The Congress of Deputies has approved yesterday the declaration of the Sierra de Guadarrama National Park, which is already fifteenth in the network and the fifth by extension.

Federico Ramos, Secretary of State for the Environment, has highlighted the importance of the declaration of conservation of this natural space as it is of general interest, since it has an outstanding ecological and cultural wealth.

Located in the autonomous communities of Madrid and Castilla y León, it has a total area of 33,960 hectares. Within its physical scope, there are the natural sites of national interest declared in the 30s, of the Summit, Circus and Lagoons of Peñalara, Pedriza del Manzanares and Pinar de la Acebeda.

Supra-forest scrubland, high mountain pastures, woody steppes and gravel forests, unique natural systems of glacial and periglacial origin, pine forests, juniper and juniper forests… These are some of the resources that characterise this space, to which is added the significant presence of endemic flora and fauna as emblematic as the Iberian imperial eagle and the black stork, both in danger of extinction. Likewise, the park has 40% of the country’s herpetofauna species, 39% of the birds and 49% of the mammals.

In this way, the new Park is subject to a demanding legal regime to ensure its protection, with the aim of guaranteeing that future generations can enjoy this natural legacy.