The bear territory reaffirms its commitment to coexistence with the species at a meeting of mayors in Somiedo

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We want bears, but away from the villages. This is the message reiterated today by the six municipalities with the highest density of bears in the region of Asturias, meeting with the Principado de Asturias and the Brown Bear Foundation (FOP) in the constitution of the Asturian Coordination Committee of the LIFE Human Bear COEX project. The initiative, of which nine town councils from Asturias and Castilla y León are partners, seeks to mitigate possible conflicts with the species and ensure that not a single bear in the Cantabrian Mountains becomes habituated to humans.

During the meeting of the project coordination committee in Asturias, the details of the action plan to prevent the presence of bears in the vicinity of the villages were agreed, which will be carried out by two prevention teams managed by the local councils themselves.

Among the tasks of the teams, made up of local workers, will be to maintain security perimeters in the villages and along roads by clearing vegetation; clearing illegal accumulations of rubbish that could attract bears; and planting fruit trees away from the villages. Throughout the project area, in Asturias and the northwest of León, 50,000 native fruit trees will be planted in 250 groves to generate more food resources for bears in the bush and discourage them from seeking easy food in human settlements.

Goal: no habituated bears in the Cantabrian mountains

The goal of the project, coordinated by the FOP and funded by the European Union’s LIFE programme, is that there will not be a single bear habituated to people or human food sources, such as rubbish.

As defined in the Protocol for Intervention with Bears in the Cantabrian Mountains (approved in 2019 by the State Commission for Natural Heritage and Biodiversity), ‘a habituated bear is a bear that recurrently accesses inhabited areas in search of accessible trophic resources (food), such as vegetable gardens or rubbish containers, and does not respond by fleeing in the presence of humans’.

A young bear looks for garbage inside a bin in Asturias. Credit: FOP

Within the framework of the project, a specialised team from the FOP will respond immediately to problematic situations: for example, by protecting chicken coops, fruit trees or other assets that attract plantigrades. In this sense, the project complements and strengthens the actions being developed by the Principado’s Regional Ministry of Rural Affairs and Agricultural Policy to ensure coexistence with the species in Asturias. The capture and radio-tracking of 10 bears is foreseen, prioritising those specimens that look for easy food around human environments, and bear-proof containers and rubbish bins will also be installed.

Coordinated by the Brown Bear Foundation, the nine municipalities with the highest density of bears in Spain (Somiedo, Belmonte de Miranda, Proaza, Cangas del Narcea, Degaña and Ibias, in Asturias, and Villablino, Páramo del Sil and Palacios del Sil in León) are partners of LIFE Coexistence between Humans and Bears. The Junta de Castilla y León and the regional government of Asturias support it as partners, and the Fundación Patrimonio Natural de Castilla y León and the Fundación Oso de Asturias participate as collaborators.

The project’s first planting campaign commences in the Alto Sil in León. December 2022

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The first campaign of trophic enrichment plantations for the brown bear was started on 12 December 2022 in the Alto Sil area of León, within the LIFE Osos con futuro project framework and which by the end will comprise the planting of 150 thousand fruit trees and 25 thousand sweet chestnut trees occupying a total of 200 hectares spread across different parts of Castilla y León and Asturias.

The plantations are being made in the public utility lands belonging to the Anllares del Sil local council, in the municipality of Páramo del Sil and of the public mountains of Palacios del Sil. Planting will also be undertaken in land belonging to the Anllarinos del Sil local council, other areas of Páramo del Sil, as well as in private estates of both municipalities. A land custody agreement guaranteeing the long-term presence of these plantations is signed with each landowner prior to work commencing. Planting will also be undertaken in those farmlands acquired with LIFE funds.

Selection of the areas for planting was first undertaken by the project via suitability studies based on plant species and land characteristics in relation to climate change.

Fruit plantation in Páramo del Sil, with local workers hired under the LIFE project. In the center, Elías Suárez, from the FOP.

Local teams started preparing the ground in October 2022 for the hole digging and scrub clearance using a walking excavator, a machine which is able to reach difficult-to-access areas and work on steep slopes, but which produces a minimum impact on the terrain and the existing vegetation. This mechanised labour guarantees the clearance of large amounts of soil for each hole, greatly facilitating the rootstock development of the plants.

The tree and shrub species being planted, the fruits of which serve as food for the brown bear from the end of spring through to the start of winter, are cherry, apple, alder buckthorn, rowan and whitebeams, while chestnut planting will also start very shortly. Collection programs of native wild seeds for the nursery production of seedlings have been undertaken since the start of the project. Two forestry teams, each comprising three men and three women from the immediate area, have been contracted, contributing to local job creation. A total of close to 70,000 fruiting trees and shrubs are planned to be planted during this first plantation campaign, which will be completed between the end of March and start of April, depending on meteorological conditions.

A coordinated project

The “Bears with Future” Project, co-financed by the European Union LIFE Project, will be carried out until 2025. It is coordinated by the Brown Bear Foundation in partnership with the Biodiversity Foundation (Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge), and the Natural heritage Foundation of the Castilla y León regional government. The Government of Asturias is co-financer, via the Directorate General for the Environment and Rural Planning, of the Department of Rural Development, Agriculture and Fisheries. Tierra Pura Foundation collaborates technically and co-finances the project.