The Ministry of Agriculture and Sea declared public utility with urgent character for the creation of fuel management strips in Alto Minho, through an order published in the Official Gazette on September 2. The measure aims at the implementation of the primary network of fuel management strips for fire defense.
The network will cover 91 land parcels distributed across several parishes in the municipalities of Arcos de Valdevez and Monção. In Arcos de Valdevez, the parishes involved are Sistelo, Union of Parishes of Alvora and Loureda, and Union of Parishes of Portela and Extremo. In Monção, the parishes of Merufe and Union of Parishes of Anhões and Luzio.
The administrative easement covers a total area of 1,494,487.33 square meters, covering a strip 126 meters wide. The costs for establishing this easement will be borne by the Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests (ICNF), which has budget funding coverage for this purpose.
The fuel management strips constitute primary, secondary, and tertiary defense networks, taking into consideration the different functions they can perform in fire prevention and combat.
