Native forest revival in the Basque Country

Lurgaia was founded in 2002 on the initiative of a group of conservationists who wanted to work through land stewardship and environmental volunteering to restore Atlantic mixed forests and their biodiversity.

We are a small organisation with 550 members and a volunteer network of 2,700 people. Throughout the year, we organise around 65–70 environmental volunteering activities involving students, the general public, corporate volunteers, social inclusion groups, and so on.

Our main activity involves planting native trees and shrubs, but we also carry out waste clean-up campaigns, control of invasive alien species, and so on.

We currently manage just over 1,000 hectares in various locations across Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa. Our aim is always to restore the ecological processes of our forests and create strict conservation areas with no focus on commercial production.

Since 2002, we have restored just over 900 hectares and have recently acquired a further 150 hectares, which will be restored in the near future.

We have planted just over 260,000 specimens of more than 30 species of native trees and shrubs. These are highly diverse species that provide a variety of fruits and seeds, different levels of shade and therefore fulfil a variety of functions within the ecosystem.

On many of the plots, we have created dozens of ponds that will play an important role as water sources, breeding habitats for amphibians, etc.

 It is estimated that between 85,000 and 86,000 tonnes of CO₂ have been captured through the plantations, but it must also be borne in mind that there is significant plant regeneration and that natural processes in the soil are being respected, meaning that carbon capture will be considerably higher.