- 作者：Gonzalo Segado Castro ; gonzalosegado@hotmail.com" class="auth_mail" title="E-mail the corresponding author ; Ricardo Zamora Dí ; az
- 关键词：Forests ; Forestry policy ; Forestry management ; Catalogue of Forests ; Exploitation by residents in the neighbourhood ; Reform of territories
- 刊名：Forest Policy and Economics
- 出版年：2016
- 出版时间：September 2016
- 年：2016
- 卷：70
- 期：Complete
- 页码：80-90
- 全文大小：978 K
The said forests are the result of evolution of the history of Spain itself, in which, during almost three centuries, there has been coexistence between the communal uses inherited from their Muslim forbears and the feudal rights that the House of Fajardo, the present Ducal House of Medina Sidonia, received from the Catholic Monarchs.
The beginning of the nineteenth century saw the end of the Old Spanish Regime and, with it, the complete transformation of society and customs in force up to that time. Many of these changes were produced by the laws established by the Cortes de Cadiz (a parliament which established a new Spanish constitution), one of which abolished feudal estates. The political instability the country was going through and the controversies that arose as regards how to execute these rulings postponed their effective implementation and created a legal vacuum regarding what, until then, had been the exclusive right of the nobles, rights that included the ownership and exploitation of the forests.
This vacuum caused a rapid deforestation in the district, in which the Administration could not intervene until the enactment of the Royal Order of 31 of January 1879. From this date and until the publication of the Royal Decree dated 21 of September 1900 several Forest Engineers carried out and in depth study of the said forests and the causes of their ruin, which finally lead them to be shared between the Ducal House of Medina Sidonia and the villages of María, Vélez Blanco and Vélez Rubio. This established the bases for the forest management which would be carried out during the twentieth century, some aspects of which have continued up to the present moment.
In order to gain knowledge of the evolution of the forests of María and Vélez Blanco during this period, as well as the influence the Forestry Administration had on the same, a study has been carried out on the events that occurred during the last quarter of the nineteen century. These commence with the first years of public intervention and end with the drafting of the Forestry Engineer Domingo Olazábal's Report regarding the specification of territories, approved by Royal Decree dated 21 September 1900 which, by sharing the forests between the Ducal House and the villages, confirmed the public nature of those assigned to the latter, thus establishing the bases for the public forestry management carried out during the twentieth century.