Protection Name and Figure:
Park of the Sierra and Canyons of Guara. Declared by Law 14/1990 of December 27, of the Cortes de Aragon. Special Protection Area for Birds (ZEPA), according to Directive 79/409 / EEC.
Municipal Terms:
Abiego, Adahuesca, Ainsa-Sobrarbe, Alquezar, Arguis, Barcabo, Bierge, Boltaña, Caldearenas, Casbas de Huesca, Colungo, Huesca, Loporzano, Nueno y Sabiñanigo.Extension:
47,450 hectares of Park and 33,775 hectares of Performing Protection Zone.
Altitude
Between 430 meters in the Alcanadre River and 2,077 meters in the Tozal de Guara.
Elements of Interest:
Karst relief: sinkholes, caves, chasms, canyons, ...
Mediterranean forest, enclaves of Atlantic forest and mountain pastures.
Description
Between the Ebro Valley and the Pyrenees, the mountain ranges of Guara, Gabardiella, Arangol, Balces and Sevil and the canyons of the rivers Flumen, Guatizalema, Alcanadre or Vero, constitute a valuable natural enclave known only by its inhabitants for a long time.
These mountain ranges were already inhabited during the Upper Paleolithic, as indicated by the cave paintings found in the shelter of Fuente del Trucho. Its spectacular and intricate orography surprised, at the beginning of the century, the tireless French pyrenean Lucien Briet, who described them in his work: Superbes Pyrénées (Soberbios Pirineos).
However, it is not until the last third of the 20th century that Guara begins to receive a growing avalanche of visitors. With great boom, then the practice of canyoning, free camping and mass transit of 4X4 vehicles. Faced with the increase in attacks on the environment that are detected, at the beginning of the 1980s, numerous mountaineering associations and environmentalists began to demand the protection of this Natural Area.
In 1987 the Diputación General de Aragón published a decree, which would not prosper, for which Guara is protected by the figure of the Natural Park. However, until December 1990, the PARQUE DE LA SIERRA Y CAÑONES DE GUARA was not declared by law. Previously, in 1989, after carrying out an inventory and census of birds of prey, this space was included in the Special Protection Areas for Birds (ZEPAs) network, recognizing itself as one of the main rocky reserves in Europe.
To avoid possible ecological and landscape impacts from outside, the Park has a Peripheral Protection Zone. A Area of Socioeconomic Influence has also been created - like all Protected Natural Spaces - to encourage the participation of the inhabitants in the socio-economic development of the area. In this area are considered axxiones like: provision of infrastructures, programs of rehabilitation of housing and improvement of the traditional economic activities.
The control of the public use of the PARK OF THE SIERRA Y CAÑONES DE GUARA - and in general of all the Protected Natural Spaces -, makes necessary the adoption of diverse measures of management from studies like those of capacity of reception of the space and the typology of its visitors in order to regulate their sporting and tourist use. This is intended to preserve the exceptional natural values that have survived in this Natural Space to our days.
Other Protected Natural Spaces in Aragon:
- Natural Reserve of the Galachos de la Alfranca de Pastriz, La Cartuja and El Burgo de Ebro.
- Natural Park of the Moncayo.
- Park of la Sierra y Cañones de Guara.
- Park of Posets-Maladeta.
- Protected landscape of the pine forests of Rodeno.
- Natural Monuments of the Pyrenean Glaciers.
- National Site of National Interest of San Juan de la Peña.
- National Park of Ordesa and Monte Perdido.
- Ordesa-Viñamala Biosphere Reserve.
- Wildlife Refuges.
Also Aragon enjoys a diverse and varied Nature where passing by plants, animals, Geology, or landscapes we can arrive at a fantastic bestiary that lives in its monuments.
The information will not be complete without a stroll by its three provinces, with shutdown in some of its spectacular landscapes like Ordesa, the Moncayo, Monegros or by opposition the Ebro.
Also you can dedicarte to the intangible ones: from the legend compilation that also does to universal Aragon.