The director of the Biodiversity Foundation, Ana Leiva, and the director of the Brown Bear Foundation, Guillermo Palomero, announced today, at the Posada Santa María la Real in Aguilar de Campoo (Palencia), the expansion of the Cantabrian Brown Bear House Museum, located in the Palencia town of Verdeña and launched in 1996.

The signing ceremony of the agreement that will allow the construction of a projection room and multiple uses in La Casa del Oso Cantábrico was also attended by the director of the ACS Foundation, Francisco Menor, and the manager of the Regional Association for the Development of the Palencia Mountain, Manuel Merino.

The project consists of providing the interpretation centre with a space in which visitors can select and watch documentaries that show aspects of the life of the Cantabrian bears filmed in freedom, as well as documents on the perception of the bear that the inhabitants of the Palencia Mountain have of the bear. The projection room may also host different pedagogical, didactic and informative activities for schoolchildren and groups related to the tasks of management and conservation of the bear.

The aim is to offer better facilities to a greater number of visitors (it currently receives around 6,000 a year), with the consequent socio-economic benefit for the region. Thus, environmental education and awareness-raising actions will also be increased, essential to achieve the conservation objectives of the brown bear.

The projection room, which adds activities to the exhibition contents of La Casa del Oso, will contribute to valuing and promoting the Palencia Mountain as a region with a rich and complete biodiversity represented by the presence of the brown bear. It will also contribute to consolidating the jobs of the Casa del Oso, which currently occupies residents of the area.

Architecturally, the screening room will be located in a new construction on a plot owned by the Brown Bear Foundation, adjacent to La Casa del Oso Cantábrico. With a rectangular floor plan with a gabled roof and a traditional appearance, the building will have a large open-plan room, equipped with complete multimedia equipment. Taking advantage of the orientation of the room, solar panels will also be installed that will supply the necessary energy to guarantee 100 percent of the domestic hot water and 50 percent of the heating. The planned investment is close to 200,000 euros.