Endiabrada, Aljezur - final delivery

It was with great pleasure that we delivered the project Endiabrada to its promoters. It is a family project based on the family's self-sufficiency: at the food, agro-economic level and, as much as possible, at the level of energy resources.
The owners, who had the opportunity in the past to manage a farm in Northern Europe, wanted to include in this project, from the beginning, a more regenerative component, adapted to local characteristics, both from the point of view of landscape and forest management, as in agricultural production to be monetized.
Among the elements to be planned are: agricultural spaces, with orchards and vegetable gardens, forest spaces, road paths, water retention points / ponds for slow infiltration, composting, beekeeping and livestock following the principles of holistic livestock management ( holistic management).
In this place, where most of the slopes are very steep, with vegetation dominated by woods of cork and holm oaks, with cistus, heather, gorse, etc., there is a need for correct management of shrub biomass. This entails risks from the point of view of fires, as well as requires proper management, as it is a habitat referenced in the Natura 2000 Network.
The two main regenerative management strategies for these sites are the adaptation of the management method to the slopes, which are difficult to access, and with a view to reducing the risks of fire, as well as favoring the present forests, and their subserial vegetation (Regeneration / Succession assisted natural):
A. Management of sub-shrub biomass (bush) with fuel potential through herbivorous livestock: goat (or small deer: subject to specific authorizations).
B. Actions and measures to favor the cork oak forest, among others: Minimization of interventions on the arboreal stratum, favoring species with less combustibility in the shrub stratum (strawberry tree, executioner, lavandula, heather, gorse, gorse, as opposed to cistus) ; maintaining strips of spontaneous vegetation (contour level for erosion control): Control of invasive species; Creation of accesses and fire breaks in the scope of the maintenance of the forest spot, as an aid measure in prevention, as in the eventual fire fighting; Creation of water points.