The information point of the Monte Arabí Natural Monument, during its first year of operation, was visited by more than 7,000 people. The center, inaugurated by the Community and the Yecla City Council, opens on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays and is essential equipment to offer a better knowledge of the values of this Protected Natural Area.
The aforementioned information point is located in what is known as Casa del Guarda and has two informants and one person in charge, attached to the Information, dissemination and environmental revitalization service in the network of Protected Spaces in the Region of Murcia. Said personnel, specialized in dissemination and environmental education, also carry out heritage interpretation and awareness actions.
The origin of the visitors is predominantly from the Region of Murcia, 38% from the municipality of Yecla and 30% from the rest of the Region, while 28% come from other communities, mainly from the Valencian Community. The visits are concentrated above all in the autumn and spring months, in which there is usually a greater recreational use of the Protected Natural Areas of the interior.
The general director of the Natural Environment, María Cruz Ferreira, highlighted that “it is a spectacular figure for an Information Point that is only a year old and that opens three days a week, which shows the growing interest of the citizenship for visiting the first Natural Monument of the Region of Murcia, as well as a Site of Cultural Interest and a World Heritage Site by Unesco”.
The information most in demand is that related to services for public use (schedules, informative material, guided tours, special activities and access), followed by activities (hiking and bicycle routes), consultations on regulations (permits, authorizations and restrictions) and on natural values (fauna, flora and geology) and cultural values (rock paintings and petroglyphs).
Special activities
During this first year, six special activities were organized in which more than 1,600 people participated. Of these, more than 1,300 attended the ‘Rincones del Monte Arabí’ exhibition, around 200 went to the ‘I Geocachin Natur-Activate Route’, organized jointly with the Murcian Health Service, the Yecla City Council and the AYAC association , and nearly 100 people on four guided tours. In addition, guided visits were made to eight groups, which adds up to a total of 150 individuals.
«The Community will continue to bet on the dissemination and environmental education in Monte Arabí and work is already being done on the future musealization of the different rooms of the Casa del Guarda to allow a better interpretation of the natural, cultural, geological and ethnographic heritage that this house houses. Protected Natural Space”, concluded María Cruz Ferreira.
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