The Provincial Council opens grants to recover small game hunting in social hunting grounds

The Provincial Council of Cáceres has approved the regulatory bases and the call for grants, under a competitive bidding process, for the promotion and recovery of small game hunting species in the social hunting grounds of the province. The resolution, issued by the delegated deputy for the area of Environment, Ecological Transition, Agriculture, and Livestock, María Angélica García Gómez, is published in the Official Gazette of the Province of Cáceres number 167, dated September 1, 2026, with official reference BOP-2026-4110.

The call is endowed with 300,000 euros, charged to the budget application 2026 03 1720 78100, and is aimed at local hunters’ associations that hold a social hunting ground located within the territorial scope of the province. The objective is to contribute to the recovery of species such as the red-legged partridge, the wild rabbit, the Iberian hare, or the European collared dove, supporting the active and sustainable management of the territory, the conservation of biodiversity, and the fight against depopulation.

Funding and Amount of Aid

Each local hunters’ association may submit a single project, referring to a single social hunting ground of which it is the holder, and receive up to 8,000 euros per project. The grant can reach 100% of the eligible cost of the actions, within that maximum individual limit.

• Total funding: 300,000 euros.
• Maximum amount per entity and project: 8,000 euros.
• Advance payment of 100% of the granted amount, with exemption from guarantees.
• Submission deadline: one month from the publication of the summary in the BOP, exclusively by electronic means through the Council’s headquarters.

Eligible Actions

The grants finance habitat improvement and population recovery actions, grouped into two blocks with maximum unit costs defined in the bases:

• Habitat recovery and improvement: creation of multifunctional margins, installation of feeders and waterers, non-productive cereal cultivation, clearing with grassland sowing, and construction of water points.
• Wild rabbit recovery: semi-extensive breeding nuclei, restocking, artificial warrens or majanos, cultivation of cereals and legumes, and selective mechanized clearing.

Wild rabbit restocking cannot be carried out in isolation and must be linked to infrastructures that guarantee their viability, such as breeding nuclei, warrens, or majanos, in addition to having the mandatory administrative authorizations.

Evaluation Criteria

Applications will be evaluated with a maximum of 100 points, prioritizing the impact on the rural environment and the demographic challenge:

• Territorial impact and contribution to the demographic challenge: up to 30 points.
• Technical quality, environmental impact, and coherence of the actions: up to 35 points.
• Participation of female members: up to 15 points.
• Social participation of the entity: up to 10 points.
• Temporal rotation criterion for access to aid: up to 10 points.

The call is part of the Strategic Grant Plan of the Provincial Council and the Provincial Agenda of Cáceres, and is aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda, particularly SDGs 15, 13, and 8.

Relevance for the territory

The initiative recognizes the role of local hunting societies as key agents in the daily stewardship of extensive areas of the rural environment of Cáceres. Beyond the strictly hunting scope, the improvement of small game habitats benefits numerous species of wildlife, reinforces ecological connectivity, and contributes to revitalizing rural municipalities in the face of depopulation, integrating social hunting activity into a broader strategy of territorial sustainability.

Source: Official Gazette of the Province of Cáceres, no. 167, September 1, 2026, Section I - Local Administration, page 20139 (official reference: BOP-2026-4110).