It is the only national park in the country and has been classified as a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve. It covers an area of more than 70,000 hectares spread across the north of Portugal, namely in the municipalities of Arcos de Valdevez, Montalegre, Ponte da Barca, Terras de Bouro and Melgaço.
Created by Decree-Law no. 187/71 of 8 May, with the aim of “enabling long-term scientific planning to be carried out in the Peneda-Gerês environment, valuing man and existing natural resources, with a view to educational, tourist and scientific purposes”, the PNPG aims to protect a vast mountainous region, maintaining a network of ecological reserves of a high national and international standard.
The National Park encompasses the Gerês, Peneda and Amarela mountains, all of which are over 1,500 metres high and surrounded by granite escarpments that make the landscape unique. Most of the mountains have been humanised, with traces of human intervention dating back to the Neolithic period. Today, the Park’s territory is home to 114 villages where just over 10,000 people live, mainly women and elderly people who work in agriculture, pastoralism and livestock farming.
The PNPG, being an extension of the Cantabrian mountain range (the largest mountain range in the Iberian Peninsula, except for the Pyrenees), has a great diversity of relief, with sudden variations in altitude and, consequently, very steep valleys.
Characteristic of this region are the oak-alvarinho woods and the black oak woods. Strawberry trees, birches, gilbadeiras, holly, birch and cranberry are other strong examples of the flora that can be found in this park. As far as fauna is concerned, the Gerês goat, wild garranos, mink, the Lusitanian salamander and the Iberian wolf, which is currently at risk of extinction, stand out.
Source: altominho.pt
