INVESTMENT IN LANDESQUE CAPITAL IN SEMIARID ENVIRONMENTS: DRY-STONE TERRACES IN LES OLUGES (LA SEGARRA, CATALUNYA).

The objective of this paper is to evaluate a methodology to assess the extent and state of conservation of the dry-stone wall terraces in the municipality of Les Oluges (La Segarra, Catalunya) (1915 ha). We described seventy seven 10 x 50 m plots distributed on a grid within the municipality. Stone walls were present in 30% of the sampling plots. The mean length of stone walls was 7.6 m per plot while derelict walls occupied another 7.1 m. Stone walls in agricultural fields appeared deteriorated more frequently than those under non-agricultural use. The standing dry- -stone wall network of the terraced system in Les Oluges has, at present, a total length of about 87 km and involves over 144,000 Mg of rock fragments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]