The Mosquera Valley in Sierra de Espadán Natural Park, Spain, as a Designed Mountain Landscape. Past and Present Uses

Pablo Vidal-González,Antoni Vidal-Matzanke

doi:10.3390/geosciences10050159

Pablo Vidal-González, Antoni Vidal-Matzanke

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences10050159

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Journal: Geosciences	Publication Date: Apr 29, 2020
Citations: 1	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Valencia Catholic University Saint Vincent Martyr

Abstract

The Mosquera valley, in the heart of the Sierra de Espadán Natural Park, is known for being a true natural treasure, one of the best preserved and most renowned spaces in the Park. However, since the mid-19th century, this space has been profoundly altered by people making commercial use of the forest. Paradoxically, it is precisely this anthropic transformation that makes the place more attractive to visitors, to the extent that it continues to be a leading destination for nature observation and outdoor sports. Since the area was designated as a natural park, visitor numbers have increased exponentially, whilst its use as a managed forest has gone into decline. Both situations pose a challenge for the maintenance and preservation of this mountain area. The aim of this research is to present the strong symbolic component of the Mosquera valley and to evaluate the new uses of this privileged space, the new forms of tourism, the rise of sports practice, the enhancement of heritage or the improvement of behaviour in favour of sustainability.

Highlights

It seems contradictory to talk about human intervention in a protected natural area like a natural park, it is evident that the mere statement of its classification as such is by itself an intervention, underlining the value of an area and highlighting it as an example to be preserved
Our research question was to know what have been the changes in the landscape of this protected area in the last years, highlighting in particular the changes that have taken place since the declaration of the Natural Park in 1998 and the significant increase in visitors and outdoor sports practitioners
The Sierra de Espadán, in general, and the Mosquera valley in particular is a landscape that has been strongly anthropized since ancient times and that, precisely because of that continuous respectful adaptation to the needs of the people who lived there, has reached the present in a good state of health

Summary

Introduction

It seems contradictory to talk about human intervention in a protected natural area like a natural park, it is evident that the mere statement of its classification as such is by itself an intervention, underlining the value of an area and highlighting it as an example to be preserved. It is a place for visiting, for enjoying contact with “natural nature”, to use an expression coined by Santamarina [1].

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