SPACES
PROTECTED

It is an extensive natural space structured by the Tagus River and its headwater tributaries, in the heart of the Iberian System. Its exceptional environmental values and excellent state of conservation motivated its declaration as a Natural Park in 2000, over a territory of 105,721 hectares, covering 35 municipalities in the province of Guadalajara and 2 in the province of Cuenca. Added to this area are 70,000 hectares of the Peripheral Protection Zone, thus forming one of the largest protected natural spaces on the Iberian Peninsula. Gorges and rocks, river courses, forests and moors are the most representative ecosystems of the Natural Park, highlighting the great value of its geological elements, flora, fauna, exceptional landscapes and ethnographic elements.
More than three quarters of the natural space are covered by natural forests, among which we find valuable juniper forests and pine forests of Scots pine, laricio, rodeno and aleppo, as well as holm oaks, gall oaks and rebollares, with mixed hardwood and pine forests being very common. .
The various faunal groups are well represented in the Alto Tajo, highlighting the valuable communities of raptors that nest in the sickles and rocky cliffs: Bonelli's eagle, golden eagle, peregrine falcon, Egyptian vulture and griffon vulture, among others. Among the mammals, the presence of otters, martens, genets and Cabrera voles stands out, with herbivores being very abundant, such as deer, fallow deer, ibex and roe deer, and omnivores such as badgers and wild boars.

In 1992, the European Union began to develop a strategy known as the Natura 2000 Network, to conserve the continent's biodiversity, through the protection of natural spaces of great ecological value.
It consists of two types of protected spaces: ZEC (Special Conservation Area) and SPA (Special Protection Area for Birds).
Within the limits of the Geopark there are four other spaces of the Natura 2000 Network such as ZEC and SPA Alto Tajo; ZEC and SPA Parameras de Maranchón, Hoz del Mesa and Aragoncillo; ZEC and SPA Lagunas and Parameras del Señorío de Molina and ZEC Sierra de Caldereros.

The Geopark encompasses a Natural Park and several spaces included in the Natura 2000 Network, but there are also three protected natural spaces that have relevant importance. These are the Torremocha del Pinar Wet Meadows Microreserve, the Sierra de Caldereros Natural Monuments and the Fuentelsaz Stratotype Natural Monument.