Intervention area
Fóia (Serra de Monchique), Monchique municipality, Faro district.
Date of intervention
November 22-23, 2019
Context
The interventioned land was severely hit by a forest fire in August 2018, as well as the entire Serra de Monchique. The land is public and belongs to the Municipality of Monchique, being managed by A Nossa Terra Associaton.
Interventioned area
2 hectares
Participants
About 50 volunteers + 20 GreatFlower technicians
Partners and support
Monchique City Council, Grace, MEO, Monchique Water Society, Vale do Lobo Resort, Craft Fair (at Miradouro da Fóia), A Nossa Terra Association and GreatFlower.
Investment
€20.000
Terrain characterization
Located in the western Algarve, Serra de Monchique is the highest point in the Algarve and is characterized by a subtropical humid climate, with mild temperatures, fertile soils and varied vegetation.
The Serra de Monchique is integrated in a structure with high geological interest since, from the carbon shale punch normally prevalent in the region, an alkaline mass of syenites rises, characterized by abrupt but rounded slopes. It is this morphology of the terrain that makes possible the existence of the unique native flora found in the Serra de Monchique. In terms of shrub substrate, native vegetation is predominantly composed of broom, gorse and heather.
As the area of intervention is an area affected by fires, it has the following problems:
1. Lack of medium sized native vegetation. The herbaceous and shrub substrate was already constituted by native vegetation: broom, gorse and heather.
2. Climatic conditions: winds and heavy rains.
The objectives of the Intervention carried out were then the following:
1. Return the Serra de Monchique to its natural state by planting native vegetation.
2. Promote the conservation of biodiversity.
3. Sensitize the population to the need for forest conservation.
Planted species
In the interventioned area, 2,000 trees were planted in accordance with the legal regime applicable to afforestation and afforestation actions (RJAAR) of the land allocated to AMI. Also taking into account the edaphoclimatic conditions of the Serra de Monchique, the species planted were: quercus suber (cork oak), arbutus unedo (arbutus) and castanea sativa (chestnut). Planting was carried out at the contour line with a spacing between trees of 6 meters.

