Guards of mountains, fields and crops; huntsmen; crossbowmen and spearmen; you keep; gunmen, migueletes; ranger riflemen; Royal safeguards or forest wardens are some of the names with which forest agents have been referred to throughout history.
The date that has been taken as a reference for the origin of the Forestry and Environmental Agents of Spain was July 11, 1877, when, under the reign of Alfonso XII, the Law for the Improvement, Promotion and Repopulation of Public Forests was promulgated. In said Law, the so-called “Crop Foremen” are created and two years later they are authorized to denounce the damages that are caused in the forests.
A few decades later, already in 1907, after appreciating the need to have a specific Corps dedicated to the protection and conservation of the mountains, the State Forest Guard Corps was created. Later, already in the Second Republic, they began to be considered public officials, and access to the Corps is determined through oppositions and officially declaring the Auxiliary Forest Rangers of Public Order.
In 1978 they were renamed Forest Agents and it is with the Constitution that transfers in environmental matters to the Autonomous Communities take place, which assume exclusive competence in terms of personnel management and organization.
The forest agent is in charge of guaranteeing the current regulations on forestry matters that include flora, fauna, hunting, fishing, forest fires, ecosystems, waters, cattle trails, protected natural spaces, geomorphology, landscape and the proper use of natural resources.
The seal contains an image of a forest in which the sun's rays sneak through the trees together with the shield that represents these agents, The shield of the forestry profession that is made up of a royal frame and a crossed, intertwined pickaxe, with vegetal border and crowned.
