Altitude (m): 475 Topography: middle slope Orientation: W Slope (%): 41.0 Hydrology: middle slope of the “Serra da Faladoira” Mountains, placed in the river Sor catchment with the stream “Rego do Abeledo” flowing through the forest, and 15 km far from the Atlantic coast. Soil type: REGOSOLS Soil sub-type: Parent rock: acid regional metamorphic rocks PH: 4.7
Climate
Average temperature (°C): 10.4 Average precipitation (mm): 1343 Number of frost days: 9 Reference period for climatic data: 2005-2012
History of the site
The surrounding land is occupied by a patch landscape of pastures and small pine afforested areas. Local population has incomes mainly from the livestock and the forest management. Recently, and due to the optimal geographic position, wind farms were placed at the top of “Serra da Faladoira” mountain chain and now the wind turbines provide a different landscape. DS23 is placed on a private land. The land is owned and managed by the Neighborhood Forest of Grañas do Sor, typical of Galician culture. All the forest area belongs to a territorial demarcation, “parroquia”, which joins all the neighborhood members. Each citizen owns a percentage of the whole indivisible forest area and the management must be agreed with all the members of the community by a common consent. In Galicia, this way of forest property is called “Neighborhood Forest in Common Hand”. The stand shows an even-aged birch (Betula alba) canopy from natural regeneration, almost without understory, only a few grasses are present. Livestock, mainly wild horses, are commonly present inside the stand, decreasing the understory cover. Thinning treatments were applied in 2002, when tree stand characteristics were: Age (22 years) Mean DBH (8.6 cm), Dominant Height (9.9 m), Density (2618 tree/ha).
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