The Department of Ecological Transition of the Government of the Canary Islands has the information regarding the provisional approval of the Master Plan for the Use and Management of the Teide National Park (PRUG) available to the public. Interested persons and entities may consult the document, as well as make observations and suggestions until July 5. Despite, therefore, the deadline not being closed, there have been many voices that have opposed the limitations contained in the plan, in special athletes -yesterday there was a demonstration in Roques de García-, tourist companies and audiovisual groups, while mostly it has been well received by environmentalists.
The director responsible for the area, José Antonio Valbuena, in the face of the criticism received, warns that “this is a provisional proposal and the final document will take into account the contributions that reach us, we have always defended a real and effective participation in this and other documents that we have processed. The final document will not resemble the one currently on display and the differences will lie in the contributions we receive from citizens, entities, groups and public administrations, always reconciling the public use of the national park with the protection of this privileged environment”.
The main meaning of the new plan is the organization of car visits to the park, as stated in article 5.3.1 of the PRUG draft, which establishes that “access and mobility will be organized in the national park, which which will result in a new sustainable mobility system that will condition the way of making the visit”.
Basically, access by private vehicles will be prohibited and shuttle buses will be available to enter the park. Something similar to what happens with the Timanfaya National Park, in Lanzarote, or in Punta de Teno, in Tenerife. This is how the director of the Teide National Park, Manuel Durbán, explains it: “What is intended is to promote the visit by collective transport with discretionary buses or shuttles that would leave from the service areas with underground parking that will be located in Chío, Vilaflor and the Portillo, between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.
Of course, circulation -not parking- by road will be free for any vehicle in the national park, so the right of transit will be guaranteed for those who wish to use any of the TF-21, TF-24 or TF-38 roads. to access from one place to another on the Island, but all access to the forest trails -now used by groups of 4×4 athletes- is prohibited, except for those that respond to emergency reasons, for surveillance and management tasks.
Another of the most outstanding points of the new regulations is related to cycling, since it can only be done on paved roads, being incompatible on the tracks and in the network of trails of the national park. On the other hand, transit throughout the national park with scooters, skateboards and other similar means is prohibited.
Regarding parking, it will be carried out in places authorized for this purpose, the parking of any vehicle that is not of collective transport (buses) being prohibited, with the exception of the workers of the national park, the contracted companies and the public administrations, those who carry out authorized activities, cable car and parador personnel.
One of the most discordant voices to the draft is that of the athletes. They regret that the practice of mountain running on the trails is ending, that cycling is only allowed on paved roads and that even the transport of pets is prohibited. The bivouac (improvised camp or refuge) will also be prohibited.
Against and in favor of the new Master Plan for the Use and Management of the Teide National Park
Alberto Hernández, president of the Canarian Athletics Federation, points out that “it will negatively affect sports tourism in Tenerife and the Canary Islands and the economy that this generates, which is not a small thing, given that by not being able to organize trail races that run through the park, will lose the main tourist attraction to athletes who currently travel from all over the world. On a day-to-day basis for the resident athletes from Tenerife and the Canary Islands, the fact of being able to train only on the slopes and not on the approved trails is a task for the training of some of them who are part of the Canarian and Spanish trail running teams. ”.
However, our best mountaineer and geographer, Juan Diego Amador, understands that the PRUG is restrictive. “Tenerife has become a social laboratory, unique in the world; In very few places do conservationist interests coexist with such a high population density. We must not forget that since 1994 we have 45% of our territory protected under one of the different figures; in some cases the conservation is optimal, but in others it has been terrible”.
“That is why we must order and regulate, I am not in favor of prohibiting or sanctioning, because I have always believed that the best way is education; however, acts of vandalism and impacts of all kinds take place every day. Perhaps when we all (politicians and ordinary citizens) feel sufficiently responsible and act accordingly, we will be able to enjoy the spaces without so many restrictions”, he sentenced.
Amador adds that “honestly, what I have learned during my travels throughout the planet is that everything revolves around a concept: the public. In places that are benchmarks for conservation and management, such as Canada, Norway, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, the public is respected because it feels like everyone’s and not mine; however, I observe that here the tendency is to consider that in public we can do what we want and from those muds, these muds”.
Without a doubt, he adds, “I would like to recover the Teide National Park that I lived in, moving in absolute freedom, but I refer to the facts and I think that now it is impossible due to the basic principles of conservation: carrying capacity, high impact and highly sensitive spaces. In short, I believe that the PRUG is a good working document, to which we have the opportunity to add our arguments so that we can continue to enjoy the most sustainable way possible”.
Of the same opinion, but with nuances, is Jaime Coello, from the Telesforo Bravo Foundation, which bears the name of his grandfather and great naturalist, who is remembered on trail 10 that climbs to the peak of Teide: “Approving a new PRUG is necessary but it comes late and at a bad time because it has been left by the management entity that the situation of the park deteriorates too much. We are against one of the service areas for parking cars and locating shuttles in El Portillo with the addition of a commercial area, it is too close to the National Park”.
“In terms of conservation, many of the measures proposed seem correct to us, because the assets to be protected are very important and sensitive, but we continue to demand that the Cabildo and the Government of the Canary Islands allocate more material and personal resources to the surveillance and protection of the Park. If not, the new PRUG will be a dead letter”, says Coello.
Clúster Audiovisual de Canarias (CLAC) has expressed its concern about the new draft of the Master Plan for Use and Management (PRUG) of the Teide National Park, which establishes, according to CLAC, the prohibition of audiovisual activities for advertising purposes, as well as the installation of any fixed or removable element that involves the occupation of public space, and reduces the number of members of the work team to two people.
“The text only considers some exceptions for audiovisual works that are of an informative nature or to disclose the values” of this space. “But, in short, these restrictions entail an almost total ban on filming in the Teide National Park.”
