Visitors to the sequoia forest of Monte Cabezón, the Cantabrian natural monument that could be in danger of conservation because tourists hug and even take bark from those trees, they advocate for the “respect” and “common sense” to maintain this space, and some do not rule out that the only measure is charge to access it.
However, the mayor of Cabezón de la Sal, Oscar López, the Tourism technician of that council, Sara Escalante, and the nature guide Laura San Miguel have assured Efe that they do not see it necessary to charge to maintain that forest, but they do agree in which you have to control the number of tourists who enter every year.
Sara Escalante remembers that a few years ago not even the residents of Cabezón de la Sal knew of the existence of this redwood forest, when now this Cantabrian municipality estimates that about 200,000 visitors will spend this 2023 for that space, declared in 2003 natural monument.
The forest, of 2.5 hectares, has 848 sequoias that were planted in 1940 and that make up the most important group of this type of trees in Europe and the only one in this species, which is not native to European countries.
The sequoias of Monte Cabezón have an average of 37 meters, but these trees can exceed 100, according to the mayor of this municipality, who recognizes the deterioration of the trees due to the number of people who, since the media and the social networks made them known, the They hug them, touch them and even tear off the bark to take them as souvenirs.