O Pino is practically in the centre of Galicia, with a gentle relief, bathed on its northern slope by the Tambre River, and on the southern slope the streams direct their waters towards the Ulla basin, drawing beautiful landscapes accompanied along its course of mills, recreational areas, river beaches or hiking trails.
The forest area occupies more than half of this municipality. The forest is an essential part of the Galician economy, with a mostly rural population and where most of the forest exploited and first transformation companies are located, working in the mountains of the area and generating local employment.
Innovation and technological improvement contribute to the opening of new markets, and the forestry sector has the opportunity to be the protagonist and facilitate a circular bio economy.
Galicia is a national leader in PEFC certified responsible companies, guaranteeing its clients the legal and sustainable origin of certified forest products. Many of the forestry companies in O Pino have the PEFC Chain of Custody certification.
Muiño da Pena
O Pino has numerous companies that are part of the forestry chain, from the use of wood in the mountains, the transport and transformation of the raw material to a wide variety of final products, but this is not something recent, the forestry industry has been present in this municipality for many years, as shown in O Muiño de Pena (Mill of the Pena) or the Maquía de Pena.
Source: Muiño da Pena
This place, currently converted into a rural tourism house, was an industry dedicated to grinding grain, sawing wood and carpentry. For many years it provided an indispensable service to the residents of the region, using the waterfall of the river as a driving force, also serving as a social place. The factory continued until the 1970s, when it was finally used only as a mill, since by then a sawmill had already been built with modern technology and that worked with electricity.
It is said that the summer of 1949 was especially dry in the region and the neighbourhood mills could not be used to obtain the essential flour for human and animal food; the owner of the Muiño da Pena had the initiative to buy an external combustion thermal machine (it worked with wood that burned outside the house) whose flywheel moved, through the axis, the entire system of pulleys and belts that powered the mills, saw and planer. The machine worked for three months day and night uninterruptedly and for its regulation the permanent presence of an operator was required. It was an initiative of a business nature, but if it had not been for it, a large part of the region could have not milled during that summer, nor the bakers could have baked, nor the individuals could have sawed their beams or their boards.
It currently has a museum room where more than eighty original pieces are exhibited that were used in the activities of the ethnographic complex or its vicinity.
At the entrance we find the mills. One of them was used to grind corn and the other wheat. In the restoration it was decided to leave the stones of one of the mills visible with the aim of making it more didactic. On the landing before going down to the saw, various objects can be seen, such as the old measures of grain or a roman scale… A mill wheel located in the subsoil can also be activated, which is assembled following traditional techniques.
Source: Muiño da Pena
As we go down we can appreciate the axis that transmitted and distributed the forces. A turbine moved, activated by the waterfall, a primary axis that was parallel to the main one and drove the secondary axis through a wide belt. Thanks to this impulse, the secondary axis moved to which several pulleys were attached, from which their corresponding belts came out towards the different receivers: some towards the mills and others towards the saw and the planer.
Source: Muiño da Pena
The saw that is preserved in the museum was located in the past next to the planer on an upper floor, in a room that also served as a carpentry shop. It is the original saw that was used in the industry and its estimated age is 140 years. At the exit of the small meander that the river makes, in the past a fulling or “mazadoiro” (long rock that is used to work the linen on) of linen was installed. In memory of that activity, a set of tools used to obtain this fabric has been arranged around the saw.
Lastly, in a display case attached to the wall, they have a collection of the utensils used in the house in the past in carpentry and forging work.
The Galician forestry industry
Galicia is a major forest power in Europe, not only because 47% of our territory is a highly productive wooded forest area, but also has a powerful forestry industry, contributing 57% of our cut wood each year in Spain. Sawmills, board production, pulp paper, woodwork, furniture factories…
The forestry products processing and marketing sector is considered one of the strategic sectors for rural economic development and for the consolidation and diversification of its business network.
The main wood processing chain accounts for more than 12% of industrial employment, reaching more than 21,000 direct employees, of which 48% concerns the wood industry, 24% the forestry, 20% the furniture manufacture and 8% the paper industry (CNAE).
The value chain structure exceeds 2,200 companies with an invoicing of about €2.2 billion.
Innovation and technological improvement contribute to the opening of new markets, such as in the textile sector with the need to reduce the use of plastic materials, using cellulose products, obtaining ecological and reusable materials, advances in the use of new materials and composite in the automotive industry, what increases the consumption of biological materials based on wood, the bioenergy or in the field of construction, the use of wood as a structural element in Europe.
The forestry sector has the opportunity to be a key player and facilitator of a circular bioeconomy.
Galicia is a national leader in PEFC certified responsible companies, guaranteeing its customers the legal and sustainable origin of certified forestry products. Many of O Pino’s forestry companies have PEFC Chain of Custody certification.
Illustrious of O Pino
Xesús Cabanal Fuentes
Jesús Canabal Fuentes was born 1897 in a small village in the parish of Pereira, Amenal. He immigrated to Buenos Aires when he was only 13 years old, and shortly after began working in a company dedicated to stationery, Casa Iturrat. In his leisure time, he spent hours in the premises of Galician associations, participating in 1914 in the founding of “Agrupación Artista Gallega de Buenos Aires” (Galician artist group from Buenos Aires).
When he was only 21 years old, he was appointed manager of the company and sent to the Uruguayan delegation. The international recession after the First World War, led to a crisis in the paper market, leading to the closure of this branch. So, Canabal together with his brothers opened the company “Jesús Canabal y Hermanos, Fábrica de Sobres”, (Jesús Canabal and Brothers, Envelope Factory) which they would expand in 1921 with the purchase of the Jaime Bech stationary store.
In 1937, Canabal decides to create a paper factory, called “Industria Papelera Uruguaya Sociedad Anónima” (IPUSA), which came to cover practically the entire national territory.
He joins the creation of the first Galician groups, and before Franco´s uprising in the year 36, important campaigns of solidarity with Republican Spain are carried out in Uruguay.
In 1940, Buenos Aires welcomes the foundation of the “Hermandades Gallegas” (Galician Brotherhoods). Castelao believed that, since there was no democracy in Spain, political parties had no value. Therefore, it was necessary to create a patriotic entity, which would bring together all the Galician opposition. Castelao considered it necessary to found the “Council of Galicia” in 1945 in Montevideo, being the first Galician government in exile.
Thus begins a much more constant relationship between Canabal y Castelao. On the occasion of the celebration of the ninth anniversary of the Galician Statute, Castelao visits IPUSA, a fact that is reflected in “A Nosa Terra” (Our land). The chronicle said “The members of the Council were invited to visit the large paper factory that the Canabal brothers own on the outskirts of Montevideo. A model industrial establishment, which shows the creative capacity of Galician’s, with what would be our land, there would be freedom in it so that their children could develop all their energies and initiatives, having to immigrate to be able to demonstrate their capacity, enriching thus, and the countries where they immigrate. The Canabal, dynasty of Galician’s from Uruguay, who enjoy great prestige and esteem for their people skills and generosity, acted as “guides” showing all the facilities, seeing the papermaking process from the simplest to the more complex”.
In 1956, Canabal founded the “Banco de Galicia” (Bank of Galicia), one of the most important financial entities in Uruguay, and in 1959, at the initiative of IPUSA, the “Sociedad de Celulosas del Uruguay, S.A.” was created to promote the production of wood in this country.
Canabal accepts the designation as Minister of the Republic in Exile, and his mandate lasted from 1956 to 1962.
Canabal, activist throughout his life in favour of the Galician community, died on August 29, 1985, and a year after his death he received a tribute from the Galician Culture Board of Montevideo. In this act the secretary of the entity recites “Galician… always Galician”.
Luis Seoane
Luís Seoane López was born in Buenos Aires on June 1, 1910. His father, a native of Arzúa, and his mother from Arca soon sent him to study in A Coruña, since the desire of many immigrants was that their children be educated at their home land. His father, a man of advanced ideas, restless about the things of his time, a friend of Argentine intellectuals such as Florentino Sánchez, Leopoldo Lugones or Alberto Ghiraldo, dreamed of a state structure made from the bottom up.
In 1916 the family returned to Galicia, and they established their residence in Arca, possibly the building that currently exists in front of the Arca hostel.
At the age of fourteen, Seoane takes his first steps as a writer with his work of “El percebe en su tinta” (The barnacle in its ink).
The family moves their residence to Santiago when Luis begins his law studies.
Already at that time, Luís Seoane was a true revolutionary. He received many influences, especially from Castelao. Tendencies that led him into exile with the arrival of the Civil War. His destination was, of course, Buenos Aires the land where he was born.
Luis lived from his profession, a lawyer, while he gave free rein to his creativity both on paper and on canvas in sculptures and murals. His relationships ranged from Castelao himself to Picasso passing through Rafael Dieste, Blanco Amor, Rafael Alberti, Cunqueiro, Díaz Pardo or María Casares. But he never forgot the little parish he grew up in: Arca. In his confession article (1965), he says the following: “neither Spanish nor Argentine, but originally from a smaller country, the small city, La Coruña, Santiago, the village of Arca, where my childhood and my youth were buried”.
An almost unpublished writing from 1978, a year before his death, is entitled “I close my eyes and I see”. He remembered the village of Arca, surrounded by mountains, mines, forests and farmlands, and at the foot of them a transparent river, of trout that can be seen running scared by the shadows.
Routes
Cultural Itinerary of the Mountain
This route is an invitation to learn about and interpret the heritage elements of the north of the municipality of O Pino, as well as the values and natural resources of the riparian environment of the Noa River, with the help of a virtual audio guide.
It is an itinerary of about 18km to be done mainly by vehicle, and which has as its starting point the recreational area of Pontedapedra.
Senda Fluvial Botánica do Río Mera
he Senda Fluvial y Botánica del Río Mera (fluvial and botanical path of the Mera River) has a route of about 4,5 km along the banks of the Mera River from the fluvial beach of A Tarroeira, where it joins the Tambre River until the church of Gonzar.
You will be able to know and interpret the values and natural resources of the riparian environment of the Mera River, through the use of the new technologies and you will enjoy the beauty of the area, its riparian vegetation on the banks of the river, as well as the remains of heritage elements that are still preserved, such as several windmills.
Each of the natural species are duly marked through vegetation identifiers, in which the name of the plant or tree is explained and a little information about its characteristics.
Senda Panorámica do Picón
The “Senda Panorámica del Picón” (Scenic Trail of Picón), is a circular path of about 8,5km that runs through the parish of Arca, through the surroundings of one of the most important mountains in the municipality, the mountain of O Picón, to publicize the rich heritage and the value of places of cultural interest and great scenic beauty, which can be easily accessed with the conditioning of several paths and with the help of the virtual audio guide, which indicates and leads us to the different heritage assets, in addition to giving us a graphic and documentary description of each of them.
The path runs through beautiful natural landscapes such as the Carballeira de Santa Cristina (area where we can find many oak trees) or the geodesic point of Arca, popularly known as “El Marco”. In the area of “El Marco”, one of the highest points of the town, there is a lookout made of wood.
The Role of PEFC
The Chain of custody certification PEFC allows supply chain companies to ensure to their customers the legal and sustainable origin of certified forestry products.
It also provides a range of benefits that help the environment, people and businesses, such as access to new markets and law enforcement.
In order to obtain certification, companies must comply with, among others, the PEFC standard of Chain of custody of forestry products, and must develop and implement procedures to control the purchase, monitoring, manufacture, sale, labelling, record-keeping of certified materials, and pass annual audits by an independent third party.
Certified companies can use the PEFC label on certified products and promotional and corporate materials, such as brochures, catalogues or on the website, allowing them to communicate responsible practices to their customers.
There are different modalities of certification of the Chain of custody which is adapted according to the size of the company or project. PEFC Group Certification is a practical solution to make certification feasible for legally independent small companies.
Galicia is a national leader in PEFC certified companies. See our numbers.
Initiative promoted by the program “O teu Xacobeo” of the Xunta de Galicia