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Spain Forestry
Most of the natural forests of the Iberian Peninsula
had long
since disappeared because of erosion and uncontrolled
harvesting
for firewood, timber, or the creation of pastureland. In
the
1980s, about 7 million hectares, or 14 percent of the land
in
Spain, could be considered usable forest, although another
3.5
million hectares of scrub growth were often included in
forestland statistics.
A reforestation program had been under way in Spain
since
1940. The aims of the program included meeting market
demand for
forest products, controlling erosion, and providing
seasonal
employment in rural areas. Eucalyptus trees, Lombardy
poplars,
and a variety of conifers were emphasized because of their
fast
growth.
Lumber output was approximately 12.3 million cubic
meters in
1986, compared with 11.8 million cubic meters in 1985.
Output
could conceivably triple if 5.8 million hectares of the
best
forestland, which accounted for 50 percent of the total
woodlands
area, were properly developed and managed. Existing
forestation
programs were inadequate, however. For example, in the
1975-84
period, the balance between reforestation and the loss of
forestland as a result of fires favored the latter by
about
148,000 hectares. A report issued by the Forest Progress
Association reported that, by the year 2000, Spain's wood
deficit
could reach between 8.5 and 16.9 million cubic meters.
The value of Spain's forest products in 1985 was US$302
million. Pine trees grown in the north and the northwest
as well
as oak and beech trees grown in the Pyrenees accounted for
most
of the total. Commercial forestry products produced in
Spain
included cork, turpentine, and resins.
Spain was the world's second largest producer of cork
after
Portugal. The best quality of cork, used for bottle
stoppers, was
grown in Catalonia. More plentiful lower grades, which
went into
linoleum, insulating materials, and other industrial
products,
came primarily from Andalusia and Extremadura. Cork
production
was declining, after reaching a high in the 1970s of
97,000 tons
per year; only 46,000 tons were produced in 1985, as the
widening
use of plastics and other cork substitutes reduced demand.
Data as of December 1988
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