In connection with International Forest Day and World Tree Day, the association took stock of the project to promote the creation of native forests, which began in 2012 and, according to a statement from Quercus, “has already made a significant contribution to helping reforest public and community lands (vacant lands)”.

Tree donation

In 15 years, it has already delivered 1,745,000 native forest seedlings free of charge to entities responsible for their management, which registered through the official website (www.florestacomum.org). In total, it has supported more than 840 reforestation actions in almost 200 municipalities on the mainland, with 40% in burned areas and 30% in protected areas.

Quercus defends the project as "a solid alternative" to reforest the municipalities affected by the storms of January and February, which destroyed unprecedented quantities of trees.

The plants, it explains, are made available through a National Stock of Native Species (provided by four nurseries of the Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests - ICNF), exclusively with Portuguese seeds, such as oaks, cork oaks, holm oaks, and ash trees. This season, 106,000 trees have already been allocated.

Possibility of applications

In the statement, Quercus explains that forestry and nature conservation and biodiversity recovery projects, the vast majority of which can apply for the initiative, but educational projects and projects for urban parks are also supported. Over the last three years, an initiative to increase villages' resilience to fires by planting in nearby forest areas has been supported.

Quercus also states that, in partnership with UTAD - University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, four training sessions on forest seed collection were organised, and a pool of native forest seed collectors was created, with 80 collectors spread across the national territory.