Alava Provincial Council has confirmed the recovery of the Legaire beech forest and its ecosystem after the 2018 tornado
03/06/2025
A study developed within the framework of LIFE IP Urban Klima 2050 highlights the benefits of leaving dead wood in the forest to favour its regeneration.
The Legaire beech forest, located in the Entzia Special Area of Conservation (SAC), in the Zadorra river basin (Alava), has shown an outstanding capacity for recovery after the tornado that devastated part of its ecosystem in July 2018. This is reflected in a study that Alava Provincial Council commissioned from the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), focusing on assessing the resilience of forests to extreme disturbances, carried out within the framework of the LIFE IP Urban Klima 2050 project.
The research, in which the Parzonería de Entzia also collaborated, has focused on analysing different forestry management models introduced after the tornado. More specifically, two strategies were compared on four plots, each occupying a surface area of two hectares: the fallen wood was removed and it was left on the ground in the other.
The study has concluded that both plots have experienced a remarkable recovery, but with major differences. In areas where the dead wood was left on the ground, forest regeneration was faster, with a high density of new specimens of Fagus sylvatica (beech), and an improvement in soil conditions and ecological balance. The dead wood has acted as a habitat and nutrient reservoir, while also providing protection against soil compaction due to the absence of machinery for timber extraction.
On the other hand, the plots where timber was removed also show a recovery, although slower. The accumulated remains of soil due to the movement of machinery have fulfilled an ecological function similar to that of the trunks left naturally.
The study underlines that the coexistence of both management models has contributed to a more diverse and resilient forest landscape. As a recommendation for similar disturbances in the future, it is suggested that patches of dead wood be retained in areas where natural forest regeneration is already under way, which would help increase the adaptive capacity of these ecosystems to extreme events resulting from climate change.
This action is part of the nature-based solutions promoted by LIFE IP Urban Klima 2050, a project coordinated by Ihobe, the Basque Government’s public company, which integrates pilot initiatives like this one in order to foster climate change adaptation and mitigation in the territory.
