The general objective of this study is to develop a proposal for associative networks for small forest owners, certified firewood producers, in the communes of San José de la Mariquina, Corral and Valdivia in the Los Ríos Region. The specific objectives were: to characterize and typify the production systems that are and are not ascribed to the National Firewood Certification System of these communes, to quantify and compare the income provided by firewood in both groups of producers, and to generate and validate proposals for associative networks that support the production of certified firewood, as well as the technology transfer of forest management of native forests. The universe included 79 small firewood producers in the aforementioned communes, of which 39 corresponded to owners who are members of the Forestry Technical Assistance Program of the National Firewood Certification System, while 40 of them were not members of this program.

This study was carried out in the Los Ríos Region, considering the territories comprising the communes of Valdivia, Corral and San José de la Mariquina, as shown in the following map:

According to CONAF (2008), the commune of Valdivia has an area of 102,100 ha which corresponds to 10.2% of the area of the Province of Valdivia, on the other hand the commune of San Jos de la Mariquina, has 132,149 ha which represents 13.2% of the Province, and finally the commune of Corral, which has an area of 75,150 ha equivalent to 7.5% of the territory of the Province.

Agrupación de Ingenieros Forestales por el Bosque Nativo (AIFBN)

At the AIFBN I worked with Dr. Rene Reyes, Dr. Jan Bannister, Ivan Medel, and Gerardo Ojeda, whom at the time of this project back in 2008 provided forest technical support to Mapuche and Non-Mapuche communities dedicated to the production of firewood.

A participatory workshop was held with the small scale firewood producers interviewed. The activity took place at the headquarters of the Bonifacio Community in the Municipality of Valdivia, on June 6, 2009. The workshop lasted approximately 4 hours.

The objectives of this workshop were:

• To present the main results of this study and the proposal of associative networks, originated from the data analysis.
• To validate the proposals of associative networks, for a formulation of a participative proposal of associative networks for the studied firewood production systems.

This activity was attended by 15 firewood producers from the Mapuche communities of Bonifacio, Las Minas, and Pilolcura.

Funding to carry out this project was provided by the AIFBN, through a professional internship.