Active Projects
We’re only at the beginning of ArBOR’s activities, But we’re already involved in some active projects.
See what we’re doing …
PROJECTS FOR 2024-2025
Although we have big ambitions for the longer term, we intend to build our portfolio of projects slowly. We need to anchor ourselves as a local community organisation in a way that’s manageable for a group of volunteers who also have busy lives and families and quintas to care for. We want to ensure we don’t compromise our ability to successfully deliver on our projects, neglect our other responsibilities and activities or venture into burn-out territory.
If you’re excited by any of these projects and would love to work with us on them, come and join us! You just need to become a member of the association to get involved (though it’s not necessary to be a member to volunteer with us or join our planting days). We welcome your help and enthusiasm!
It’s also possible to bring your own project to the association and realise it with the help of our umbrella framework, membership and volunteer reach (including the European Solidarity Corps). See ‘Branch out from our Tree‘ for more details.
REFORESTATION OF LOCAL PRIVATE LANDS
An ArBOR project funded out of donations to the association.
This winter we are adding species and age diversity to slopes initially replanted with a limited range of broadleaved trees after the fires of 2017. These areas have since also repopulated with regenerating self-seeded maritime pine (Pinus pinaster, which was a monoculture prior to the fires). We allow the pines to act as a nursery species for the native trees and the landowners will selectively harvest them for firewood as time progresses and the native trees mature.
It’s been gratifying to see a reasonable survival rate in the earlier 2018 plantings, as well as a lot of smaller seedlings appearing from widespread seed-sowing the following year. The work done creating check dams with burnt timber on the slopes in the wake of the fires to hold soil and add decaying organic matter has also proved invaluable to the speed and quality of regeneration.
We are adding birch (Betula celtiberica), ash (Fraxinus angustifolia), holm oak (Quercus rotundifolia), Spanish oak (Quercus pyrenaica), stone/umbrella pine (Pinus pinea), strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo), mock privet (Phillyrea angustifolia), mastic tree (Pistacia lentiscus) and more oak (Quercus robur) and cork oak (Quercus suber),.
Planting days are on Sunday mornings during December. (See the events section on the home page and our social media.) Come and join us! Let’s bring native forests back to these hills again!
LOCAL VOLUNTEER FIRE FIRST RESPONSE
A project financed by the Benfeita Fire Fund and developed in consultation with the Junta de Freguesia of Benfeita.
While the disastrous fires of October 2017, which decimated this entire area, were exceptional, it was plain to those of us living here at the time how massively underresourced we were in this locality to mount any kind of response.
The junta has a small truck with a tank, pump and hoses to respond to local outbreaks in advance of the nearest bombeiros (Coja, 8km) arriving, but this is a large area of difficult terrain. In any significant fire, priority is given to defending larger population centres. In 2017 we were on our own. 4×4 trucks owned by members of the foreign community were used to carry 1000-litre IBC tanks to take water to the junta team, but with only a single pump at the river beach in Benfeita and no additional hoses, the effort was painfully slow and inefficient,
As a result, money was put aside by the Benfeita Fire Fund from funds raised in the wake of the disaster for improving local fire defences. This was transferred to ArBOR who, in consultation with the local junta, have now equipped 3 volunteer 4×4 trucks with tanks, pumps, hoses and crews, and established a network of water resources throughout the valleys to improve speed and capacity in response.
The equipping of the trucks is now substantially complete. Various short wave radio communication systems are currently being range tested before adding these to the teams’ resources.
The trucks will act as backup to the junta’s first response team and operate within the area of the Junta de Freguesia of Benfeita.
TREE NURSERY
An ArBOR project funded out of donations to the association.
We are establishing ArBOR’s own tree nursery of native species grown from local seed to use in our reforestation work in the area. Not only does this allow us to raise seedlings optimally adapted to our local conditions, but it gives us the ability to create far more replanting capacity from available resources.
We welcome contributions towards any of our activities, whether that’s in the form of finance or your enthusiasm, time and energy.
For financial contributions, you can donate via PayPal or bank transfer. For bank transfer, please contact us for details.
PREVIOUS AND ONGOING PROJECTS
REFORESTATION OF VILLAGE COMMONLANDS
A reforestation project of native tree species in partnership with the Pai das Donas Commonlands Governing Board, the Pai das Donas Improvements Commission, and the Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Forests (ICNF).
Beginning in 2020 during CoViD lockdowns, over the next 2 years we replanted 25 hectares with nearly 13,000 trees on mostly exposed slopes, with shallow and fragile soils.
We began the regeneration of the forest with oak (Quercus robur), ash (Fraxinus angustifolia) and sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa), and then added cork oak (Quercus suber) and strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo), plus more oak and chestnut.
Unfortunately the annual planting came to a halt in 2022 due to a dispute between the Commonlands Governing Board and the local Câmara Municipal over reparations for the substantial ruination of replanted sections during the clearing of spectator areas for the Rally de Portugal which passes through this area in May each year. We hope for an eventual resolution and resumption of planting.
LOCAL SEEDBANK & SEED SWAP
An ArBOR project.
Local people in these valleys have been saving and exchanging seeds for generations and those of us who have moved here do the same, often bringing new varieties and new food plant species with us.
As each season goes by, what we grow becomes better adapted to local conditions.
While seeds are exchanged within the community all the time, we want to increase access and availability by holding annual seed swap events and by creating a community seedbank of core local varieties. This not only ensures the preservation of local varieties, but increases the resilience of our local food supply. It also allows newcomers to the area to start their gardens with varieties which are already well adapted to local conditions.
In addition, we save, grow and exchange seeds of local native forest species, encouraging everyone to increase the diversity of species growing on their land and to facilitate the regeneration of healthy natural ecosystems in these valleys.
This project is ongoing.
LOCAL KNOWLEDGEBANK
We have a wealth of deep local knowledge, much of it multigenerational, amongst the local population of these valleys. Working informally with other interested individuals in the community, we’ve begun to collect and record as much of it as we can before it’s lost and transform it into a community resource going forward.
An exhibition of text and images was created as part of the local Festa da Floresta in the summer of 2024.
This project is ongoing.
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HEADQUARTERS
Rua do Quintal 41
3305-035 Luadas
Coimbra, Portugal