Fighting back flames: Expats join forces with the WWF to protect against forest fires

THE WWF Spain has teamed up with expat residents to fight against forest fires in Valencia. 

In 2012, a blaze broke out in Cortes de Pallas and stretched over 30,000 hectares and 13 municipalities. 

The third fire in 60 years, afterwards the land was quickly colonised by invasive plants, making it even more vulnerable to forest fires. 

After lying scorched for nine years, a WWF Spain project began in 2021 to bring the area back to life and prevent blazes. 

“This work is extremely important,” said project manager David Fuentes. 

“If left on its own, it would take between 80 to 100 years to restore itself naturally, but we are getting wildfires every 20-30. Something needed to be done.”

In partnership with the local council’s Natural Development Project and the Generalitat’s Environmental Department, the WWF Spain began identifying the areas most in need of help. 

They identified Yatova and Dos Aguas as their first mission, aiming to finish the first phase of work, totalling 125 hectares of land by 2025. 

Financed by donations from local businesses, the WWF Spain removed flammable plants, replacing them with the species that populated the area before the first wildfires. 

In order to attract wildlife and repopulate the land, the charity has also introduced fruit trees for birds, hives for bees and a herd of goats to ‘cut’ the grass. 

The WWF Spain have also rejuvenated old farmland constructed in a stair formation to prevent fires, sowing wheat and legumes. 

The cooperation of land owners, almost half of them expats, is also essential to the project. 

Fuentes told the Olive Press: “There are many foreigners here who are happy to help, they let us bring the goats on their land and are keen to farm vegetables to keep fires at bay.”