Giving Spain's lands a new lease of life

It is a history that stretches back more than a century and traverses the map of Spain. The laying of the national railway system and the Carlist Wars had left the country's coffers empty. Swimming in debt, the state decided, at the end of the 19th century, to auction public land, belonging to the Church, the army and universities, which was not being used. Also put up for sale was land owned by local councils, upon whose pastures, game and wood lived entire villages.

The situation caused great concern among villagers: anybody could buy up the land and deprive them of their means of existence. They decided to get organized; they borrowed money and sent some of their number to the auctions.

"Among the heirs are young people who are excited to breathe life into the villages"

"They already owe us money because the company didn't know who to pay"

"Buying the land wasn't easy, 117,000 pesetas was a lot back then; most people had a bad time. They sold off the livestock at a loss to pay the bills and in my village we had to cede felling rights for 40 years," says Cándido Moreno de Pablo, 71, who was born in Herrera de Soria in northern Castile. But his village took ownership of the land. Moreno's great-grandparents were among those 45 villagers who bought the land and split the dividends equally. The same thing happened in many provinces and ownership associations proliferated.

Today, the Soria Forestry Association is attempting to breathe new life into this natural heritage, purchased so long ago but that still belongs to the villagers. In some areas plans are well advanced to rebuild stone walls, introduce livestock, to restore irrigation and clear land for agriculture. But who owns these lands now?

The migratory waves of the 20th century emptied Spain's villages, leaving behind land, homes and ownership documents, many of them lost forever. This documentary fragility remains in place today: if there is no paperwork, any town hall can claim ownership of land. "It was not fair that these properties that had been bought with such effort and which belong to the villagers can change hands just like that. We suggested tracking down the heirs and suggesting that they rescue these lands and give rural development a boost," says Pedro Medrano, technical director of the Soria Forestry Association.

The Environment Ministry granted 732,000 euros last year so the association could comb the archives for the original owners and their heirs. In Soria, the work has been completed; 185,000 hectares were sold in the public auctions, and 81 percent of it ended up in the hands of ownership associations. Now the process is being repeated in Zaragoza. Some experts believe that of the seven million hectares of land that was originally put up for sale, more than two million hectares were purchased by collectives.

These lands have, for the past century, been cared for by a few locals who have been unable to make decisions without the consent of all of the owners, something practically impossible. To get over this obstacle, in 2003 the Land Ownership Law was modified to open the way to management committees, which with just 11 members would have decision-making power. In Soria there are already 22 such committees.

The undertaking has "a principal objective, which is to conserve the populations that live in these small hamlets, so that they stop going to the cities. For this reason, part of the benefits they could obtain, if not all, should be given this priority, to restore houses and afford people economic help to continue living in the villages," says Medrano.

Not that anybody is going to get rich through the scheme. When the 11 people necessary to form a committee have been found, the rest of the finances must be reinvested in the land or in homes. And in cases when all of the owners are located, the split becomes ridiculous. "What we are finding is what we had hoped: among the heirs are young people who are excited to participate, to breathe life into the villages of their grandparents, even if they know that with a share of 0.0008 percent they are not going to make money or gain a windfall, however much wood they sell," says Manuel Gómez Ceña, president of the ownership committee in La Póveda. "It has to be reiterated that this doesn't bring economic benefits, that what we are dealing with is recovering a system of integral management, silvopastoral, as there was before, balanced and sustainable."

But when money starts to roll matters inevitably become complicated; in some cases, the land has become more profitable than it was originally. In Ledrado, Las Aldehuelas, for example, modern wind turbines have sparked conflict between the committee and the authorities. "There are nine windmills that belong to us. We have formed a management committee and we can exploit this. They already owe us back payments because the company didn't know who to make out the checks to," says Pedro Antonio Marín, who has returned to his roots after retiring. One windmill can generate 3,000 euros a year. "But let no one misunderstand: all the dividends will be used for rural development, to reinvest in the forest and benefit the common interests of the village."

The mayor of Ledrado, Segundo Revilla Jiménez, agrees: "These lands were bought by our grandparents. There is no doubt over that, so why should we have to claim them from the town hall? Furthermore, the profits will be used for the wellbeing of the village itself and for the upkeep of its population, which is vital here."

In any case, everybody involved with the project says that it was born through solidarity and that is where it should remain. It was ever thus. In Cándido Moreno's village, Herrera, there are 15 people on the census, but only four occupied houses. Each one of these receives five percent of the profits from lumber and the leasing of farmland. The rest goes to the local authorities. "It was always this way," says Moreno. "That money paid for the street lighting, running water, schools, and roads. It was money from the villagers reinvested for the villagers." And so it will continue to be.