Health of Catalan forests worsening, with effects of drought still evident

Forestry technicians from the Department of Agriculture have visited plots in the Pyrenees in recent weeks to assess the health of Catalan forests through a network of plots with 9,000 trees.

The majority, 80%, of the field work for the 2025 campaign has already been carried out, and the first conclusion they have drawn is that "the health of Catalan forests is worsening."

The trees are still showing the impact of the historic drought that plagued Catalonia for three years.

The latest complete data is from 2024, which shows twice as many dead trees (3.4%) as in 2022 and 2023.

The head of the Forest Health section of the Agriculture Department, Jorge Eras, said that forest management allows them to better face dangerous or risky situations such as forest fires or droughts.

The Forest Monitoring Network of Catalonia (8x8CAT) is made up of plots distributed throughout the Catalan territory that have been analyzed for 10 years. Currently, the network has 383 plots (8,976 trees) separated from each other by a distance of 8 km.

Each plot is made up of 24 trees. Their defoliation and fruiting are evaluated and the reasons behind their changes in state of health are identified.

With this data, it can be established whether there is damage that is affecting the trees. In the 8x8CAT network, the most abundant species is the white pine with 2,633 specimens, and the holm oaks and holm oaks with 1,522 trees.