Refugio del Campanario
The place
Refugio del Campanario ("Bell Tower Refuge") in the Montaña Palentina, Cervera de Pisuerga/Fuentes Carrionas area (Palencia, Castile and León, Spain), at 1567 m elevation, within the Fuentes Carrionas y Fuente Cobre-Montaña Palentina Natural Park. Continuous Spanish Cantabrian cluster (batches 210-352). Staffed refuge run by the Federación Cántabra de Montañismo ("Campanario" = "bell tower", referring to the peak's distinctive pointed silhouette), located amid beech-oak woodland (hayedos-robledal) + Ursus arctos cantabricus (30-40 individuals on the southern slope, a Cantabrian subspecies isolated from the Asturian population of 200-250, critically fragmented within the EU) + Pyrenean chamois Rupicapra pyrenaica pyrenaica, population 5000 + the endemic Cantabrian capercaillie Tetrao urogallus cantabricus, only 500 individuals, critically endangered and facing imminent extinction, heritage of the vaqueiros de alzada (transhumant Asturian-Palentine herders, a long-discriminated-against minority).
The setting
Palencia, Cervera de Pisuerga/Fuentes Carrionas, Cantabria, Spain, 1567 m, Fuentes Carrionas y Fuente Cobre-Montaña Palentina Natural Park, continuous cluster batches 210-352, staffed refuge run by the Federación Cántabra de Montañismo, Campanario, pointed peak silhouette, beech-oak woodland + Ursus arctos cantabricus, 30-40 on the southern slope, isolated from the Asturian population of 200-250, critically fragmented within the EU + Rupicapra pyrenaica, population 5000 + Tetrao urogallus cantabricus, 500 individuals, critically endangered, imminent extinction, vaqueiros de alzada, transhumant, long-discriminated-against minority.
