Private Foundations

The  Caja Rural de Asturias Foundation  is collaborating with the Brown Bear Foundation (FOP)  on the project “ Bioeconomy: Chestnuts, Bears and Rural Development ”, providing financial support. The aim of the project is to recover, expand and enhance the traditional chestnut groves of the Cantabrian mountain range to generate bioeconomy and rural development and contribute to the conservation of the brown bear and biodiversity. Coordinated by the FOP, the University of Oviedo, SEO/BirdLife, the Fundación Oso de Asturias and the Fundación Camino Lebaniego are participating as partners, and the Principality of Asturias is also collaborating. The project will run until December 2025 in 18 municipalities in Asturias, Cantabria and Castilla y León, within the distribution area of ​​the Cantabrian brown bear.

Chestnut grove in the Cantabrian mountain range

The European Nature Trust (TENT) has a long-standing relationship with the Brown Bear Foundation (FOP), supporting our work to conserve brown bears in Spain.

Founded in 2000, TENT is committed to supporting “living landscapes” in Europe, where wild species can play their natural roles in ecosystems; where ecotourism provides a pathway to sustainable rural development; and where local people benefit from healthy, well-preserved nature.

Since 2017, TENT has supported our mission throughout the Cantabrian brown bear’s range: more specifically, they have helped us improve connectivity between bear population centres by restoring habitats, and also to promote coexistence between humans and bears in the Cantabrian mountains.

The Tierra Pura Foundation actively collaborates with the Brown Bear Foundation (FOP) in the LIFE project Osos con Futuro, providing experience and technical knowledge, as well as financial support. The aim of LIFE is to contribute to the adaptation of the species to climate change. One of the main lines of action of the project, which will run until 2025, is the planting of 150,000 native trees producing fleshy fruit, 25,000 chestnut trees grafted with native varieties and the recovery of chestnut groves and oak forests.

The powerful planting campaign represents an important commitment by the Tierra Pura Foundation to the recovery of the brown bear habitat in the Cantabrian mountain range and the efforts to conserve it. It also contributes to the mitigation of climate change through the fixation of CO2 in plant biomass and organic matter in the soil. This project can fix between 2,000 and 3,000 tons of CO2 annually through planting actions alone.

Chestnut trees in bloom in the Cantabrian mountain range