Castilla y León’s State Forest Conference in Segovia Was a Great Success

The annual State Forest Conference of EUSTAFOR was pleased to invite State foresters from all over Europe to visit Segovia (Spain).

The Conference was hosted by Junta de Castilla y León (JCyL), and they set up a splendid program for all participants. The Conference opened up on Tuesday 3 June with and dinner at Candido Hotel and a demonstration of Segovia tradition as “dulzaineros”

On Wednesday 4, a demonstration of stone pine shaking and resination of Pinus pinaster was carried out. Several practical demonstrations were displayed, regarding how pine cones are harvested, how resin tapering is practised now and how pitch was extracted in the past (“peguera”), as well as various silvicultural treatments and cuts in Mediterranean pine forests, ending with a tasting of local pine nuts.

Lunch was served in the courtyard of the castle of Coca and in the afternoon the forest of the Riofrío Palace and the mountains of Valsaín were visited. The day ended with an exhibition of traditional axe cutting competition and dinner at the Granja de San Ildefonso village.

On Thursday an emblematic forest was visited to talk about Quercus pyrenaica (Spanish oak) silviculture, followed by a presentation and demonstration of the forest fire fighting operation, as well as the work carried out in training the professionals who work in forest fire fighting. In the afternoon, a Juniperus thurifera Dehesa was explored.

The participants then spent the evening with a gala dinner at the Fábrica de la moneda in Segovia where the representative of the Danish Organisation kindly invited all participants to come to Denmark for the SFC 2026.

The technical staff from Junta de Castilla y León tried to show to the attendants how different is the mediterranean forest from Atlantic forest. And how wildfires must be taken into account when the silviculture is planned in such forests. That’s why it’s mandatory to manage our forests. Otherwise, wildfires will manage them wildly instead.

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