Cuenca Alta del Manzanares Regional Park
The Cuenca Alta del Manzanares Regional Park, created in 1985, is the largest protected natural area in the Community of Madrid (Spain) and one of the most ecological and landscape value It is located in the northwest of the region and extends around the upper course of the Manzanares River, along 42,583 hectares. Its main municipalities of reference are Manzanares el Real and Hoyo de Manzanares. UNESCO declared it a Biosphere Reserve in 1992.
It sits on the southern slopes of the Sierra de Guadarrama, with the exception of Monte de El Pardo and its eastern appendage, Monte or Soto de Viñuelas, which are found on the detrital plain, characteristic of the South Subplateau. It has numerous ecosystems, including pine forests, holm oaks, juniper groves, rock rose groves, melojares and wetlands.
Legal framework
The Cuenca Alta del Manzanares Regional Park was established in 1985 by Law 1/1985, of January 23, which has been subject to successive subsequent modifications. The most notable correspond to the years 1987 and 1991, when promoted extensions.
The park has a Master Plan for Use and Management (PRUG), approved in 1987 and revised in 1995, which regulates the different places included, with the exception of Monte de El Pardo, dependent on National Heritage. This body, which administers the assets that were in the hands of the Spanish Crown, maintains a highly protectionist and restrictive management around El Pardo and completely prevents its visit, beyond certain areas located in the southern part of the wall that borders it..
On February 15, 1993, the Cuenca Alta del Manzanares regional park was declared a Biosphere Reserve by Unesco and, later, Monte de Viñuelas, located to the east of the park, It was recognized as a Special Protection Zone for Birds (ZEPA). In addition, the two large reservoirs integrated into the park, Santillana and El Pardo, are protected by Law 7/1990, of June 28, on the Protection of Reservoirs and Wet Areas of the Community of Madrid.
La Pedriza had, since 1930, a special level of protection, through the figure of Natural Site of National Interest, which was repealed in 1985 with the creation of the current park. In 1979, a natural park was created around the upper valley of the Manzanares river, with an area of 4,304 hectares —in practice, it was a timid extension around the protected area of La Pedriza—, which can be considered the closest precedent from the Cuenca Alta del Manzanares regional park.
65% of the land was owned by individuals, 22% belonged to the Community of Madrid and 7% to the Spanish State. The remaining 6% was in the hands of the different integrated municipalities. This natural space is twinned with the national parks of Sierra de La Culata and Sierra Nevada, both in Venezuela, within an International Collaboration and Exchange Program.
In 2013, after the declaration of the Sierra de Guadarrama national park, the limits of the Cuenca Alta del Manzanares regional park were affected: the parts of the Cumbre, Circo and Lagunas de Peñalara natural park not absorbed through the national park they became incorporated into the regional park (an area in the municipality of Rascafría), however the regional park also experienced surface losses in favor of the national park, such as the southern slope of Cuerda Larga and the area of La pedriza. As of 2018, its extension would be 42,583 ha.
Urban geography
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The Cuenca Alta del Manzanares regional park has its northern limit in La Pedriza. Monte de El Pardo occupies its southern part, practically surrounding the urban area of Madrid, up to the limit with the M-40 motorway; and on the A-6 motorways, to the west, and A-1, to the east.
The place is based on eighteen municipal terms, through which it runs totally or partially. They are listed below alphabetically: Alcobendas, Becerril de la Sierra, Cercedilla, Collado Villalba Colmenar Viejo, El Boalo, Galapagar, Hoyo de Manzanares, Las Rozas de Madrid, Madrid, Manzanares el Real, Miraflores de la Sierra, Moralzarzal, Navacerrada, San Sebastián de los Reyes, Soto del Real, Torrelodones and Tres Cantos.
Of them, only three —Hoyo de Manzanares, Manzanares el Real and Tres Cantos (except for the Soto de Viñuelas and Nuevo Tres Cantos urbanizations)— have fully integrated population centers. Other urban areas are also fully included within the park, such as the Los Peñascales urbanization (Torrelodones) and Las Matas, a district of Las Rozas in Madrid.
Planning and demographic pressure constitute its main threat, given its proximity to the metropolitan area of Madrid. In addition, it is crossed by several important highways. The most relevant is the M-607, which runs through it, via a highway, from the Madrid neighborhood of Fuencarral to Colmenar Viejo and, via a single carriageway, from Colmenar Viejo to Cerceda (El Boalo).
Another highway with heavy traffic is the M-608, between the latter town and Soto del Real, which crosses the park transversally passing through Manzanares el Real and skirting the northern end of the Santillana reservoir. Of lesser importance is the M-618 highway, which runs from Torrelodones to Colmenar Viejo, through Hoyo de Manzanares, in the foothills of the Sierra del Hoyo.
Despite all this, the park still preserves places practically unaltered by the action of man.
Physical geography
Geology and Hydrography
The Cuenca Alta del Manzanares regional park covers three main units, from the geomorphological point of view. Its northern part, which runs through the Guadarrama elevations, some of them over 2,000 m above sea level, is mainly made up of granite rocks and gneisses.
In this area is the headwaters of the Manzanares river, which forms a kind of bowl, delimited by the La Maliciosa peak (2,227 m), the Alto de Guarramillas or Bola del Mundo (2,265 m) and the Cabezas de Hierro (2,383 m).), cresting known as the Long Rope.
The Manzanares behaves like a mountain river and makes its way between ridges and rocks in a singular way. The most relevant are located in La Pedriza, the largest granite complex in Europe. This area has an approximate area of 3,200 hectares, with a maximum altitude of 2,029 m, in the Torres de La Pedriza, and a minimum of 890 m, at the feet of the Santillana reservoir. Here the Manzanares receives the Samburiel river, one of its main tributaries, which has previously been retained in the Navacerrada reservoir. The central part of the park is occupied by the Sierra del Hoyo de Manzanares or Sierra del Hoyo —the second defined unit—, which separates the valleys of the Manzanares and Guadarrama rivers. It is a mountain-island, belonging to the Sierra Guadarrama, made up of gentle mountains, with an abundant presence of granite boulders. Its maximum height, 1404 m, is located at the peak of El Estepar.
To the south of this mountain range, the terrain descends to Monte de El Pardo, the third geomorphological unit through which the park runs, which has an approximate extension of 16,000 hectares. The granitic materials give way to detrital elements and sandy, the result of the erosion of the Sierras de Guadarrama and del Hoyo, which make up an undulating landscape of gentle hills, with an average altitude of 600 m. Monte de El Pardo sits on immature, easily erodible soil. Monte de Viñuelas, eastern appendage of El Pardo, presents similar characteristics.
In the southern part of the park, the Manzanares river has notably widened its valley and collects on the right the Manina and Trofas streams, which come from the Sierra del Hoyo. In addition, it is retained in the El Pardo reservoir, of great ecological interest.
The Viñuelas stream, which flows through the mountain of the same name, is another notable stream in the Cuenca Alta del Manzanares regional park, although it belongs to the Jarama river basin, to which it flows.
Flora
The large extension of the Cuenca Alta del Manzanares regional park and, above all, its pronounced altitudinal difference favor the presence of representative ecosystems of four of the five bioclimatic zones of the Mediterranean region of the Iberian Peninsula, from the Cryo-Mediterranean to the mesomediterranean.
Due to the breadth of its surface, the carpetano holm oak stands out. In addition, the gall oaks, the ash forests, the mountain pine forests (both Scots pine and resin pine), the rocky areas, the brooms, the supra-arboreal grasslands and the rebollares, as well as the copses, articulated -the latter- are notable. around the Manzanares and its tributaries, with special mention of the two main reservoirs of this river, Santillana and El Pardo.
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There are also abundant shrubs and shrubs characteristic of Mediterranean vegetation, such as sticky rockrose, rosemary, thyme and lavender.
In the middle of the XX century, the territory now occupied by the Cuenca Alta del Manzanares regional park was subject to various reforestation, mainly coniferous, such as black pine, cypress, cedar and arizónica, as well as pinyon pine (at the bottom of the valleys) and Scots pine and black pine (on the slopes).
This natural space has areas of great botanical uniqueness. Its most representative forests are the birch of La Pedriza, the cork oak of Sierra del Hoyo, the juniper forest of Hoyo de Manzanares and the juniper grove of Becerril de la Sierra, in addition to the mountains of El Pardo and Viñuelas, considered to be holm oak pastures. best preserved in Europe.
Wildlife
As far as fauna is concerned, around 300 species of vertebrates have been classified, some of which are in danger of extinction, together with an as yet unquantified number of invertebrates.
- Mammals. Among the mammals, there are interesting populations of squirrel, weasel, rabbit, deer, corzo, gamo, cat montés, garduña, gin, wild boar, hare, lirón careto, tejón and fox, as well as of a cute goat, which appears superpopulated in La Pedriza, after being reintroduced with remarkable success. The mammal superpopulation is also a characteristic of Mount El Pardo, in this case of cinematic species. Animal slaughters are carried out on a regular basis in this area, in order to ensure ecological balance.
- Birds. In the chapter of poultry, the Iberian imperial eagle, one of the most threatened birds in the world, deserves special mention. It is estimated that in the Monte de El Pardo and its appendix, the Monte de Viñuelas, there are eight breeding couples, in what constitutes the second most important habitat of the Community of Madrid, after the ZEPA de los Encinares de los ríos Cofio y Alberche, in the southwest of the region. The list of raptors of the regional park is completed with the real eagle, the boiled eagle, the celebrity eagle, the fish eagle, the real owl, the boy owl, the hue, the cernícalo, the elanio, the lettuce, the royal millenn, the black millenn, the nigga and the mousemaker. The area also brings together important aquatic bird fauna. In the reservoirs of Santillana and El Pardo, species like the black stork, the large cormorant, the common crane, the reidora seagull and different anathides are inhabited. Along the course of the Manzanares River, mainly in its header, seals, royal claws, porns, somormujos and zampullines are gathered. Other poultry species of the park are, among others, the beegar, the bubilla, the codorniz, the cuco, the dove torcaz, the fisherman martin, the partridge, the petirrojo and the picapinos, as well as birds of prey, such as the black vulture and the lioned vulture.
- Reptiles and amphibians. The park brings together 56.5 % of the amphibians living on the Iberian peninsula and 59.5 % of the reptiles. In addition, it has a high number of endemisms, with a total of twelve species of herbs. Among the most valuable places for the preservation of herpetofauna, stands out the Cuerda Larga, which is a conservation area of first order for the orange lizard, which has a very restricted distribution in the peninsular territory. In addition, the European Galician, seriously threatened in the Community of Madrid, has in the Santillana reservoir one of its main regional shelters.
- Fish. The Manzanares River and, mainly, the reservoirs built on its course house populations of barbeque, tent, lucio and trout.
Areas of the park
44% of the area of the Cuenca Alta del Manzanares regional park was classified as Zone B, a legal figure that allows agricultural use of the land. 45% were considered Zone A or Nature Reserve, a category that limits the use of the different enclaves to forestry and recreational activities. This includes Zones A1, Comprehensive Nature Reserves (the level of maximum protection), and Zones A2, Nature Reserves for Education. In places close to urban areas there is another figure, Zones P, where construction is allowed, within certain limits. Monte de El Pardo is left out of this zoning, since its management corresponds to National Heritage.
The A1 Zones (Integral Natural Reserves), which are listed below in generic terms:
- Some areas in the southern part of La Pedriza.
- The valley of the Barranca. This valley, belonging to the border of Navacerrada, runs around the river Samburiel, at the foot of the Ball of the World and La Maliciosa. Its vegetation is formed, mainly, by pine pine trees.
- Areas north of the El Pardo tap. They are articulated around the courses of some tributaries of the Manzanares River, mainly the streams of Manina and Trofas, from which numerous animal species are nourished. They are mainly composed of holm oaks and syrups.
- Finca del Coto de la Pesadilla y Dehesa Boyal de San Sebastián de los Reyes. It is an encinar adehesado, located in the municipality of San Sebastián de los Reyes, belonging to the Jarama River basin. Its inclusion within the regional park of the Upper Manzanares Basin and its catalogue as Zone A1 responds to its proximity to the forest axis Monte de El Pardo-Monte de Viñuelas, as an oriental extension. In this farm there is a couple of imperial eagles, endangered species.
Regarding the A2 Zones (Educational Nature Reserves), these can be grouped into three large areas:
- Various areas south of the Larga and around the Fuenfría Valley
- Southern and eastern slopes of the Sierra del Hoyo de Manzanares. The A2 Zones included here fulfill an important function as a biological corridor, which connects the Guadarrama mountain range with the Mount of El Pardo, through the Manzanares Hole saw, to the limit with the urban hull of Madrid. They integrate dense and dense oaking ecosystems, low mountain and pastries, representative of the Mediterranean forest.
- Eastern area of the municipality of Las Rozas in contact with Mount El Pardo. This landscape, composed mainly of low mountain, with special abundance of retamares, has been listed as Zone A2 in an attempt to preserve the areas adjacent to the Mount of El Pardo of urban pressure. The farm of El Águila, on the rocky rocky of Las Matas, is one of its most outstanding places.
In addition to Zones A, the Cuenca Alta del Manzanares regional park has 73 wetlands, among which the Santillana reservoir stands out. It is an important enclave for the wintering of ducks, coots and other aquatic birds.
Artistic heritage
Much of the territory occupied by the Cuenca Alta del Manzanares regional park was, during the Late Middle Ages and the Renaissance, in the hands of the powerful estate of Real de Manzanares, belonging to the House of Mendoza. The result of this historical connection is the Castillo de los Mendoza, located at the foot of the Santillana reservoir, in the municipality of Manzanares el Real. It is one of the best preserved castles in the Community of Madrid. His works began in 1475.
El Monte de El Pardo, for its part, houses important monuments, which were ordered to be built by different monarchs, to make their stay more comfortable in this preserve, one of their favorite hunting grounds. The Royal Palace of El Pardo stands out, which sits on an old hunting lodge, erected in 1405 at the behest of Enrique III. The current building began in the time of Carlos I and has been incorporating successive transformations over the centuries.
In Monte de Viñuelas is the castle of the same name, whose first references date back to the year 1285, although the current construction corresponds to the XVIII. It has a square plan, topped, in its four corners, by two crenellated cylindrical towers.
In Torrelodones, a municipality located on the western edge of the park, at the foot of the Sierra del Hoyo, is the Canto del Pico palace, which has certain modernist airs. Conceived as a house-museum, the building integrates into its structure architectural elements from different Spanish monuments. It was built in 1920 and personalities such as Antonio Maura, Indalecio Prieto, General Miaja and Francisco Franco have paraded through it. It was declared a Historic-Artistic Monument in 1930.