This week I was reading the news that the Enguera City Council was auctioning the forestry use of the public hills in its town for the third time due to a lack of bidders/bidders or interested parties. It is a mountain with aromatic plants (pebrella, rosemary) and pastures (sheep or goat). 

Not so long ago, the towns looked towards the mountain because it was a space of exploitation that provided food (hunting) and income (pasture, stones and sand, lime kilns, wood, firewood); now, we are on their ass and we only take advantage of them for hiking, cycling or we look at them with different eyes when they are lit (fires) like this past summer. 

Albaida Municipal Archive: forest exploitation

1797, order or letter of the Intendant General of the Navy on trees. All towns must mark pines, walnuts, six-inch ash trees, 8-inch oaks (within four feet of ground), dogwoods, and cork trees for anyone who wants to cut the trees must ask for permission.

 

We are in 1872. The lawsuit (litigation) between the neighbor of Palencia, the Marqués d'Albaida (José Maria d'Orense i Herrero) Milà d'Aragó and the town of Aljorf (and the other seven) over the ownership of the town's mountains already 20 years of ordinary juí and appeals; it all starts in 1851 when the mountains that used to be common are distributed among the seven towns and the Marquis denounces it. But L'Aljorf, in debt, reaches an amicable agreement (a contract elevated to a public deed of a transaction) because in the town hall the juí is a cumbersome burden that he cannot pay. An area of 1,070 hectares (88 Has., 92 a., 64 ca.) valued at 2,500 pts. he to the wife of the marquis, brothers, nephews and descendants in exchange for 750 pts. (aljorf del juí council expenses). The Mount confronts to the east with the Mount of Muro and properties of Rafael Ruiz, to the west with the Mount of Albaida, to the south with the Mount and terme of Muro and to the north with the old road of Alcoi and lands of Joaquin Cascant, José Cortes and Joaquin Plan. Forest consisting of old pines, young pines, low firewood and pasture.

 

1898, indication of 600 pines on the mountain called Ombria d'Aljorf. In that same year, the operation of marking the lines of the municipal term is carried out. In other words, point out the springs in the Albaida area. 

 

1898, Auction for the use of the Mount de Covalta hunt for one year, for two shotguns, for the amount of 10 pts. 

 

1927, files are opened, in several towns of the district (from Benicadell to the end of the term), by the "Jefatura de Montes" to expropriate the communal and private mountains of the town councils and individuals in order to proceed with their repopulation In those days, remember, that repopulation "injured" the private and municipal economy because it deprived them of their "predios abiertos" (inheritance or possession of rustic real estate).

 

1939-1959, more than 30 auction files, acts of delivery and sworn declarations of forest uses. For example: stone from La Pedrera en la Covalta, grazing for 160 sheep, for 300 sheep, sale of 566 pines for wood, 500 bushels of firewood, 300 bundles of ramage.

 

1971, Ministry of Agriculture. Provincial Delegation of Valencia. Forestry Section. Circular on fire prevention in the mountains "about to start the summer season, in which forest fires usually occur as a consequence of the high temperatures... it is necessary to adopt.... measures... to avoid them”:

 

1) Between June 1 and November 1, fire danger zone.

 

2) Fires are prohibited within 400 meters of the mountains.

 

3) To travel through the mountains during this period, it will be necessary to obtain a written permit

 

4) Administration, individuals and public service companies, clean the vegetation from the paths and make firebreaks.

 

5) In accordance with article 12 of the law on forest fires, the mayors can proceed to mobilize men between the ages of 18 and 60 and the necessary material, whoever is their master.

 

6) Once the fire is extinguished, the mayor will make a list of the people who have intervened in extinguishing the fire (name, hours worked, tools used, etc.) to pass it on to the Forestry Section and thus enabling the way of financially compensating the work done. 

Vocabulary: 

transaction : Deal or commercial agreement, especially purchase and sale. 

 

appeal : An appeal that the party who disagrees with the decision of a judge or a court brings before a judge or a higher court to have the case reviewed and a new decision made.

 

stereo: Unit of measurement, intended exclusively for branching, equivalent to the amount of firewood in a cube of one cubic meter.

 

Molló (or milestone): in topography it means a distinctive sign of stone or work that, nailed into a piece of land, indicates the termination of a property or a territory.

 

expropriate: Depriving the Administration of someone's property (of an asset) in exchange for compensation, for reasons of public utility or social interest provided for in the laws.

Joseph Moll
Health and ball