The Regional Secretary for Natural Resources has decided by unanimous proposal of the jury to award the contract for the sales of cryptomeria forest parcels, which includes the cutting and replanting of tress, to the consortium M. Cabral & Filhas, Lda. e Artur Manuel de Paiva Oliveira, and to the company Marques S.A.

The parcels awarded represent over 40 percent of the total area of cryptomeria forest to be sold in a public tender launched by the Government to revitalise the timber industry and the replanting of public forests. A total of five regional companies have presented their proposals in consortium or in an individual basis.

This tender has provided the initial momentum for the emergence of business activities in the timber industry, thus contributing to a sustained management of direct and indirect jobs in the private sector.

The base value of this procedure, which is in compliance with a Forest Management Plan that was subject to an Environmental Impact Study, already includes the deduction of costs of the obligations listed in the tender specifications from the commercial value of timber.

The costs cover cleaning actions, management of forestry leftovers, ground preparation, transport of plants to the area where they will be replanted, reforestation actions and the individual protectors for the successful plantation of endemic species, mainly near water lines.

Currently, the Autonomous Region of the Azores manages an area of about 4,500 hectares of Cryptomeria forest. Thanks to a sustainable cutting and reforestation programme, the exploitation of this area, together privately-owned forests, will boost and perpetuate all business opportunities arising from the use of wood at cutting age.