Protected areas
The Special Area of Conservation (SAC) Sierra de Gredos and Valle del Jerte protects the mountainous part of the Ambroz Valley.
This area is home to various forest formations, from evergreen oak forests to evergreen oak forests, with interspersed deciduous forests of chestnut, ash or hackberry, juniper shrub formations and relict enclaves with birch and yew. There are also habitats typical of the high courses and headwaters of rivers and gorges, together with peaty enclaves and aquatic environments typical of the high mountains.
Finally, this area is home to the best supra-forestal manifestations of Extremadura, from the cushion scrub to the psicroxerophilous meadows and cacuminales canchales, through cervunales and gleras. The altitudinal gradient of about 2,000 m of altitude difference within this area, from the mesomediterranean to the cryo-mediterranean floor, gives it a high biological and habitat diversity, including Eurosiberian relicts, subtropical relicts, Mediterranean elements and a degree of endemicity unmatched in Extremadura, highlighting 15 exclusive flora endemisms.
Within this space is also located the Protected Landscape Monte Castañar Gallego de Hervás. Located on the slopes of Sierra de Gredos, on the side of the Ambroz Valley, the "Castañar Gallego" Public Mountain is a small but very interesting mountain because it is one of the best chestnut tree formations found in all of Extremadura.It is one of the best formations of chestnut trees that we find in all Extremadura, whose aesthetic and cultural values are joined to an extensive catalog of natural values. It represents one of the mountains with the greatest identity, tradition and renown, being one of the most important and best preserved chestnut stands in the south of the peninsula.
It is also a reservoir of vital importance for some orchid species, highlighting, for its uniqueness, rarity and distribution, the presence of Neottia nidus-avis and Dactylorrhiza sulfúrea, both catalogued in the "Vulnerable" category, and the presence of Cephalanthera rubra and Orchis langei, both catalogued in the "Of special interest" category. As for the fauna, in the public forest there are up to 4 species catalogued in the "Endangered" category in the Regional Catalogue of Threatened Species of Extremadura: the forest buzzard bat (Myotis bechsteinii), the medium-sized horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus mehelyi), the mediterranean horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus mehelyi), the mediterranneo horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus euryale) and the Iberian Desman (Galemys pyrenaicus), the latter located in the gorges that cross the chestnut grove.
And possibly the jewel in the crown is the set of protected under the figure of Singular Trees of Extremadura of the Chestnut Trees of Temblar in Segura de Toro. It is a group of five monumental chestnut trees (Castanea Sátiva) located in an old terraced orchard next to the Arroyo del Temblar.
The most outstanding specimen is the so-called "Hondonero" located in the lowest part of the estate, which can be considered the most valuable chestnut tree in Extremadura. Upstream is the "Castaño del Arroyo", the oldest chestnut tree, nearly 800 years old. Completing the group are the "Castaño del Bronco" with its spiral trunk and "El Retorcío" with its trunk of thick twisted fibers. The fifth chestnut tree is "El Menuero" located in the highest part of the estate, further away from the stream and therefore smaller in size.