Afforestation

From 1562, the year in which this island was given its second Timber Regulations (Regimento das Madeiras), to the present day, governments and Municipal Councils (Câmaras Municipais) have often sought to promote the afforestation of our mountains and to prevent the destruction of woodland. The regulations (regimento) of 27 August 1562 – known to have been preceded by earlier ones dated 15 January 1515, of which no record survives in the municipal archives – recommended planting chestnut and pine trees on land suited to these species. They forbade the felling of trees without the Council’s licence, and such felling could in no case be permitted in places where there were springs or running water.

The archive of the Funchal Municipal Council (Câmara Municipal do Funchal) records many official acts showing that in the 17th and 18th centuries more care was taken over the conservation of the woods than today. In 1799 a nursery was established in the parish (freguesia) of Monte (‘hill’) which, according to a report submitted to the proper authorities by the inspector of agriculture, had distributed more than 20,000 trees between then and 10 August 1823.

The royal letter (carta régia) of 14 May 1804, calling for observance of that of 17 June 1800, ordered the sowing and planting on the mountain tops, on both Madeira and Porto Santo (‘holy harbour’), of whatever tree species the ground proved suited to. Unfortunately, of the seeds the government sent us on that occasion, very few belonged to species easily adapted to our soil and climate. Abies canadensis and Robinia Pseudacacia – the former grown on some quintas, the latter naturalised in many places around Funchal – were introduced into Madeira on 29 October 1800, the seeds having been sent by the government of John VI.

The said royal letter of 1804 also ordered the Councils to plant trees on municipal land and to proceed severely and without remission, in accordance with the Ordinances, Book 51, Titles 75 and 76, against those who set fire to the woods or cut down trees, while likewise observing the Timber Regulations of 1562.

The instructions of 18 October 1792 that Dr António Rodrigues Veloso de Oliveira left to the Council of the town (vila) of Calheta (‘small cove’) when he was there on circuit (em correição, the corregedor’s inspection tour) also contain some proposals concerning tree planting. On 15 October 1804 the governor Ascenso de Oliveira Freire urged the Councils of Ponta do Sol, Calheta and São Vicente to see to the afforestation of their municipalities and to the clearing of the streams. This governor also attended to the afforestation of the municipality (concelho) of Funchal and to ways of raising livestock without harming the plantations.

On 3 May 1812 a communication was read at a session of the Funchal Municipal Council from the inspector of agriculture in Ribeira Brava (‘wild river’), reporting that 9,233 trees, including 4,795 mulberries, had been planted in his district.

On 9 November 1814 the interim government of Madeira ordered pine seed to be sown, and the Funchal Municipal Council did the same on the 14th of the same month and year, using for this purpose some land in the parishes of Santo António and São Martinho.

Around 1821 new stands of pines were created, the stone pine being the species most sought after for planting at that time. In 1840 the government ordered the fulfilment of a request, made the previous year by the Funchal Municipal Council, for twenty moios of pine seed.

It was during the period in which the benevolent Councillor (conselheiro, honorary title of the royal council) José Silvestre Ribeiro governed Madeira (1846–1852) that the cultivation of the maritime pine increased greatly here. The correspondence on the reforestation of the mountains exchanged between José Silvestre and the Municipal Councils and municipal administrators of the whole island deserves to be read by all who wish to form an exact and clear idea of the zeal and outstanding competence with which this official handled a matter so closely bound up with the prosperity of the land entrusted to his administration, as can be seen at length in the three volumes of the work Uma Época Administrativa.

From 1852 onwards, the only afforestation worth noting is the planting of a large number of trees along the banks of the State levadas (irrigation channels), ordered not many years ago by the District Public Works Department (Direção das Obras Públicas); the creation, after 1897, of some pine woods inside the old hedge (bardo) of the municipality of Funchal; and the consignment of various exotic and native species sent to the island of Porto Santo by the forestry services department, some of which are thriving there.

The tamarisk and Myoporum accuminatum are two species very well suited to the soils of Porto Santo. The first was introduced to that island by João António Pedroso in 1834, and the second by the distinguished botanist João Maria Moniz in 1893. If this latter species were properly exploited, large masses of greenery could be established within a few years on the treeless island of Porto Santo. As regards Madeira, we hold that it is the native flora that should supply the species needed to reforest the mountains. To prefer exotic trees to native ones for this reforestation, as has unfortunately been advised, is not only to set aside, without good reason, the forest wealth with which nature endowed the island, but also to hinder an improvement whose usefulness needs no demonstration.

We do not doubt that there are species from other regions capable of acclimatising in the mountainous parts of Madeira, and especially in the valleys of the interior. What we do not see is the need to rely solely on such species to restore our forests, when we have no fewer than thirty-two trees and shrubs suited to clothing the most varied terrains and altitudes of the island. Even if it were not our duty to preserve religiously the wild species that remain to us, the mere fact that all of them are better adapted to the island’s soil and climate would be reason enough to give them preference in the planting to be carried out.

Our woodlands have two implacable enemies: the shepherd and the charcoal burner. It is essential to put an end, in the most absolute manner, to the grazing of livestock and the making of charcoal. There must not be a single exception, either as to season or as to place. Only a radical measure of this kind, and only a prohibition extended without restriction to all cases and circumstances, will provide a wholesome and effective remedy for the great evil that must be fought. Let no one point to the existence of the decrees of 23 July 1913 and 22 September 1917. They were never enforced in full, and they no longer entirely serve their purpose.

It is a serious error to suppose that the raising of sheep, goats and pigs sustains a significant industry whose suppression might in any way harm the economy of the district. Suffice it to say that only a limited number of individuals engage in it, and for them it is not their sole livelihood, since they combine it with work as farmers or as simple rural labourers. In general the livestock graze freely, without herdsmen or shepherds, and are exposed to every kind of bad weather. There are no suitable pens or shelters to protect them from the harsh winters, and for this reason a very considerable number of animals always die every year. This weighty circumstance would in itself be enough, in any country, to justify an absolute ban on the free grazing of livestock on exposed mountains.

It is well known that livestock do great damage to plants that are still young and in full growth, but the luxuriant vigour of our forest vegetation largely overcomes the attack of the strong jaws of these ruminants. What the native abundance of our woodlands cannot overcome, however, is the harmful and criminal action of the shepherd.

Flocks do not find favourable pasture on land covered with dense forest. They need ground where fodder and low-growing plants predominate, as these are essential to the diet best suited to them. The shepherd therefore promptly prepares this desired pasture in a more or less extensive clearing, which the destructive force of the flames readily provides. This is usually how the great fires in our forests begin. Herdsmen do not hesitate for a moment to turn a forest of fine, stout trees, which took centuries to grow, into a barren expanse scorched by the devouring fire, so that it may soon become a grazing field to feed a meagre few dozen goats and sheep.

The damage caused by charcoal-making is so evident – not only through the countless fine trees lost to obtain this fuel, but also through the ever-present danger of starting a violent fire, as has so often happened – that there is no need to put forward a long train of arguments to condemn outright any permission for such a practice, whatever safety conditions might perhaps be invoked for that purpose.

We know that some felling of trees in the State forests is permitted, under conditions unknown to us. The most scrupulous care should be taken in granting such licences and, above all, the strictest supervision in carrying them out.

Given the favourable climatic conditions of our environment, if these measures are adopted and forest species for replanting are chosen with judicious selection, no one will doubt that within two or three decades this island may rightly regain the name of Madeira, ‘which from its many woods is so called’, in the hallowed phrase of the immortal singer of the Lusiadas.