Participation in Alto Minho TREX
- Nodfyr
- Feb 14
- 2 min read
Updated: Mar 18
Between 1 and 7 February, Nodfyr had the pleasure of supporting the organisation of Alto Minho TREX, in joint partnership with CIM Alto Minho. The Association had an delegation of directors and trainers present to support the activities and provide close mentoring to the participants who joined this activity for the first time.
Alto Minho TREX focussed its activities on the traditional use of fire as an ecological tool for managing ecosystems, valuing the ancestral knowledge acquired in the past by rural communities all over the world. The event was attended by various nationalities from countries such as Colombia, Brazil and Germany, including the debut of French participants.
The weather was favourable for the application of practical knowledge in the Alto Minho region, and participants had the opportunity to enjoy 5 consecutive days of burning, with the 4th day dedicated to technical-institutional fire practice. The traditional burning techniques used were mainly mosaics, patches and dot-by-dot.
Saturday and Sunday mornings were filled with theoretical presentations by trainer Emanuel Oliveira and special guest João Morita, Coordinator of ICMBio Brazil's Specialised Centre for Integrated Fire Management.
The morning of the second-to-last day was dedicated to the participants' theoretical presentations, and in the afternoon the group travelled to Paredes de Coura to take part in the “Use of Fire and Pyric Pastoralism” workshop, organised by the cross-border Green Gap project.
The highlights of this edition were the usual lively practical workshop on the ancestral use of fire, using tools developed by indigenous people from all over the world. The second highlight, on day three, was tested prescribed fire as a potential archaeological site managing tool, a study being carried out by the University of Vigo and Professor Juan Picos. To finish off the highlights, the burning on day 5 in the late afternoon/early evening in a maritime pine forest in the municipality of Valença, with the fundamental support of the team that is already very popular at TREX events in Portugal, Lola and Sabor, in the company of APTRAN - the Portuguese Animal Traction Association. The burning in the pine forest was crowned by an intimate and unique night-time moment in the TREX universe: a marriage proposal during the burn practice by two Colombian participants, Arturo Cortés and Maria Meza Elizalde.
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