The La Mierla fire (Guadalajara), which is already the largest recorded in Castilla-La Mancha, having burned some 29,000 hectares, has affected approximately a quarter of the Sierra Norte Natural Park. This protected area is one of the jewels of Castilla-La Mancha’s nature, an enclave of valuable forests and a wolf habitat. Declared a natural park in 2011, this mountain range covers 116,953 hectares in the northwest of the province of Guadalajara across 35 municipalities.
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A preliminary assessment by experts from Ecologistas en Acción in Guadalajara highlights the severe impact of the fire on this protected area, where very serious damage would have been caused to the riparian forests of the Sorbe, Bornova, and Cañamares rivers, as well as to a pine reforestation area (of lesser value).
“We are talking about riparian forests of great biodiversity with protected species, such as the alder,” says Alberto Mayor, spokesperson for this conservation organization in Guadalajara. The place is also a habitat for wolves and Bonelli’s eagles. The Pelagañinas river fluvial reserve would also have been affected.
The Castilla-La Mancha government has not yet made any assessment of the ecological impact caused by the disaster.
“The ecological damage being caused is, for now, incalculable; an assessment will be made once the real extent of the damage is known,” Mayor adds, however.
Very sparsely populated area
The fight against this fire, according to authorities, is very “complex” because it originated in a practically uninhabited area with abundant vegetation, which facilitated its rapid spread.
The Fire Prevention and Extinction Service (Infocam) reported that it has already caused the evacuation of 34 villages and scattered settlements in this area of Castilla-La Mancha, affecting some 1,200 people, with no fatalities recorded.
Firefighters have managed to “practically stop” the advance of the fire towards the city of Soria (40,000 inhabitants), in the neighboring region of Castilla y León.
“Adapt the means to the new reality marked by climate change”
Ecologistas en Acción demands that administrations provide “adequate means against sixth-generation fires and climate change.” This organization deeply regrets the devastation caused by the disaster. It appreciates the efforts being made by firefighting resources but demands that they “adapt to the new reality marked by climate change and sixth-generation fires, given that the facts are demonstrating that they are not sufficient, despite the collaboration of different administrations to try to control it.”
One of the most extensive natural parks in the Iberian Peninsula
The Sierra Norte de Guadalajara integrates three previously protected natural areas: the Lobo-Cebollera Massif Natural Reserve, the Tejera Negra Beech Forest Natural Park and UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the Pelagallinas River Fluvial Reserve.
It is one of the most extensive natural parks in the Iberian Peninsula, made up of unique high mountain landscapes in Castilla-La Mancha, characterized by astonishing geological richness and biodiversity, to which a valuable cultural and ethnographic heritage is added.
Along with geological and vegetation values, the fauna and landscape have so far shown an excellent state of conservation, revalued by their rich ethnographic and cultural heritage.
These mountains are the origin of the three rivers that structure the territory from west to east: the Jarama, the Sorbe, and the Bornova, which form long north-south valleys that condition the landscape and life in the Park.
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Survivor forests of great botanical value, especially the Tejera Negra beech forest
The territory of the natural park has exceptional botanical value. In the highest areas, there are groves of beech trees, sessile oak forests, yew groves, holly groves, and birch forests with rowan trees, with a large number of protected flora species that are unique and scarce in Castilla-La Mancha.
“This mountain range includes relict vegetation, as we find forests more typical of the north of the peninsula or more Atlantic climates; the range has impressive beech forests, such as Tejera Negra, one of the southernmost in Europe, which fortunately are not being affected now, although it is close,” says Rodrigo Balaguer Romano, a Creaf researcher, who also highlights species more typical of Atlantic climates, such as ash and birch trees, or yews or holly, typical of past climates, when there was “a more benevolent climate for these species.”
Especially valuable, therefore, is the Tejera Negra beech forest, one of the southernmost beech forests in Europe.
Relict beech forests
Beech forests are among the valuable ones. They are typical of more northern latitudes, but here they are a testament to colder past eras. After the last glaciation, beech forests spread over much of the Iberian Peninsula, but when the climate became more arid and warm in the peninsular interior, they were replaced by forests of other species better adapted to the new climatic conditions, according to the guide prepared by Luis Carcavilla, Rafael Ruiz, Enrique Díaz, and Javier Luengo
For their part, the natural Scots pine or wild pine forests extend along the northernmost strip of the park, from Cantalojas to the surroundings of the Sierra de Alto Rey.
The wolf and the Bonelli’s eagle
The great variety of habitats present in the natural park favors the existence of a valuable faunal community. In this area, 260 vertebrate species are inventoried, of which 195 are protected, and many of them are subject to conservation programs. Bonelli’s and golden eagles, peregrine falcons, and griffon vultures nest in its rocky areas.
In the forests live honey buzzards, red kites, and other diurnal and nocturnal forest raptors, as well as small forest birds of interest. In the rivers, it is possible to spot dippers, and in the hawthorn thickets, red-backed shrikes.
But the most unique species is the bluethroat, which in Castilla-La Mancha only nests in the high mountain pastures and broom scrub of the Park, accompanied by the alpine accentor and the dunnock. Among mammals, the Iberian wolf stands out, a species classified as endangered that is recolonizing this territory. Roe deer and wild boar are abundant, and the large carnivore, the wolf, lives here.
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A necessary investigation to clarify possible agricultural malpractice
Ecologistas also calls for an investigation into the causes of the fire, to clarify whether the restrictions imposed by the very high fire risk last Thursday for carrying out agricultural work were respected. Otherwise, it will consider appearing as a private prosecution against those responsible.
This organization demands that protocols and restrictions on agricultural work in case of a high probability of fires be reviewed, to ensure that they are carried out safely and that the risk is minimized. Otherwise, scenarios like this will become increasingly frequent, endangering the lives of firefighters and the inhabitants of the Sierra Norte themselves.
“The facts show that it is not enough to only fight fires once they have occurred, but that sustained prevention policies maintained throughout the year are necessary, as well as measures to combat rural depopulation,” says Alberto Mayor.
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