Trees on the Meseta

[E. O. Pederson]

Karen Mallory raises an interesting concern about the ecological
advisability of planting trees in what is now an almost treeless
environment. Given the Spanish forestry department's predeliction for
planting exotics in immense single-species stands, for example the
(Australian) eucalypts in Galicia or the vast plantations of (North
American) poplars in the zones west of Leon, that concern is well-founded.
Grasslands are an important ecotype, and, as ill-fated experiements in
North America, Australia, and Argentina have shown, introducing trees into
such environments can have undesired consequences, introducing exotic
species into any environment is fraught with danger, and single-species
stands (monocultures) are an invitation to disaster.

On the other hand, to well within historic times, indeed at least up until
the reign of Felipe II, much of the now treeless meseta was in fact
covered with forest!  Paintings from the Siglo d'Oro show forest scenes in
zones now totally totally devoid of trees, while documents show how
important trees were to the economy of the period. The grassland status of
the meseta is, in considerable measure, the consequence of fairly recent
human activity, most particularly the grazing of sheep and gathering of
firewood. If the trees now being planted are native species, and not
exotics imported from Australia or the Americas, then one could argue an
older ecology is being recreated. But then again, a line of trees
regularly spaced along a single route is more reminiscent of Napoleonic-
era roads in France than it is of any forest that may have existed in
medieval Spain.


There is a long stretch of the Camino near Burgo Ranero where trees were
planted in the 1980s-early 1990s. Their spacing is presumably to ensure
shade for pilgrims walking during the blistering months of summer and at
least a little protection from the winds of autumn and winter. I have not
walked in blistering heat, but walking in the strong winds of autumn, the
trees provided little protection. Long-term survival of those trees is
problematic. Between 1998 and 2001 I noticed that a number had succumbed
to weather or disease.

Planting yet more trees along the Camino Frances may be a good idea, but I
have strong reservations.