 Legal Background
The Aigüestortes National Park and Lake Sant Maurici were established by Decree on October 21st 1955, in accordance with the previous law on National Parks from the year 1916, and the regulations were set down in 1957.
It was reclassified under Regulation 7/1988, on March 30th of that year, by the Generalitat de Catalunya (the Catalan Government), by order of the Law on Natural Beauty Spots (12/1985, dated June 13th), which states that National
Parks must be set up according to the highest degree of legislation. It is one of the thirteen National Parks in Spain and the only one of this category in Catalonia. The other National Park in the Pyrenees is that of Ordesa and
Monte Perdido (15,608 ha.), in the province of Huesca.
Surface Area and Ownership
The Park is situated in the Upper Pyrenees area in the province of Lleida and the territory it lies in is divided between the regions of Pallars Sobirà (the municipal territory of Espot) and Alta Ribagorça (the municipal territory of the Boí Valley). Its total
surface area is 14,119 ha., of which 9,362 ha. belong to the Generalitat de Catalunya (the Catalan Government), 4,332 ha. belong to the municipal territory of Espot, and 425 ha. are privately owned.
In order to reduce the impact on the more populated and industrial surrounding areas, the National Park has at its disposal a protected outlying area of approximately 27,000 ha.
The eastern part of the Park is accessible to from the Espot valley and is made up of the upper valleys of the River Escrita and the River Peguera, Lake Sant Maurici and the Encantats mountains, the side valleys along with Lakes Monestero, Subenuix
and Ratera, plus Lakes Peguera and Amitges.
The great abundance of water has brought about the exploitation of hydroelectric power in the area. Although this has been beneficial to the economy of the Park it represents the most important change undergone by nature within the area.
There still remain a few hydroelectric companies which were there before the Park was set up when the whole area was privately owned. Most of the buildings and the tracks, now in very bad condition, were made by the concessionary companies.
Nowadays such large quantities of timber are no longer collected and only local herds can pasture there.
Geomorphology, Plant and Animal Life
The Park offers a magnificent selection of the geological characteristics of an axial Pyrenean mountain range, as well as the plant and animal life of the region.
The impressive granite and slate relief was formed in the Primeval Age (two hundred million years ago), when it emerged from the bottom of the sea which covered these lands. The earth tremors during the Tertiary Age lifted up the palaeozoic
mountains and the glacial action in the Quaternary Age (during most of the two million years after that, now twenty thousand years ago) finished off moulding the current forms to be found there such as cirques and some hanging and stepped U-shaped valleys.
The whole mountain range represents one of the clearest examples of glacial phenomenology of the Quaternary Age, developed on hard materials such as granite, giving rise to peaks and more outlined crests, and slate, producing softer and more rounded types of relief.
Nowadays, the most important feature of the Park is water. More than a hundred lakes, as well as rivers, watercourses, waterfalls and marshes which make up the bends in the waters that give this Park the most breathtaking scenery in the Pyrenees. |
The plant life is formed above all by forests of Scotch pine (pinus sylvestris), black pine (pinus uncinata) and fir trees (Abies alba), plus abundant pasture land where there are no trees whatsoever. There are also clusters of birch trees (Betula pendula) and beech
trees (Fagus sylvatica) scattered about. The mosaic of plant life, meadows, rocks and water make up a landscape of extraordinary beauty.
Amongst the animals typical of high mountains living there we must mention the large amount of chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra) and also the presence of the capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus), the giant eagle (Aquila chrysaetos), the white quail (Lagaopus mutus), and the
black woodpecker (Dryocopus martius). In the expanses of water there is to be found the common trout (Salmo trutta) and, occasionally, the Iberian desman (Galemys pyrenaicus).
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