On 6 March last, a collaboration agreement was signed between the CBD-Habitat Foundation and the Borril Casa Blanca estate within the framework of LIFE LYNXCONNECT.

In Castilla-La Mancha, the CBD-Habitat Foundation participates in actions of the LIFE LYNXCONNECT project in close collaboration with the General Directorate of Natural Environment and Biodiversity of the Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha and with numerous private farms that already cooperate in the conservation of the Iberian lynx and other endangered species.

Borril Casa Blanca is a farm located on the edge of the Meseta Cristalina north of the Montes de Toledo. The 340 hectares that make up this farm are entirely occupied by a mosaic of small plots of herbaceous crops and Mediterranean scrub with a predominance of holm oaks and junipers, and a shrub layer made up of cornicabras, rose hips, brooms and hawthorns. A tributary of the nearby Tagus River, the Alpuebrega stream runs through it from south to north. This fluvial channel, although with little flow, is maintained throughout the year; something unusual in this area of ​​the plateau.

Borril Casa Blanca has excellent conditions for the settlement of the Iberian lynx, although rabbit populations need to be improved for any breeding females to become established. In 2020, Quila, a female born at the Acebuche breeding centre in Doñana, was released on a neighbouring farm, settling in Borril Casa Blanca throughout the year. Since 2021, a total of 15 lynxes from the different breeding centres have been released on this and neighbouring farms. Some of these specimens have had a temporary presence on the farm, although in the end only Rebento, a male born in the Silves breeding centre in Portugal and released in 2021, remains at Borril Casa Blanca..

For all these reasons, the farm is considered to be of great interest for the survival of the Iberian lynx as it is an area with a stable presence and potential for reproduction, and possesses unquestionable natural values that make it worthy of being incorporated into the LIFE LYNXCONNECT Project.

In recent years, Borril Casa Blanca has adopted a new management approach that prioritises the objectives of conservation and improvement of the existing biodiversity. Since the beginning of LIFE LYNXCONNECT there has been a full willingness of the landowners to collaborate with the project. The release of five lynx on the farm itself in the last two years is proof of this. Other measures adopted by the farm are the sowing of small plots of land distributed throughout the forest to feed the rabbits, as well as the suspension of rabbit hunting, as measures to promote the main prey of both the Iberian lynx and the Iberian imperial eagle, in addition to a rich community of mesocarnivores, also present on the farm.

The new management model that the owners intend to implement is based on the conservation of the natural values of the estate and its use in the field of nature tourism.

The agreement now signed establishes a commitment to collaboration and joint work between the CBD-Habitat Foundation and the Borril Casa Blanca estate for the conservation of the Iberian lynx, through the promotion and maintenance of uses and exploitation compatible with the conservation of the species and its habitat. Based on these objectives, it has been decided to include the farm in the actions foreseen in the LIFE LYNXCONNECT project.