The proposal to widen the Natural Park of the Serras de Aire e Candeeiros (PNSAC) to include the municipalities of Alcanena, Ourém and Torres Novas is under public consultation on the Participa Portal, until Monday.
The proposal, submitted to public consultation by the Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests (ICNF), considers an expansion area that runs along the escarpment and adjacent areas of the PNSAC, covering a total area of about 3,734 hectares located in these three municipalities, all in the Santarém district.
The park, created in 1979 with the aim of protecting “the singularity of the karst landscape and its geological and geomorphological heritage,” has its headquarters in Rio Maior (in the Santarém district). It covers a total area of about 38,352 hectares and encompasses territory of seven municipalities, spanning about two-thirds of the Estremenho Limestone Massif.
The expansion of the park had been advocated by the Torres Novas City Council since 2019, claiming that the current delimitation “did not take into account the entire area where the escarpment outcrops occur in the municipality, and that it constitutes […] an exemplary part of the great structural unity that is the Estremenho Limestone Massif,” according to the technical dossier to which the Lusa agency had access.
The Strategic Council of the PNSAC chose to extend the expansion area “to the entire escarpment,” also including the parish of Moitas Venda, in the municipality of Alcanena, and the valleys of the incised streams of Ourém.
The expansion of the park’s boundary, if approved, would fill a gap that leaves “a significant portion of this geological unit outside the current limits of the protected area,” the proposal notes.
In the technical dossier, the ICNF lists the characteristics “geomorphological, tectonic and other geological, hydrogeological, ecological and cultural values associated” with the park’s escarpments, considered “one of the most notable examples of Portuguese geomorphological/geological heritage.”
According to the document, the expansion now under public consultation aims to conserve natural values such as “meadows and herbaceous pastures with vigorous growth, limestone slabs, rock outcrops, oak woods and ash groves, and boxwood (Buxus sempervirens), as well as the fauna species associated with these biotopes, notably birds of prey and cave-dwelling bats.”
Geologically, it seeks to safeguard the preservation of geosites, caves and karst shafts, while at the same time promoting farming and forestry practices, urban planning and leisure activities that are compatible with the objectives of nature conservation and the safeguarding of the landscape, archaeological, architectural, historical and natural heritage.
The documents can be consulted at https://participa.pt/pt/consulta/proposta-de-alteracao-do-limite-do-parque-natural-das-serras-de-aire-e-candeeiros, and interested parties may submit contributions by Monday.
