A specific type of grazed wooded parkland, named ‘montado’ in Portuguese and
‘dehesa’ in Spanish, attains, in Portugal, over a million hectares according to
the 2006 Portuguese Forest Inventory. These are more or less sparsely wooded
lands, either of live- or cork-oak (Quercus rotundifolia and Q. suber, respectively)
(Photo 20, Plate CS14) where an extensive agricultural system with fallow land
was established from the Middle Ages, with the largest historical expression since
the 19th century. A fairly dense mono-specific tree-layer of oaks was inherited
from a former dense natural forest that was either burnt or cleared, increasing
the proportion of clearings typically to more than 40% of the area, among evenspaced
trees. Tree species other than live- or cork-oaks were eliminated, as well
as the shrub, climber and herb-layers. Successional evolution to a meta-stable
zoo-anthropic permanent grassland developing underneath the canopy was carried
out with sheep grazing, fitted in a cereal-based long and low soil disturbance
rotation system. Even-spaced Quercus trees produced large quantities of acorns,
between 400 and 700 (1000) kg/ha-1, that were used in pig fattening. In addition,
such parklands were managed to produce forest products such as cork, charcoal
(from tree pruning), game and more recently, wildlife and ecosystem services
associated with biodiversity, leisure and aesthetics.
