Spain's National Parks Policy

Medina, Francisco

Spain was one of the first countries in Europe to adopt a national parks policy similar to the one the United States started in 1872 when Yellowstone National Park was established. Spain's legislation pertaining to national parks was issued in 1916. In 1918 its two first parks were established—the Montana de Covadonga or Pena Santa National Park, located in Asturias, and the Valle de Ordesa in the Pyrenees mountains of Aragon. The idea behind the creation of the two parks in Spain was as selfless and generous as that which brought about Yellowstone. The man whose initiative it was, Don Pedro Pidal y Bernaldo de Quiros, Marquis of Villaviciosa de Asturias, who became Spain's first commissioner of national parks, was familiar with the national parks of the United States and persuaded Spain to devote some thought to preserving the country's most outstanding geographic sites. However, Spain was not the United States, nor was the situation in Covadonga and Ordesa the same as that of Yellowstone. As happens in any nation whose culture spans thousands of years and where there has been intense human activity since ancient times, it is no easy task to find lands where the original features have remained unchanged and which have not been subjected to a large number of economic and social impacts. In this sense there were particularly important obstacles in Spain owing to the small amount of nationally owned lands. The disentailment or expropriation laws enacted in the 19th century, under which most of the lands of the country that formerly had been held under mortmain title passed into private hands, also had an entirely negative effect.

Spain's National Parks Policy

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