Although there are conservation pressures in the
Province, conservation of the palmito is not an issue because it
is widespread and much of the conservation effort is directed towards
woodland habitats. There are two National Parks in the Province
which are havens for the palmito. The Penon d Ifach at Calpe is
a marine national park and includes the community in plate 4. This
is unlikely to change much in the foreseeable future. The Montgo
National Park to the north of Javea extends someway inland and includes
a wide spectrum of habitats. This is changing as a result of forest
regeneration in parts. There is some human intrusion and it is a
high fire risk area so the future of the palmito is unpredictable.
In the past Chamaerops was harvested for making crude fabrics and
matting using the leaves and fibres. This is a diminishing activity
and is no longer a threat. The growing tip was regarded a delicacy.
I cannot vouch for the merits of these tips as a food and the past
practice of eating these may have been influenced by rumours that
these had aphrodisiac properties. Harvesting of these was laborious
and resulted in the destruction of the larger central plants in
a clump, but the development of suckers would ensure that the plant
colony survived. Where land has been cleared for amenity purposes
or for establishing fire breaks, regeneration of Chamaerops is often
seen as a ring of young suckers. Seedlings and young suckers were
very vulnerable to goats but this too is a diminishing risk. The
most serious hazards are human activities and fire, although Chamaerops
often survives shrubland fires as illustrated in plates 6,11 &
12. Plate 11 was taken one year after a fire. Note the survival
of substantial plants of Chamaerops and the regeneration of other
plants. The fruit in plate 12 were scorched but on the protected
side they were unaffected. This area was a revelation to me as I
had passed it frequently during the previous five years and had
not noticed any sign of the palmito. After the fire I was amazed
to see the healthy clumps of Chamaerops dotted over the bare landscape.
This is possibly a situation where Chamaerops benefits from the
occasional fire. If this could be established then there would be
a case for selected controlled burning of some areas as part of
a conservation programme.
The consequences of fire in woodland areas are quite
different. The conflagration and heat are more intense and I have
seen burnt-out woodland areas where it has been several years before
any green plants re-appeared. Urbanisation is a serious threat to
Palmito Land as it is often regarded as waste land and planning
permission is more readily given for such land to be used for industrial
developments, urbanisation, roads and the occasional airport, stone
quarry or theme park. The housing developments are usually for holiday
homes or houses for the vast number of Northern Europeans who are
migrating to this warm and beautiful land.
Open and lay the cover of this issue flat and take
in this beautiful vista. It was a balmy September afternoon, the
thyme was in bloom and the air was fragrant with a mixture of thyme,
rosemary and a host of other aromatic plants. That was the dream.
The reality is that this area has been marked off for housing development.
This project has been suspended for legal reasons but I fear this
will only be a temporary respite. There are many good examples in
some areas where the owners of new houses have retained plants of
the palmito that were growing on their plots and developing their
gardens around them as seen in plates 13 and 14. This often results
from people following the example set by an imaginative neighbour.
There are a number of other plants growing in the palmito shrubland
that can be absorbed into a garden. Those with larger gardens will
sometimes leave a corner wild . This is a practice that should be
encouraged. It could he made a condition of planning permission;
such protection is often given to mature trees. For the health of
the vegetation of the future it is important to give protection
to younger trees and shrubs also. There is currently strong legislation
in place to protect the coastal zone so the encroachment of houses
into coastal Chamaerops Land as illustrated in plate 4 should be
reduced in the future. In the mountain areas the palmito is relatively
safe from human interference and will survive and flourish into
the future providing there is no geological disaster that engulfs
the whole area.
Costa del Chamaerops
