The first deputy mayor of the Municipality of Totana, Juan José Cánovas, has assisted the Environment Advisory Council in which it has approved, among other matters, the declaration of the Gredas de Bolnuevo as a Natural Monument.
In addition, the Comprehensive Management Plan of the protected areas of the Natura 2000 Network of the Sierra de Ricote has been treated and La Navela will order and regulate the needs and uses on an area of ​​7,743 hectares, which become a Site of Community Interest (LIC) to be considered as Special Conservation Zones (ZEC).
This document, which was approved today by the Regional Advisory Council for the Environment (Carma), also points out that this protected area has another 7,643 hectares considered as Special Bird Protection Areas (ZEPA).
The Plan, which has already passed the period of public information and hearing of stakeholders, highlights that this area has a total of 18 types of natural habitats of community interest, with 16 species of community interest, 11 birds that require special protection and 46 regular migratory species, as well as 64 other species, 28 of flora and 36 of fauna, cataloged as protected both regionally and nationally.
In this sense, the planning process of the Natura 2000 Network already has three management plans in progress for the protected areas of the Northwest, Río Mula and Pliego, and Las Cuevas de las Yeseras and Minas de la Celia, and five others , among which are those of the Sierra de Ricote and Las Navelas or the Mar Menor and the Litoral Strip, which are very close to closing their administrative procedures.
The meeting of the Carma, an advisory body made up of social, environmental, neighboring and business organizations, also approved the declaration of the Gredas de Bolnuevo, in Mazarrón, as a Natural Monument.
This natural environment will thus become the second recognized space with this degree of protection, following the declaration in 2016 of Monte Arabí de Yecla.
In the case of Bolnuevo, its declaration as a Natural Monument is based on its high value and uniqueness from both a landscape and morphological point of view, with some unique examples of differential erosion or 'bee nesting', as paleontological, since this environment It also houses unique remains of corals and mollusks.
The zone, in addition, constitutes a singular ecosystem in which you can find forest masses such as the espartal, the tomillar or the romeral that serve as refuge to species of great importance such as the black tortoise, the ocellated lizard and birds of prey such as the Bonelli's eagle. or the peregrine falcon.
State of the Mar Menor
During the meeting, the members of the Advisory Board were also informed of the results of the latest scientific report on the state of the Mar Menor, which confirms the stabilization of this ecosystem and the improvement of its waters, which translates into an abundant presence of species as much of fauna as of underwater flora.
Thus, the data taken by the 14 permanent measurement stations corresponding to the last week of October indicate that transparency remains above 4.5 meters compared to 1.28 meters in the same week of last year, while other values ​​such as turbidity and chlorophyll fall to values ​​of 0.82 and 0.50 respectively, well below the 4.50 and 4.92 that reached a year ago.
