Fundación EDPNews

The EDP Foundation will plant 20,000 trees in Asturias this year. This initiative will prioritise those zones that were damaged by the forest fires last December. The EDP Foundation is working with the Wild Animal Protection Fund (FAPAS) to carry out the planting.

The EDP Foundation tree planting programme for 2016 was unveiled at the Proaza hydraulic power station, owned by EDP. The Mayor of Proaza, Ramón Fernández, the Mayor of Santo Adriano, Jesús Manuel Muñiz, the director of the EDP Foundation, Nicanor Fernández, the director of the Asturian Bear Foundation, José Tuñón, and the FAPAS Chairman, Roberto Hartasánchez, were all at the event.

During the presentation, the director of the EDP Foundation, Nicanor Fernández, pointed out the importance of this scheme that, apart from pursing sustainable development, will help to restore the areas damaged by the forest fires in December. The FAPAS chairman, Roberto Hartasánchez, stressed EDP’s commitment to the environment in the region, where they are involved in different reforestation activities every year.

The trees will be planted in public amenity areas. One such is in the Concejo de Proaza municipal district, in the Caranga area, where the EDP Foundation have started to plant 4,000 trees today.

The trees being planted in Proaza are strawberry trees, a species of great ecological value and which was present in the area prior to the fires. The strawberry trees is known for its ability to grow in poor soils and for being very productive. Its fruit are part of the diet of the brown bear, the most iconic species of this territory. The trees are also planted after the hole had been dug manually, where only a hollow is made for the root ball to avoid removing earth and erosion.

Another of the areas where the EDP Foundation is already working is in the neighbouring Concejo de Santo Adriano municipal district, specifically at Mount Valdeloyés. In this case, the planting is aimed at conserving the biodiversity, with fruit-producing species such as cherries, chestnuts and apples. The work is being carried out taking into account that it is a grazing area for small livestock and plenty of room has been left between the trees. The Foundation has already planted 4,500 trees in that area and the number will rise this year.

The EDP Foundation’s commitment to the environmental recovery of the region goes further. Thus, some local councils, entities or collectives interested in reforesting zones damaged by fires can apply to the Foundation.

The EDP Foundation started the planting programme in 2009. Since then, it has planted 80,000 trees in Asturias One of the most outstanding schemes in this regard was the planting of 30,000 trees in the San Martín del Valledor Parish, which was hit in October 2011 by the largest fire in Spain that year. The Foundation will have planted more than 100,000 trees in the region at the end of this year’s programme.

Apart from the tree planting programme, the company runs the "A Drawing, A Tree" scheme, which involves giving the children taking part cherry tree seedlings in exchange for a drawing related to nature. This year, this action will take place in Oviedo – 4 April – and Gijón – 18 April, and over 2,000 trees will be handed out.