Cantabria's shock plan: wolves, fires and pastures

Cantabria's shock plan: wolves, fires and pastures under scrutiny

[P]The Cantabria region has a cocktail of problems that no government seems willing to tackle head-on. A detailed analysis points to three critical fronts: wolf management, the risk of winter forest fires and the desertification of the primary sector. The solutions proposed are as concrete as they are politically uncomfortable.[/P]

Wolf GPS collars: the proposal that divides
[P]Described as «dirt cheap» by its backers, the idea of tagging all wolf packs in Cantabria with GPS collars aims to end unfounded accusations of livestock attacks. It would allow the impact of hunting to be verified with real data and prevent the canine from being blamed for others' faults. The initiative clashes with opposition from certain animal rights groups that reject any form of geolocation, but its defenders argue that without data there can be no management.[/P]

The danger of dry winters: Foehn effect and accumulated biomass
[P]Cantabria doesn't only burn in summer. The «surás» winter winds - the south wind that triggers the Foehn effect - make December to March high-risk months. The abandonment of extensive small livestock farming has left the hills covered in plant fuel. The only sustainable solution, according to critics, is to restore regulated controlled burning and extensive grazing of small livestock. «It is impossible and unaffordable to clear scrub with forestry crews,» they warn. The warning comes after the experience of the 1941 disaster and the threat of a winter of California-style fires.[/P]

Rural demographics: Europe's best grass with no one to graze it
[P]Cantabria has one of the most fertile pasture belts on the continent, but the census of dairy farms is plummeting municipality by municipality. The lack of generational replacement and bureaucratic hurdles have caused a silent diaspora. While Ireland capitalises on its pastures with a butter industry, here a «brutal» comparative advantage is being lost, while fire risk grows and depopulation worsens.[/P]

[P]Between the jargon of the «gobiernucu» and calls for direct action, the diagnosis is served. It remains to be seen whether the regional administration, criticised for its «parochial Jacobinism», will take up the gauntlet or continue to ignore what the hills have been shouting for years.[/P]

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