The Department of Rural Environment and Territorial Cohesion of the Principality of Asturias and the Brown Bear Foundation (FOP) collaborate on an ongoing basis through a framework agreement whose objective is the conservation of the Cantabrian brown bear and its habitat in the Principality of Asturias.
- The Ministry provides financial support to the FOP in its monitoring of the species and in the awareness-raising actions carried out at the “Somiedo and the Bear” Interpretation Centre, located in the town of Pola de Somiedo, within the Natural Park.
Exterior y entrada del Centro de Interpretación «Somiedo y el Oso» en el Parque Natural de Somiedo
Acciones de sensibilización en el Centro de Interpretación «Somiedo y el Oso»
- Also within the objectives of this collaboration framework, the FOP participates in the “ Brown Bear Tagging Program in Asturias 2021-2023 (PMOPPA2023) ”, coordinated by the Principality of Asturias and in which the Joint Institute for Biodiversity Research (CSIC-University of Oviedo-Principality of Asturias) and the Bear Foundation of Asturias also participate.
- Another important line of support from the Principality is its participation in the LIFE Bears with a Future project coordinated by the FOP, which will run until 2025 throughout the species’ distribution area in the Cantabrian Mountains. In addition to a financial contribution, the Ministry of Rural Environment and Territorial Cohesion is making a very significant contribution with the production of more than 15,000 chestnut trees grafted with local varieties in the La Mata Forest Nursery, with no financial cost associated with the project.
From left to right: Pedro Álvarez, from the University of Oviedo, David Villar, Director General of Natural Resources and Rural Planning of the Principality of Asturias and Fernando Ballesteros, from the Brown Bear Foundation, reviewing characteristics of seedling production at the La Mata Forest Nursery (Grado, Asturias).