Big Heart logo designed by Kate Lanshaw September 2016
17 months have now passed since the devastating fire in the area of Granadella , where 812 hectares were razed to the ground. Central Government has now completed works which have had a total investment of 150,000 euros.
The objectives of the works have been to reduce the erosive processes and facilitate conditions to favour regrowth of vegetation and avoid the regeneration of pests and forest diseases.
The Executive’s commitment was to recover one of the scenic and tourist gems of the province of Alicante and the Valencian Community: They extinguished the fires with the deployment of 222 soldiers, 65 UME vehicles and 11 air units, including five amphibious vehicles. Now they want to restore the beauty of La Granadella.
It was stressed that the work has been very laborious and expensive because after the fire the area was severely affected by the torrential rains that occurred during the months of November, December and January, which caused trees to fall, strong landfalls, ash carry-over and acceleration of the erosion processes in the burned areas.
Javea will reforest small areas
From now on, the City Council of Xàbia will start a new phase in the forest recovery project on the Granadella mountain. This has already been done in La Plana.
This step will now take place with optimal conditions of the land after the recent rains of the last month and in parallel to the latest works of forest recovery and fire prevention coordinated by the municipality, which will last until summer.
Investment of administrations
These works were initiated by the City Council a few days after the fire and have also involved the Ministry of Agriculture, the Provincial Council of Alicante and the Ministry of Agriculture. The strategy, agreed in technical meetings of the four administrations, has involved an investment of nearly one million euros: 400,000 euros contributed by the City of Xàbia, 250,000 euros from the Provincial Council, 200,000 from the Generalitat Valenciana and 150,000 from the State.
To the investments of the administration we must also add the social element which resulted in donations from companies and associations, in addition to the contribution of hundreds of people who bought solidarity calendars .
From the City Council of El Poble Nou de Benitatxell, who also acted quickly with the repair of infrastructures that were damaged by the fire of September 2016, will continue carrying out soil recovery interventions, as it has achieved a subsidy of 49,716 euros from the Consell to regenerate areas affected by fire.
At present you can already see changes in the place of Granadella where symptoms of recovery are shown, with a scrubland that is now beginning to turn green again.
This article is an abridged version of the story published today by Xabia.com. You can read the complete article in Spanish here
