THE BEECHWOODS OF THE CENTRAL PREPYRENEES (SPAIN) - A PRELIMINARY SURVEY FOR CONSERVATION

The southern limit of European beech Fagus forests in Spain follows th e Pyrenees and the Cantabrian mountains. In the Central Prepyrenees, b eech is often mixed with fir Abies alba-also at the southern limit of its range- and covers the slopes exposed to cloud, where it forms isol ated relict deciduous forests among the submediterranean and more wide spread Quercus faginea woodland These forests are scattered over the s ierras running west to east for 160 km through the provinces of Zarago za, Huesca and Lerida. A floristic and ecological study for conservati on allows us to distinguish three types of beechwoods: (a) submediterr anean forests with box Buxus sempervirens, growing on limestone or mar ls; (b) more or less isolated atlantic montane beechwoods, on eutrophi c soils, and (c) acidophilous forests, over sandstones or other acidic soils. Most have been cleared or cut, not only for timber but also fo r grazing; in some cases Pinus sylvestris has spontaneously colonised the cleared areas and the former wood is able to regenerate; but in ot hers the soil has been eroded, and regeneration of the beechwoods is i nhibited, being replaced by submediterranean pastures or shrubs. At th e present time, most of the forests are young, with trees 60-80 years old and only occasionally some up to 200 years. Reafforestation was al ways with pines, but in many cases by opening up terraces-a very destr uctive procedure causing soil erosion-and with too many roads. Most of the forest belongs to the State, and the Regional Administration of F orestry (Aragon) is now studying their maintenance, first by the estab lishment of the Sierra de Guara Natural Park and also by declaring man y 'protective forests'. In this paper we study their present situation and dynamics, emphasize their great ecological, landscape and didacti c value and propose a number of beechwoods to be protected: Montsec, A ubenc and Malptis (Lerida); Gabardiella, Monte Peiro, Bonansa and La G arona (Huesca) and Puy Mone (Zaragoza).