He Center for Forest Research and Experimentation (CIEF) of the Valencian Community was created through a decree in 2005. The objective of the Generalitat Valenciana was to promote innovative initiatives for the forest and conservation sectors of wild flora.
Therefore The CIEF manages lines of work aimed at solving problems that are directly related to said management. It also promotes cooperation with technological centers, universities and research centers through collaboration agreements.
Forest management in Valencia
The Center for Forest Research and Experimentation (CIEF), under the General Directorate of the Natural and Animal Environment of the Department of Environment, Infrastructure and Territory, celebrates its 20th anniversary, with the aim of contributing to management, conservation and restoration ecological of the forestry and flora systems of the Valencian Community.
The CIEF is a unique center in Spain for its characteristics and dimensions, since it integrates into the same installation a forest seed bank and a threatened flora germplasm bankin addition to the production in the nursery of both.
Also, in the center various lines of work are carried out to solve problems related to the management of forest systems. Among these projects are the catalog of monumental trees, Ecological Restoration Initiativesthe characterization of rhodales of mature forests, a forest health laboratory, as well as one of the stations of the Seed Bank of traditional varieties of agricultural interest and equipment of the Technical Unit of Forest Fire Analysis and Prevention.
It should be noted that Ecosystem reforestation and restoration strategies They require a solid infrastructure that guarantees the supply of plant in sufficient quantity and diversity to ensure success. In this sense, the CIEF plays a fundamental role in the restoration of the habitats of the Valencian Community.
At present, the center has become A reference in the forest field and manages several European projects Life, such as Life Teixers and the Life Redbosques_clima, the latter in collaboration with other reference entities of the national level.
Species conservation
The CIEF is located in the MORE of FITES, in Quart de Poblet, and covers about 10 hectares between nurseries, seed processing, laboratories and offices. Its roots settle on the forest seed bank, created 11 years before, with the aim of facilitating the Execution of an ambitious reforestation plan prepared after years of great fires. This pioneering project has consolidated and fulfills a vital function for the biodiversity of the Valencian Community.
At the moment, The forest germplasm bank retains seeds of 170 species. For its part, the threatened flora seed bank has more than 730 different species of flora with different degrees of protection. In total, the bank preserves about 100 million seeds, mostly destined to restore habitats of the Valencian Community.
This 20th anniversary consolidates A pioneering and reference center model in Spainwhich addresses all phases of the restoration: from the collection of seeds in the field, through the treatment and production in nursery, to the reintroduction in its habitat, both of the forest field and of the rare, endemic and threatened flora, In addition to the conservation of the arboreal heritage of the region.