Sierra de Guadarrama. Segovia (english version)

This article shows a series of images and videos of different locations in the Sierra de Guadarrama; starting with the following photographic superposition that shows what this territory was like in 1964 and what it is like now.

 

The image showcases a portion of the forest repopulations in the Sierra de Guadarrama, with the repopulations of practically all of Somosierra extending into the background. Above them rise the Fuente del Mojón el Porrinoso and the Pico del Nevero, one of the most remarkable places in the Guadarrama and a culminating territory of the Central System in the form of a relatively extensive high plateau.

 

You can see the previous montage in full screen here.

In addition to the pine reforestation, you can see Quercus petraea oaks in the ravine of the río Viejo, protected from the traditional and repeated pastoral fires for centuries.

 

Some poor soils with acute erosive problems and totally unprotected as seen in the 1964 photo.

In the photo, two mountains can be seen. In the immediate foreground (first slope) "El Hoyo" which is the Public Utility Mountain (MUP) 259 in Sotosalbos. The rest is 285 "Zarzoso, Pedriza and others" in Collado Hermoso (where the Río Viejo is born) located in Segovia.

A bit of history

The population used the scrubland for heating and making charcoal. The firewood of oak or pine was a luxury and very scarce. These pastures were used by locals with sheep and goats. The transhumants came from the Sierra de Neila (Burgos), in Sª de la Demanda and Urbión to the south through the extensive network of cattle trails of Segovia.

The surface of Pyrenean oak groves were very degraded because they were used in coppice for obtaining firewood since it was the only source of energy. The other way was their dehesa through pollarding. In the nearby forest of "El Fraile" and forest "Pirón" their firewood was used almost exclusively for the royal glass factory of La Granja, which was the foundation of Carlos III to acquire those mountains of the Community of Ciudad y Tierra de Segovia. Currently they have improved as conversion thinning is carried out to facilitate their development.

The Scots pine forests were dominant on these slopes: there were two fundamental deforestation processes. One during the occupation by the Celtiberian peoples and the Roman domination. The second and largest, during the Reconquest and from the Christian period, and obviously by the empire of the Merino and Castilian sheep. The entire side of the mountain range is crossed by the Cañada Real Soriana Occidental and many cattle trails, shearing sheds and laundries. Segovia lived on the textile industry associated with wool, becoming one of the most important centers in Spain.

Pine forests where thinning has been carried out; and Pyrenean oak (Quercus pyrenaica) in coppice.

Silviculture

The reforestation took a long time and has all kinds of soil preparations. The highest and last ones were made with terraces (very degraded and sloping soil).

 

 

Largest Quercus petraea population in the Central System. Collado Hermoso, Sª de Guadarrama. Segovia.

 

After the silvicultural treatments carried out, grading densities according to thickness, it is becoming good mushroom forests (Boletus sp.) among other mushrooms.

The adequacy of the thickness in pine and Pyrenean oak forests favors the development and growth of trees and the diversity of species. Its floristic richness is high, around 600 taxa, and there are numerous singularities. The repopulations are used by the black vulture among other raptors and avifauna.

 

 

All the material presented here has been thanks to: Fco. Javier Plaza Martín and Mario Lozano Enguita (@birds_grylls). Segovia Territorial Environment Service. JCYL. 

1964 image from the State Forest Heritage deposited in the Segovia Provincial Historical Archive and in the Segovia territorial archive of the Junta de Castilla y León.

(versión en español)