Public Utility Forests

As defined by Law 43/2003, of November 21, on Forests, “the Catalog of Public Utility Forests is a public registry of an administrative nature in which all forests declared of Public Utility are registered.”

The Catalog constitutes a technical-legal instrument for the defense of the most qualified forest heritage of public ownership, which, integrated in its origin (1862) by the mountains except for civil confiscation, has been increasing since 1901 to reach in our days the figure of more than 7,000,000 ha. of registered surface, the majority of which (6,000,000 ha.) belongs to the Local Entities, and the rest (1,000,000 ha.), to the State/Autonomous Communities.

It is, therefore, a figure of recognized effectiveness for the protection of the natural environment, since the legally protected - and supervised - surface becomes the protector of a good part of the surrounding territory. In addition, more than half of the cataloged forest area has been included in the Natura 2000 Network.

Public Utility Forests (MUP) are essential for the protection of the soil against erosion processes; are located at the headwaters of hydrographic basins or contribute decisively to the regulation of the hydrological regime

• They prevent or reduce landslides or rocks and the silting of reservoirs or protect crops and infrastructure from the wind.
• They are intended for repopulation or forest improvement for the protection purposes indicated above.
• They contribute to the conservation of biological diversity through the maintenance of ecological systems, the protection of flora and fauna or the preservation of genetic diversity and, in particular, those that constitute or form part of any legal figure of protection, as well as those that constitute relevant elements of the landscape.
• Those others established by the autonomous community in its legislation.

To learn more: FOREST HERITAGE Public Utility Forests (miteco.gob.es)