NATURAL MONUMENT TORRENT DE PAREIS

(From the information of the Balearic Ministry of the Environment)

This protected area is located in the municipal area of Escorca, in the Serra de Tramuntana, and encompasses the Gorg Blau and Lluc streams or torrents. As a whole, these streams make up one of Majorca's greatest natural wonders, and possibly its most spectacular.

This area received its protected status through Decree 53/2003 of 16th May, which declared the Pareis, Gorg Blau and Lluc streams a natural monument (BOIB núm 79, de 5 de juny de 2003)

The following activities require previous notification:

* Conducting research projects

* Holding the traditional Torrent de Pareis concert

* Sports and recreational activities when the number of participants is greater than 20 and less than 40.

 

The following activities require authorisation:

* Research projects involving the collection of samples

* Sports and recreational activities when the number of participants is equal or greater than 40

* Fitting out the streams with new climbing anchors where rapelling is practiced

* Opening new climbing routes

* Restoring trails

* Big and small game hunting

* Controlled burning of foliage and sections of land

 

All activities and uses that are incompatible with the conservation of the area are prohibited, and particularly those listed below:

* Extracting and collecting dry or any geological matter

* Opening new trails, climbing routes or paths

* Big and small game hunting along the course of the streams, in the outflow area and in the trails of public use.

* Anything that might alter the aquatic systems

* Camping outside of expressly authorised sites

* Installing signs, posters, billboards or similar items other than those established by the competent management body.

To notify the authorities or request authorisation for any of these activities, please contact the Balearic Ministry of the Environment: Conselleria de Medi Ambient, Avda. Gabriel Alomar i Villalonga,33/ 07006- Palma/ Tel. 971 176 800

 

FAUNA

Still surviving in some places in the stream, particularly in inaccessible spots, is a small population of Majorcan midwife toads (Alytes muletensis), an endangered amphibian exclusive to majorca that is protected by law. There also small endemic invertebrates, such as the Balearic snail, Iberellus balearicus and the blood beetle.

As to the birds, there are particularly abundant populations of rock doves (Columbia livia), blue rock thrushes (Monticola solitarius) and the crag martins (Ptyonoprogne rupestre). The most noteworthy mammals include the mustelids, the wood mouse (Apodemus sylvaticus), the domestic goat (Capra hircus) and a number of bat species.

Domestic goat.........................................................Black vulture

 

FLORA

The gorge of this stream is home to more than 300 species, 10% of which are endemic to the Balearic Islands. The most typical plant species of this area are: Isoetes histrix, terebinth (Pistacia terebinthus), the local species known as fonollosa borda (Pimpinella bicknellii), English holly (Ilex aquifolium), yellow restharrow (Ononis crispa subsp. zschackei), Hypericum hircinum subsp. cambessedesii, snowy mespilus (Amelanchier ovalis), stinging nettle (Urtica bianorii) and Viola jaubertiana. Here you will also see almost all of the island's known fern species.

-Primrose (Primula vulgaris ssp. balearica).........Summer Snowflake (Leucojum aestivum ssp. puilchellum)-

 

GEOGRAPHY & GEOLOGY

El Torrent de Pareis is born out of the confluence of the Gorg Blau and Lluc streams in an area known as S'Entreforc. The stream, which runs SE-NW, forms a karst canyon with walls of up to 200 meters high. The streambed descends over its distance of 3.300 meters, with an average gradient of 5,14% until it reaches the sea at Sa Calobra.

The Torrent del Gorg Blau begins in Tossals Verds, and the shape of its bed was altered with the construction of the Gorg Blau reservoir in 1972. With a basin measuring 14 square kilometres and a difference in level of 627 meters, the gorge becomes more pronounced in its final section, where the canyon's towering walls and narrow breadth block the entry of natural light. Compounded with the high level of humidity, these features make for an extraordinary and unique ecosystem locally known by the descriptive name of 'Sa Fosca', or, 'the dark spot'.

The Torrent de Lluc originates in he valley of the same name and flows through the Clot d'Albarca. This stream has a basin of 28 square kilometres, with a difference in level of 500 meters.

The current structure of the Natural Monument is the result of the abrasive action of the stream water on the limestone rock and the karstic dissolution processes, which have facilitated a large tectonic fracture and led to karstic shaping with the formation of fields of lapies, dolines, gorges, caves and chasms.

-Karst landscape in Serra de ses Farines-