stated the ultimate targets of the afforestation program. The size of the undertaking to be faced by the State made it almost irrelevant, in the opinion of Spanish foresters, to fix a priori the targets of the plan. In the absence of a general development program, where targets for different sectors of the economy were fixed, the Forest Administration, fully aware of the difficulties involved in implementing a large-scale program, was much more concerned at the outset with fixing annual targets and speeding up the initiation of the work, and did not spend much time on long-term planning. Although it is possible to point out the flaw in this attitude (as has been done by some Spanish foresters), it did contribute to an awakening of a general interest in forestry.

It was only recently, once the difficult initial stages had been overcome and some valuable experience obtained, that a total figure of 5 million hectares to be afforested was suggested by the Administration, but this target has not been related to the investment possibilities of the country and has not been fixed in time. This figure represents about 50 percent of the mountain areas, at present entirely devoid of trees, which is left uncultivated and used for more or less extensive grazing. In this connection, the Spanish Administration is convinced that improvement of one third of the grazing land will still allow livestock output to be maintained at present levels, even if the other two thirds of the total area are planted to trees.

These afforestation schemes are not designed to entail any reduction in the cultivated area, since the opinion prevails that any further expansion of the tilled area in Spain is not admissible ³. If the target quoted is reached, the whole structure of present Spanish forest economy can be completely transformed, as will be pointed out later; in fact, Spain should change to the position of a country almost self-supporting in timber.

³ Today, 20,500,000 hectares, about 40 percent of total area of the country.

Area completed

The area afforested since 1940 is shown in Table 1:

TABLE 1. - AREA AFFORESTED IN SPAIN SINCE 1940

Year	By the Division of Forestry and Forestry Planning	By the Division of State Forestry Resources	Yearly total
	in hectares
1939-40	-	792	792
1941	3 000	7 486	10 486
1942	3 300	16 718	20 018
1943	4 600	26 341	30 841
1944	6 700	30 714	37 414
1945	5 151	43 682	48 833
1946	4 672	47 916	62 488
1947	6 688	33 561	39 139
1948	10 812	33 342	44 164
1949	9 841	34 130	43 971
1960	8 032	30 301	38 344
1961	11 062	34 728	45 790
1962	9 267	63 618	72 786
1963	12 063	99 836	111 888
1964	23 681	86 226	108 806
1966	12 300	116 118	127 418
1956	28 000	103 306	131 306
TOTALS	157 769	806 701	964 471

NOTE: These figures do not include planting by private enterprise or without State aid.

The Table gives evidence of the great efforts made. It also illustrates clearly the fact that a figure of 50,000 hectares was only reached after 5 years, and that a steadily increasing rhythm of work was only possible after 10 years. A total of about 1 million hectares has therefore been afforested up to date, and hence only 20 percent of the technical program has so far been fulfilled.

The bulk of this work has been carried out on State or municipally-owned lands, between 1940 and 1953. In this connection, the State has increased its land property by more than 75 percent since 1940, bringing the figure for State-owned lands, afforested or not, to 536,000 hectares. This policy seems to be a constant feature of the Forestry Administration after the Civil War. In fact, the Spanish State is always a potential buyer of nonagricultural land. There has even been special legislation passed to enable the State to intervene in any private land transaction, and purchase the land itself, on the same terms as had been agreed to by the prospective buyer.

The work on municipally owned land is executed by the Forest Administration, but the costs are met on a basis of long-term reimbursement. These lands constitute, of course, the largest proportion of those afforested up to date. No exact figures are available, but it is fair to suppose that they amount to about 80 percent of the total afforested area.

The figures for work carried out by private enterprise are far behind the above. A total of only about 50,000 hectares seems to be its contribution to the afforested area in the country.

The afforestation of 1 million hectares has made it necessary to intensify seed production and to establish a substantial network of nurseries. Likewise, a wide network of forest roads and paths has had to be built to make possible the execution of the work; some 10,000 kilometers of forest roads and paths have been built in the period 1940-56. In addition, 269 lodgings for rangers and 569 miscellaneous buildings have been constructed.

The main species employed in the program are: indigenous pines (pinea, halepensis, laricia, silvestris, uncinata and canariensis), Pinus radiata and Eucalyptus. A variety of non-coniferous trees are also used - particularly poplars - although on a much smaller scale, since they require much more favorable environments. There are no precise figures showing the areas where each species has been planted, but it seems that up to date not more than 22 percent of the total area has been planted with the most fast-growing species - pinaster pine (ecotype from Galicia), Pinus radiata and Eucalyptus. The latter genus, which has been planted on about 170,000 hectares, merits particular comment.

Spain is, in fact, one of the pioneer countries in the region as regards eucalyptus plantings; more than half the area of eucalyptus plantations existing in the Mediterranean region are to be found in this country. From the outset of afforestation work in Spain, eucalyptus has been very frequently utilized. Unfortunately, precise figures showing the progressive expansion in the use of eucalyptus are not available at the moment, but it is fairly certain that these would show the increase to have been steady. (It is worthwhile mentioning this fact, because of the controversy that so frequently accompanies the introduction of eucalyptus) ⁴. This trend leads one to surmise that the proportion of fastgrowing species utilized will increase in the coming years, thus enlarging the present rather low proportion.

⁴ Most useful experience on the utilization of eucalyptus for afforestation on clay soils is being gained in Spain.

Expenditure

Table 2 shows the total amounts devoted to the afforestation program and various works and installations essential to it, and the portion represented by United States aid. The investment hats never exceeded 1.7 percent of the national income.

TABLE 2. - INVESTMENTS IN AFFORESTATION

Year	Funds from National Budget and officially guaranteed loans and bonds	U.S. aid
	in million pesetas
1940	5.5	-
1941	14.6	-
1942	26.6	-
1943	38.1	-
1944	47.9	-
1946	66.6	-
1946	76.8	-
1947	86.4	-
1948	93.7	-
1949	131.1	-
1950	143.3	-
1951	178.4	-
1962	266.9	-
1963	365.7	-
1964	428.4	-
1966	467.2	48.4
1966	471.8	176.6

This gives an average cost per hectare afforested of 3,250 pesetas, complementary works (housing, roads, etc.) included.

Table 3 shows the costs of afforestation with and without mechanization, including the cost of the necessary nurseries for the planted areas, during the present and recent years.

If we bear in mind the fact that roughly one third of the afforested area is very intensively worked with mechanized means, and two thirds without mechanization, and that the beating-up covers about 40 percent of the afforested area, the total cost per hectare in the last few years and in the current year is as follows:

Year	Cost, per hectare, in pesetas
1955	3,240
1956	3,589
1957	3,840

During the last few years costs have been substantially increasing,; the reason for the increase, however, is not connected with forestry, and not due to any modification of planting techniques or methods.

The value of United States' aid for the program amounted to 9.4 percent of total investment in 1955 and 27.2 percent in 1958. This means that some 12,000 hectares were afforested in 1955 with U.S. aid, and some 35,700 hectares in 1956, that is to say, that the funds allocated have been of substantial help in maintaining the pace of afforestation in Spain.

TABLE 3. - BREAKDOWN OF EXPENDITURE PER HECTARE

Typo of expenditure		1955	1956	1957
		in pesetas
Nonmechanical afforestation:
	Wages	2 116.20	2 116.20	2 249.00
	Material and transport	104.99	104.99	167.12
	Social insurance	95.65	95.65	112.89
	Supervisory expenses	119.04	119.04	138.72
	TOTAL	2 436.88	2 436.88	2 667.73
Mechanized afforestation:
	Wages	675.67	632.24	710.60
	Material and transport	956.40	1 217.50	1 067.00
	Social insurance	31.19	36.30	34.67
	Supervisory expenses	93.85	101.03	103.27
	TOTAL	1 757.11	1 886.07	1 915.44
Nurseries:
	Wages	279.05	400.23	367.53
	Material and transport	91.05	76.19	118.39
	Social insurance	13.68	18.41	19.34
	Supervisory expenses	19.89	27.63	22.81
	TOTAL	404.28	622.46	518.07
Beating-up 1:
	Wages	1 002.73	1 318.64	1 507.00
	Material and transport	57.50	67.09	69.86
	Social insurance	45.32	69.60	59.60
	Supervisory expenses	55.57	77.61	92.03
	TOTAL	1 161.12	1 512.84	1 744.53

¹ Beating-up means to restock failed and blank areas with fresh sowings or plantings.

The figures quoted show that the most striking feature of the Spanish afforestation program is that the costs are surprisingly low. They are about one quarter of those in Italy and Algeria, and about one third of those in France, Turkey, Morocco or Greece. Bearing in mind that most of the work is carried out without mechanization, and that more than 80 percent of costs are wages, one is led to suppose that the main reasons lie either in extremely cheap manpower or in much simpler techniques.

It is clear, however, by the success of the Spanish program on extremely arid lands, that the techniques are sound. The conclusion is inescapable, therefore, that low costs must be attributed to cheap manpower. The daily wage of Spanish unskilled forestry workers varies between U. S. $0.80 and $1.00 and is, in fact, lower than in many countries of the region.

Employment of labor

It has been frequently stated by the Spanish Administration that although the primary objectives of its policy are to increase forest production and protect reservoirs and cultivated lands, a third fundamental aim is to give employment to labor in certain zones where there is marked unemployment.

It is this concern with creating employment which, from the outset of the program, has led the Forest Administration to begin its afforestation program with the very degraded zones in the Central or Levantine regions. This view has always been advanced by the Forestry Administration to meet criticism of its action in giving priority to very dry zones when more favorable lands still remained unafforested. Fortunately, the progressive adoption of better techniques and the vast experience made possible results which are far more encouraging than those initially expected and this has contributed in no small measure to encouraging the Administration to carry on with this policy.

Moreover, the concern for high levels of employment in forestry work has, to a certain extent, helped the adoption of more intensive silvicultural techniques, which, in their turn, have proved very remunerative. For instance, the need to provide employment led to the plowing of many eucalyptus plantations in southern Spain, and the consequent yields were more than doubled. Another beneficial result of this policy has been that it enables advantage to be taken of the concentration of workers to give them some training and cultural education. On the large afforestation sites, the construction of schools for workers figures as another necessary infrastructure work in the relative budgets, and schoolmasters are on the same technical staff payroll as foresters; thus, new drivers, mechanics, smiths, etc., needed in the works are progressively selected from the ranks of previously untrained workers.⁵ This is perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of the Spanish afforestation program.

⁵ In the province of Huelva alone, the Forest Service has constructed 12 new schools (1954) and one hospital for forest workers.

TABLE 4. - RELATIVE COOT OF LABOR

Year	Wages	Material and transport	Social insurance	Supervision	Total
Nonmechanized projects
1955	84.34	6.91	3.86	4.89	100
1956	85.07	6.13	3.86	4.95	100
1967	81.81	8.97	4.15	6.07	100
Mechanized projects
1955	44.20	48.46	2.08	6.26	100
1956	38.72	53.71	2.23	5.34	100
1957	43.89	48.71	2.22	6.18	100
Beating-up
1956	81.89	9.50	3.78	4.83	100
1966	84.46	6.66	3.83	5.17	100
1967	82.40	8.32	4.20	6.08	100

It was not until 1960 that mechanization was increased, and even now, only one third of the present volume of work is carried out by mechanical means. The restoration of Spain's external trade has enabled the greater use of machinery. The difference in the use of labor according to changes in technology is illustrated in Table 4, where it is seen that, even in mechanized projects, labor costs account for more than half the total costs.

The concern of the Spanish Administration with maintaining a high rate of employment in afforestation works is illustrated in Table 6.

TABLE 5. - TOTAL EMPLOYMENT AFFORDED EXCLUSIVELY BY AFFORESTATION WORK IN 1956

Period		Man/days,
First trimester
	January	1 620 000
	February	1 040 000
	March	1 740 000
	TOTAL	4 400 000
Second trimester
	April	1 024 390
	May	888 604
	June	887 006
	TOTAL	2 800 000
Third trimester
	July	630 000
	August	562 500
	September	607 600
	TOTAL	1 800 000
Forth trimester
	October	1 400 000
	November	1 250 000
	December	1 350 000
	TOTAL	4 000 000

Future production from afforested areas

The Spanish Forestry Administration estimates that the output of timber from the afforestation projects already carried out could reach about 2 million cubic meters per year, after 10 to 15 years.

The figure is based on very detailed and conservative estimates. It can therefore be assumed that the afforestation program already carried out is almost sufficient to cover the Spanish deficit in timber. The present average requirements for roundwood are estimated in Table 6 by the Dirección General de Montes in its Memoria de actividades realizadas en 1955.

This is equivalent to about 4.5 million cubic meters of standing timber. The actual forest production in Spain in recent years has been about 3.2 million cubic meters annually, ⁶ which means that a substantial deficit of about 1.3 million cubic meters has still to be met, a deficit which is, however, far below the figure of expected production from the newly planted areas. It is quite certain, however, that by the time the new areas begin to yield, timber requirements in Spain will be much greater than now.

⁶ Data from: Producción y comercio forestal, of the Ministry of Agriculture, Madrid, 1967.

TABLE 6. - AVERAGE ROUNDWOOD

Source of demand	Cubic meters
Cellulose industry	200 000
Packing	900 000
Pit-props	980 000
Poles	40 000
Sawlogs	1 250 000
Sleepers	300 000
TOTAL	3 670 000

The present consumption of timber per head in Spain is about 0.12 cubic meter, far below the average in Europe (0.45 cubic meter). Assuming an increase in population of 7 per 1,000 annually, and a consumption of timber per head equivalent to the present Italian one, it might be expected that within 35 years the Spanish consumption of timber will be about 7.4 million cubic meters. To meet this requirement, another 1 million hectares should already have been afforested on the same ecological pattern.

In fact, it is improbable that the figure of 3.2 million cubic meters as the average production from existing forests can be much increased. It is estimated by the Forestry Administration that in the course of the last 15 years a sawmilling volume of more than 12 million cubic meters in excess of normal growth has been extracted. Thanks to this extra cutting, the difficult situation during the forties was overcome and the more urgent demands for sleepers, pit-props, etc., were met. Obviously, however, compensation will have to be made for this overcutting.

Results of the afforestation program

A much more detailed analysis is required to give an insight into the full impact of the afforestation program on the Spanish economy as a whole. It is only since 1952 that the rhythm of work has been steadily increasing, and figures of over 100,000 hectares per year were not reached until 1953. But the case of the province of Huelva may be singled out to show some particular effects of the program.

In this province, the State Administration purchased or acquired by contract a total of about 84,000 hectares between 1942 and 1956. At the time of the transaction, all the land was covered mostly with undergrowth and scrub. The entire area was virtually uninhabited, except for the temporary presence of shepherds and a few farmers practicing shifting cultivation, moving to new tracts every 12 or 14 years. The only livestock was a few herds of goats, of very low yield. It could be said that the whole area was unproductive and uninhabited. Both the climate (not more than 400 millimeters irregularly distributed) and the soil (the most alluvial, podsolized sands) were extremely adverse.

The area afforested during the last few years is some 60,000 hectares, one half of which was planted with fast-growing species, mostly eucalyptus, acacia, black poplar, and the rest with slower-growing species, mainly pines.

As a result of this work, 21 new communities, with schools, recreation centers, etc., have been established, housing more than 10 thousand new settlers, 260 kilometers of new roads have been constructed, and a plant for cellulose pulp has been erected. This has completely changed the environment, transforming an almost desert region into one which is modern and highly productive. In effect, a transformation has been wrought in the very geography of the region.

A sum of slightly over 280 million pesetas has been invested in this projects, and this figure includes the purchase of the land. Approximately 10 thousand hectares of eucalyptus have already become productive, yielding annually more than 50,000 cubic meters of wood, at a value of 25 million pesetas, and it is estimated that the value of the reclaimed land now amounts to some 3,000 million pesetas.

Pasture improvement

The need to compensate as far as possible for the dwindling of the pasture areas due to the increasing forested area, has led the Forestry Administration to set up a plan for the improvement of pastures, within the framework of the afforestation program. This was considered indispensable if afforestation work was to proceed. The extent of grazing on forest or potential forest land in Spain is shown by the fact that the income from grazing on these lands is more than 50 percent of the income obtained from timber production on the same lands. In other words, more than 17 million hectares of such lands, i.e., 70 percent of the nonagricultural area, is utilized annually for grazing. ⁷

⁷ M. Navarro Garnica, Pastizales españoles, of the Ministry of Agriculture, Madrid, 1955.

The plan is intended to work in two different ways: establishment of a new grass cover by sowing exotic or selected indigenous species; and improvement of existing grazing lands by rotation, eradication of brush plants, construction of watering places and animal shelters, etc. In this connection, a great many experimental plots have been set up - no less than 800 in the Province of Aragon alone. These plots are managed in conformity with directives and norms dictated by FAO - the so-called Uniform Mediterranean Nurseries. The experience already gained has led to the setting up of 20 nurseries for the production of "pratensis" species, covering an area of about 4,000 hectares. Over 30 exotic species have proved to be particularly well-adapted to the dry conditions in Spain. Among these it is worth mentioning particularly various ecotypes of fescues, bromo grass, oats, cynosures, agropyron, lotus, poa grass, alfalfa, medysarum and clover. But, however valuable the introduction of exotic grass may prove to be, domestic species have not been dispensed with in the experimental work, and a seed collection campaign has been organized in order to meet the demands for an adequate supply of seeds. The following indigenous species seem to be the ones most worth propagating: Agropyron cristatum, Agrostis sp., Dactylis glomerata, Festuca rubra, Hedysarum humile, Lolium rigidum, Medicago lupulina, Medicago sativa, Poa pratensis, Sanguisorba minor, Stipa lagascae, Trifolium pratense.

The plan for pasture improvement is at present only in the experimental stage. In 1956, restoration was carried out by means of experimental seeding over considerable areas of pasture land in certain provinces; in this respect, it is worth mentioning the work being carried out in Lugo for an overall development of pasture land in the zones which have been marked out for reforestation. In this way the Administration expects to extend afforestation without encroaching on livestock interests. It has been pointed out elsewhere in this paper that the Spanish Administration anticipates that the improvement of one third of the grazing land will permit the same livestock production as is obtained at present from the whole area. Although exact figures to prove this assumption are lacking, some indications have guided the Spanish Administration in adopting this view. It has had in mind the conclusions reached by Long and by Kellog. Long ⁸ has pointed out that in certain arid areas of the Middle East with a precipitation of 250-400 millimeters, pasture lands so degraded that one sheep per 10 hectares must be considered as too great a charge, could, with minimum improvement practices, provide excellent sheep ranges producing an annual income of about 1 sheep per hectare. That is to say, he anticipates a tenfold increase; the Spanish Administration, working under far more favorable ecological conditions than those described by Long, can therefore surely be justified in anticipating a threefold increase.

⁸ G. A. Long, "Main Aspects of the Grazing Problem in this Area (Jordan)", mimeo, FAO/55/3/1890, Rome, March 1955

Similarly, Kellog has pointed out ⁹ that the productivity of more favored arid range lands could amount to something like 45 kilograms of sheep per hectare. Since a charge of 20 kilograms of sheep per hectare may be surmised, at least in certain zones of Spain, ¹⁰ to reach the production quoted by Kellogg would imply an increase of 230 percent, which is not far removed from the figure already accepted in Spain.

⁹ Ch. E. Kellog, "The Role of Science in Man's Struggle on Arid Lands", in The Future of Arid Lands, Am. Assoc. for Adv. of Science, Washington, 1956.

¹⁰ Unfortunately, there are no precise data on the permanent charge of livestock per hectare in Spain, but the figure quoted has been deduced from Contribución al Estudio Pastoral del Levante español, by J. Prais Llaurado Ministry of Agriculture, Madrid, 1956.

When the pasture improvement plan reaches its full development, it is expected that valuable information will be available on this question of great importance in all the Mediterranean mountain region, particularly as to the species to be employed, techniques, machines - whose utilization seems to be indispensable for such types of work - costs and livestock weight fed by units.

Considered in itself, the Spanish afforestation program as a whole provides a valuable example of dynamic forestry action in the Mediterranean Basin. Its most important feature is, without doubt, its size and the effect it has had on employment. The country has become aware of its forestry problems and a basis has been established for the improvement of the Spanish forest economy. At the same time as restoration of the forest cover on 1 million hectares of land has been effected, a substantial part of the labor force of the country has been receiving a regular salary, and has found in the program a source of income and a means of obtaining training.

What is the future of the present afforestation program? The answer would depend on the findings of a more general study of the Spanish economy. From a technical point of view, the target set could be easily obtained, and even 200,000 hectares could be afforested yearly, but the extent to which this could be achieved would depend on the more general problems of allocation of investment resources (including foreign aid), and also on a solution of the specific problems of Spanish agriculture.