The Protected Landscape of San Juan de la Peña and Monte Oroel is one of the most important foothill ecosystems of the Aragonese Pyrenees. It covers an area of 9,513 hectares and includes the municipalities of Bailo, Caldearenas, Jaca, Las Peñas de Riglos, Santa Cilia and Santa Cruz de las Seros. The presence within its confines of the old monastery of San Juan de la Peña adds a historic dimension to its importance as a natural reserve. The densely wooded slopes and the conglomerate rocky outcrops, which are home to important raptor populations are its most salient features.

The first type of protection for the natural reseve around the old monastery of San Juan de la Peña dates back to the 19th century. In 1869 the state initially wanted to auction off the woodland that surrounds the temple, but in the end it was decided that it would be inconceivable to have the monastery denuded of all the trees around it. “Take the woods away from the sanctuary and you will have mutilated the monument” was the conclusion of a report by the head of the Huesca District Forestry Commission, who was against the auction. In 1920 it was declared a National Site of Natural Interest (it was the third such site in Spain after the National Parks of Covadonga and Ordesa). In 1998 it was classed as a Natural Monument and in 2007 the Protected Landscape was created, including the beech forest of San Salvador, the Carbonera gulley, the gall-oak woods of Atarés and el Boalar, the fir woods of the Peña Oroel and an extensive area of wild pine and conglomerate rocky outcrops.

In this protected area one can find endemic species such as “Bear’s ear” Ramonda myconi or Petrocoptis hispánica. In the skies above the Protected Landscape soar Griffon vultures, Lammergeiers and Egyptian vultures, who seek out the immense rocky escarpments to build their nests. The quality of the dense woodland, protected for more than a hundred years, is reflected in the presence of defining species that indicate the environmental quality of an ecosystem, such as the Greater Spotted Woodpecker, the Black Woodpecker, the European Grassnake or the Masked Dormouse. It is a particularly good area for birdwatching and ornithological tourism.