National Parks
Cabañeros National Park
By m.p. - Jul 9, 2007 - 8:07 PM
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The Cabañeros National Park, in the centre of the Iberian peninsula, is one of two National Parks in the autonomous community of Castilla-La Mancha. It covers 41,805 hectares of land across two provinces, Ciudad Real and Toledo, with a richly varied landscape which is noted for the variety of its fauna.
It’s described by Spain’s Environment Ministry as ‘one of the most valuable protected spaces of the Montes de Toledo, and a refuge for the larger birds of prey, for the black stork, and for many other species in danger of extinction.’
Its lush pastures, and its mountain ranges covered with Mediterranean forest and scrub provide a home to more than 200 different species of birds, including eagles and vultures – its population of black vulture was catalogued at 186 pairs in 2004 - and 45 species of large mammals such as red deer, roe deer and wild boar.
There are more than one thousand species of vascular plants catalogued in Cabañeros: 98 of them are trees or shrubs, from gall-oak and holm oak, to maple and cork trees, with shrubs like rosemary, rock rose and Spanish lavender forming a blanket over its hillsides and mountains.
Holly may be found in the shady areas, and yellow water lilies in some parts of the Bullanque River, with willows, alders and ash gracing its banks, and myrtle and honeysuckle at their feet.
The park gets its name from the huts, or cabañas, which were traditionally used by herders and charcoal burners as temporary shelters as they worked in the countryside: cone-shaped structures which were covered with vegetation from the surrounding area.
Cabañeros became known throughout the country in 1982, when public protest erupted against a plan to convert it into a military artillery range.
That fortunately never came to pass, and it was declared a Natural Park in 1988, and in 1995, as The Cabañeros National Park.
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