El inicio de las repoblaciones forestales en la Región de Murcia: un cambio en el paisaje regional

As early as 1726, through the Maritime Department of Cartagena, it was envisaged that the lands belonging to Murcia, without trees, should be reforested. The 1888 Decree, enacted as a result of devastating floods, encouraged the reforestation of the Guadalentín basin or Rambla de Sangonera. In 1891, the first protective reforestation in Spain began in the Segura basin, including Sierra Espuña. In 1907, Murcia City Council asked the State to reforestater its mountains (Carrascoy, Miravete and others). Other reforestation projects were also undertaken, such as that of 1907 in the mountais of Ricote, Blanca, anda Lorca, and the eastern and southern slopes of Sierra Espuña, and that of 1917 in Salinas de San Pedro del Pinatar for securing the dunes. It seems that prior to these reforestations, others were carried out in the 18th century in Cehegín. The aim of this work is to establish how and when reforestation began in the Region of Murcia, in order to assess the initial situation and the general changes that occurred in the landscape. For this purpose, an analysis of historical documents (newspapers, maps, archives, etc.) has been carried out, and images showing the change in the landscape have been used. It can be concluded that reforestation began as a flood mitigation measure and initially only on public land, resulting in an important change in the regional landscape.