- Region: Murcia
- Declared a Natural Park: 1931 (Area of national Interest), 1978 (Natural Park), 1992 (Regional Park). Also listed as a Special Protection Area for Birds (ZEPA) and a Site of Community Importance (SCI).
- Park surface area: 17,804 hectares
- Towns and villages: Aledo, Alhama de Murcia, Librilla, Mula, Pliego and Totana
Points of interest
The Sierra Espuña Regional Park is located at the eastern point of the Cordillera Betica and situated in the heart of Murcia, one of Spain’s smallest provinces. It is a heavily wooded area in a generally arid zone.
- At the end of the 19th century, the entire mountain range was in a lamentable ecological state, with the almost total loss of its tree mass and presenting serious desertification processes. In 1889, the forestry engineer Ricardo Codorníu undertook the enormous task of reforesting the entire mountain range. This reforestation project became a model for its time and was then carried out in many other areas across Spain.
- The high peak called Pico Morrón, at 1,579m dominates the landscape which contains a combination of rock forms, each eroding at different rates. The limestone areas give the typical karst formations of deep valleys and caves.
- There is a national hunting reserve and through this large mammals have been introduced, the European Mouflon (Ovis musimon) and Barbary sheep (Ammotragus lervia) are both at home in the dry, stony mountain peak areas.
- The Sierra Espuña Regional Hunting Reserve has a surface area of 14,183 ha and a 76 km perimeter and is located within the Sierra Espuña Regional Park limits. Hunting in the reserve is dedicated to hunting larger game such as red deer and wild boar and is strictly monitered and managed.
- In contrast to the pine clad mountains in the north-eastern area is the protected lunar type landscape made up of the mineral gypsum. The Barrancos de Gebas, known as the “bad lands” (tierras malas) are a succession of arid ravines and gullies.
