The Regional Director for Forest Resources highlighted today the importance of collecting endemic species seeds from the Azores and their reproduction in forest nurseries to protect natural resources while ensuring their perpetuation in time.
 
"Since Forest Services began producing endemic plants in their nurseries, there has been special care to reproduce these species almost exclusively through seeding," said Anabela Isidoro, who accompanied on the ground the work of a seed collection team.
 
The Regional Director stated that the practice of seed collection is fundamental for endemic species, since it increases the genetic variability of plants produced in the nurseries, which will be later returned to forest areas "to fulfil their mission of protecting natural resources and creating ecological corridors."
 
"Forest Services in the Region have had the concern to maintain the existing primitive vegetation since their inception. Regional forest nurseries were provided with the conditions for the reproduction of endemic wood species in the past 10 years," said Anabela Isidoro. In this regard, she added that the "selection of endemic species to be used in the afforestation of the Forest Perimeters privileges those that guarantee a more rapid coverage and protection of the soil."
 
The Regional Director for Forest Resources stated that, currently, 93% of the nursery production area of Forest Services corresponds to production spaces of bare-root plants, where the production of cryptomeria predominates. This production satisfies afforestation and reforestation needs of private-owned forest areas.
 
Endemic species are grown in greenhouses and transplanted into appropriate containers.
 
Until they are able to be transferred to the natural environment, they must still undergo some acclimatisation phases in more adverse conditions.
 
Every year, more than 700 kilograms of endemic species seeds are collected throughout the Region; more than half are collected in the area of Nordeste Forest Services on São Miguel.