The National Park of the La Garrotxa volcanic area:
the management of a populated area
By Jaume Vicens i Perpinya
Director of the National Park of the La Garrotxa volcanic area
The National Park of the La Garrotxa volcanic area lies in
the Catalan pre-Pyrenees, in semi-mountainous land with a particularly damp
local climate. It was created by a law of the Catalan Parliament in 1982, and it
covers an area of 119 square kilometres, of which nine square kilometres are
made up of 25 natural reserves of geobotanic interest. With its more than
30 volcanic cones and numerous lava flows, it is the best-preserved volcanic
region in the Iberian peninsula. It is well-known for the great diversity of its
vegetation, which ranges from typical Mediterranean to Central European and
Atlantic. and which makes it especially valuable. The age-old human settlement
in the landscape has given rise to a mosaic of cultivations, woods and meadows
of considerable beauty. Furthermore, it contains many buildings of historic and
cultural interest: Romanesque hermitages, mediaeval fortifications and a
scattered population in masias (the typical CataIan farmhouse) of great interest
as examples of traditional rural architecture.
The Volcanic Area Protection Board is the controlling body of
the National Park, and lays down the guide-lines and strategies to be followed.
However, effective management of the area did not begin until 1985, when
an information and Management Centre was opened in the town of Olot.
Since then the measures taken have centred around the basic
lines of action imposed by the long-standing settlement ot the area, in order to
ensure that the conservation aims laid down by the law are met, at the same time
as making them compatible with the principle of sustained development of
resources.
These lines ot action are:
1. Town planning and management:
The National Park of the La Garrotxa volcanic area is the
only one in Catalonia which includes within its borders urban and industrial
centres which might expand to the detriment of the conservation area when
revisions are made to area plans. There are in fact eleven urban centres in this
situation, with a total of 37,000 inhabitants. While the urban land and the
activities which take place on it are outside the administrative scope of the
Park, the dynamism of these towns has a strong effect on administration. Also,
within the boundaries of the Park, over 500 inhabited masias (the typical
Catalan farmhouse) have heen registered, most of which are used for agricultural
and stock-rearing activities. Since all activities which take place within the
conservation area have to be monitored by the governing body of the National
Park, it is evident that the planning management problem is a complex one.
The Park’s strategy in this respect has consisted of the
systematic control of illegal activities and building, the encouragement of
contact between planning officials and promoters in order to make their
activities compatible with the aims of the Park, and the promotion of
improvement works.
The area's dynamism and the review of town planning standards
by the municipalities within the Park in order to designate land for industrial
or urban use has provoked, and still provokes, a considerable impact on natural
systems, at the same time as affecting the internal boundaries of the Park. In
order to deal with this situation and to seek alternatives, a European
Environment Forum was held in summer 1991. The conclusions drawn from this were
to be incorporated into planning strategies.
2. Management of forestry resources:
More than 60 % of the conservation area is forest which
retain their, original configuration. Holme oak woods predominate, with a lesser
coverage of meso-xerophylous (dry) oak wood, beeches and alders.
The forest is almost exclusively in private hands and its
ownership is highly fragmented, since there are more than 500 proprietors. The
main lines of action have been directed towards planning timber exploitation
through Technical Plans in order to improve the structure of the woods, turning
them into mixed stock woods.
3. Management of fauna:
In the early stages, the main problem was the large amount of
hunting supported by the area. In order to regulate this activity in a suitable
way, the formation of hunting clubs with a strictly local scope was encouraged,
and agreements were immediately reached with these to designate replanting zones
and safety zones where hunting is not permitted, and which now account
for 20 % of the area of the Park. This has considerably reduced the pressure
from hunting and has made possible the recovery of the wild animal life.
4. Recovery and improvement of damaged ecosystems:
The large-scale extraction of volcanic material was the main
motive for protecting the area. Once this objective had been achieved with the
definitive closure of the quarries, various projects have been put into
operation in order to restore the affected areas.
Recently, actions have been undertaken to recover flooded and
marshy areas. Most of them have been drained for agricultural use, with a view
to recovering the flora and fauna appropriate to these zones.
5. Public use:
Since the creation of the National Park there has been a
considerable increase in the number of visitors, with more than 200,000 persons
per year at the moment. The majority of these come on school visits or organised
tours. In order to control and meet the needs of these visitors, the Park
maintains two information centres, a network of signposted paths, a guide
service and a maintenance and cleansing service. There is also a fair number of
private and public environmental education centres, as well as hotels and other
accommodation.
6. Scientific research
The geological, botanical and landscape interest of the
National Park has attracted, and still attracts, a considerable number of
researchers and scholars from both home and abroad. Until now, academic and
applied research with modest aims has been carried out, although it is expected
that more ambitious research programmes will be set in motion over the next two
years.
All in all, then, the management of the area involves a high
degree of complexity, both because of the economic dynamism of the area and the
presence of a large human population. These characteristics make it ideal for
the development of management models which will be perfectly suitable for
extrapolation to the remaining, un-protected, part of the area. This is one of
the facts which more than justifies the financial investment and effort needed
to achieve the aims in hand with certain guarantees. |
