Restoration in the Forestry Department

CMPC has been implementing programs to regenerate native species in Chile since 2006 and in Brazil since 2009 in the plant nurseries at the Carlos Douglas Nursery and Forestal Celulose Riograndense, respectively. Since then, 57 native species have been restored.

The daily tasks at the CMPC nurseries consist in seeking solutions to some of the problems affecting the species and restoring species that are in danger of extinction. In this same context, CMPC has contributed to the search for a remedy for the disease that dries the branches of the Araucaria trees and recovery of the Toromiro bush (endemic to Rapa Nui and extinct in that zone).

The Toromiro regeneration program began in 2006 when the Viña del Mar Botanical Gardens handed over six plants to CMPC to be protected and used for carrying out preliminary analyses. The Company established a partnership with the Catholic University of Chile to work on the project, an alliance whose success led on to an agreement in 2013 between CMPC and CONAF (the National Forestry Corporation of Chile) to reintroduce the species on Easter Island and return to the Rapa Nui people the tree used by their ancestors for sacred works of art.

Over 800 thousand saplings of native species and ornamental plants are produced annually at the Carlos Douglas Nursery. The Nursery is able to produce this volume by using various high-quality technological processes and mechanisms, such as greenhouses with automatic climate control, mechanized equipment for planting and an automated transplanting machine of Dutch fabrication totally unique to Latin America.

Forestal Mininco in Chile has made a commitment to good environmental management as an essential part of its silviculture operations. Therefore, the enterprise has taken on the responsibility for protecting and conserving its assets, with special emphasis on the protection and conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem services.

In 2018, CMPC embarked on the restoration of two HCVAs, planting 139 hectares of Ruil trees in Empedrado and 704 hectares of Hualo trees in Loanco situated in the municipalities of Empedrado and Constitucion, respectively, which had been devastated by the mega forest fire in the 2017/2018 season.

The Ruil (Nothofagus alessandrii) is a species endemic to the Maule region of Chile defined as a biological heritage whose felling has been prohibited since 1995, and that was later declared a Natural Monument in 2007. The species has also been classified as rare and in danger of extinction (D.S. 151_2007).

The Hualo (Northofagus glauca) is a species endemic to the Central zone of Chile and is classified as vulnerable and almost threatened (D.S.42_2011).