The Formentera offices of interior and environment have joined a wildfire prevention campaign piloted by the Balearic government. The drive is directed at islanders who live or own property in the countryside and owners of dwellings which are located near forests.

Islanders who work the land can reduce the risk of fire by directing special attention to the perimeter of their property and removing nearby vegetation. Other recommended measures include keeping grass cut near drystone walls and breaking up homogenous planted material to reduce the risk that a fire traverse large stretch of land.

In an effort to create safe buffer zones, islanders near forests are encouraged to clear a 30-metre radius around their home. Tree tops should be trimmed if they are less than three metres from a home or from other trees, as should any trees over three metres tall. Thirty per cent of underbrush should also be cleared.

Interior conseller Josep Marí said islanders’ collaboration on safety protocol was pivotal to preventing fires, “particularly during high-risk periods like summertime”. Antonio J Sanz, who heads the environment department, reminded residents of the ban on fires and controlled burns currently in effect in forested areas.

The Consell de Formentera will promote the campaign on social media and among islanders at large.

6 July 2020
Department of Communications
Consell de Formentera

The Formentera heritage office reports that bidding has opened for the contract to complete a registry of island roads. Local decision makers voted in plenary in January to prioritise preparation of a catalogue covering some three hundred local roads as part of Formentera’s Pla Insular de Gestió del Patrimoni Cultural (Cultural Heritage Management Plan) for 2020 and 2021. The contract is valued at €170,000 (VAT not included) and the selected firm will have three years to produce the catalogue.

Patrimony consellera Raquel Guasch said the call for bids was “an important step in the creation of the first catalogue of island roads—essential to understanding local history”. “The finished product will contain both technical descriptions of local roads and insight into anthropological, cultural and heritage aspects to enhance the strength and value of the catalogue. According to the terms of the invitation to tender, the enterprise must be piloted by a five-person interdisciplinary team including a cultural anthropologist, two historians, a topographer and a legal expert.

Guasch said limited human resources were to blame when an earlier agreement between local government and Obra Cultural Balear failed to take wing in 2012. Information collected at that time about the location, description and historical interest of roads in Porto-salè, La Miranda, Cala Saona and Es Cap de Barbaria will be incorporated into the present undertaking, the consellera said.

In addition to descriptive insight and valuations related to sites’ appeal as monuments of heritage, the document will look at other aspects such as ownership and legal claims. Guasch insisted the endeavour would be both time- and labour-intensive, and impossible for the Consell to undertake with internal resources.

Work will require review of documental archives, creation of a database and web-based viewing programme and drafting of archival reports, not to mention interviewing local residents and building an individualised file index.

6 July 2020
Department of Communications
Consell de Formentera