The Mijas Town Hall is stepping up pruning, clearing and thinning work in the Sierra de Mijas in the coming weeks ahead of the high-risk fire season. This work helps to reinforce the maintenance, conservation and protection of the natural environment following a wet winter and, consequently, abundant vegetation, with the risks that this entails.

 

The mayoress of Mijas, Ana Mata (PP), visited the ‘carretera del repetidor’ (transmitter station road) on Wednesday 29th, one of the areas where employees of Eulen, the company awarded the maintenance contract by the Town Hall, are working to protect the Sierra de Mijas. They carry out silvicultural treatments, clearing, cutting back, thinning, pruning (including the removal of invasive species), reforestation, and the conservation and maintenance of forestry infrastructure.

Mata highlighted the importance of this initiative and pointed out that Mijas is the only municipality that complements the work carried out by the Andalusian Regional Government, “as no amount of help is too much when it comes to protecting our great natural heritage”. The mayoress, accompanied by the councillor for the Environment, Marco Cortés (PP), reported that the cost of this contract amounts to 1.2 million euros if all the planned extensions are fulfilled (two years plus three optional years, until 2029).

 

Reducing risk

The aim of these actions is to minimise the risks arising from the  proliferation of vegetation ahead of the period of high temperatures and  low humidity that summer brings. The workers will carry out their tasks until the 31st of May, which is the deadline set by regional legislation for working in the mountains. Therefore, the Mijas Town Hall is now entering the final month before withdrawing from the mountains. The authorised period begins on the 1st of October. 

During her visit to the transmitter area on Wednesday 29th, the mayoress emphasised that all protected species are treated with the utmost care, “and no species included in the Spanish Catalogue of Threatened Species, the Andalusian catalogue, or any requiring strict protection, are cut down, uprooted, pruned or damaged”. For his part, the councillor Marco Cortés pointed out that “this work is as important as creating firebreaks, ensuring that the roads are clear and clean both to allow access for authorised firefighting vehicles and to remove the undergrowth and combustible material that cause fires to spread”. 

 

Qualifies professionals

The contract stipulates that those in charge of the work must be senior engineers and technical forestry engineers, all with more than five years’ experience; accompanied by a forestry foreman with more than five years’ experience, qualified as a senior technician in the management and organisation of natural and landscape resources. The contract stipulates that plant waste must be removed or disposed of by shredding, chipping or transport to an authorised disposal site as soon as possible.

 

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