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The ownership of the Itesasi forest is shared
by the inhabitants of the villages of Urrunaga and Legutiano.
It is a public forest, but the property belongs to the inhabitants
of those two villages, not to the municipalities. As this
forest is included in the Registry of Public Utility, its
management is done by the Forest Service of the Regional
Council of the province of Araba, by mutual agreement with
the two local authorities representing the inhabitants of
the villages.
This forest is a mixed oak and beech forest, and has characteristics
that makes it a paradigm of multifunctionality. First of
all the soil protection and enhancement of water quality
are essential, because this forest is nearby two water dams
that provides potable water to large cities.
The recreational activities are also very important in this
forest, because it is only 20 km far away from a big city
like Vitoria, and two roads goes just through the limits
of the forest making the access to this forest very easy
for the people.
The naturalistic interest of this forest is also significant,
it is just in the middle of the natural corridor between
two water dams and two Natural Parks, and the diversity
of ecosystems present in this forest, with many water areas,
a lot of old trees and clearing areas makes of it an ideal
habitat for a lot of animal species present in this forest.
Lately the historical and cultural aspects are also very
remarkable in this forest, even nowadays the trenches of
the Spanish civil war are visible in the forest, in fact
in this area there was one of the most important fronts
and here took place important battles. Otherwise the shape
of many trees in this forest is very particular they are
very old trees with a very thick trunk up to two meters,
where it divides in a lot of branches, they are reminiscences
of ancient silvicultural practices when the beech and oak
wood was used to obtain charcoal.
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