Aigüestortes National Park forests show high ecological quality

A study conducted by the Center for Research on Ecological Applications and Forestry (CREAF) and the Catalan Forestry Technology Center (CTFC) has identified the mature forests of Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici National Park as having exceptional ecological quality and carbon reserves in Spain.

Evaluating 432 hectares across approximately twenty forest massifs, the research found maturity scores ranging between 5.3 and 8.7 out of 10. This significantly exceeds the Catalan average of 2.3 recorded in the 2020 Nature Status Report. The study, funded by European Next Generation funds through the BHAVEC project, utilized data from 192 plots to provide a three-decade perspective on ecosystem evolution by comparing findings with records from 1993, 2004, and 2014.