The Madrid’s community is processing a new temporary occupation to replace the expired one and maintain the facilities and constructions of the Navacerrada ski resort which are located on Madrid soil. Ecologists in Action Madrid’s community has appealed the resolution of the general director of Biodiversity and Forest Management approving the new administrative specifications of the Guarramillas track.
The environmental organization describes the actions of the regional administration as legal, environmental and social nonsense. We are losing a great opportunity to restore an enclave of great natural value in the heart of the Sierra de Guadarrama.
On December 21, 2023, the general director of Biodiversity and Forest Management of the Ministry of Environment, Agriculture and Interior of the Madrid’s community signed the resolution approving the list of administrative conditions that will govern the new temporary occupation of the Navacerrada ski resort, in the Guarramillas trackon the Madrid hillside.
Once this document of administrative conditions is approved, the Town Councils of Cercedilla and Navacerrada – owners of the mountain on which the facilities and buildings of the ski resort are located – must approve the document of legal-economic conditions.
These procedures are necessary and prior to the competitive bidding process to which concessions in public utility forests must be submitted, before being awarded.
The unsustainable ski resort of Navacerrada
However, in the opinion of Ecologists in Action, what the regional and local administrations are doing, to perpetuate a ski resort without snow, comes up against legality.
The occupation of the Guarramillas ski slope, in Madrid, expired in February 2019 but the activity has continued, despite not having a qualifying title. Both the Ministry of the Environment and the City Councils that own the mountain have allowed the company. Port of Navacerrada. Estación de Esquí SA, carry out its activity, without returning the occupied public lands and without paying any fee since 2019.
Therefore, if the administration does not have possession of the land and facilities of the ski resort, it cannot submit them to public competition, because it cannot ensure their availability. From this situation, it is clear that what is really being done is a renewal of the occupation of the same owner – expressly prohibited by the Forestry Law – to legalize his situation.
More occupied and cheaper surface on the Guarramillas track
On the other hand, the new concession multiplies the occupation surface by six, but reduces the price per square meter of forest. If in 2004, the area of forest occupied was 8,839.25 m² and the fee was established at 11,844.59 euros per year, corresponding to the expired occupation, the new specifications raise the area to 54,195 m² and the fee to be paid to 32,017.45. That is, in 2004, the square meter of forest was valued at €1.34/m2 and twenty years later, the price per square meter has been reduced to €0.59/m2. This reduction in the fee has no justification, it harms the general interest, since the money is received by the town councils and the mountain, and only benefits the company that operates the ski resort.
On the other hand, a series of environmental regulations are currently in force that, if applied, would make the authorization of alpine ski facilities in the Puerto de Navacerrada unfeasible. The ski lifts, the ski slopes, the buildings, have never been subjected to the environmental evaluation procedure. Now it would be mandatory, even more so when there is a noticeable increase in surface area. Furthermore, the upper part of the Guarramillas ski lift is located in the maximum protection area of the Cuenca Alta del Manzanares Regional Park and a Natura 2000 Network protected area.
Climate change will close the Navacerrada ski resort sooner or later
Since the 1970s, the average temperature in the Port of Navacerrada has increased by 1.95 °C and snow has reduced by 25%. The 22/23 season was the ski resort’s shortest and this year it was only able to open two days. In this context, it makes no sense to insist on keeping the ski resort open. It would be much more beneficial for the surrounding populations and the environment to restore this enclave and open new ways to enjoy nature.
The new occupation that is being processed ignores the current climate situation and evades the applicable environmental regulations.
Appeal to request the annulment of the new occupation
In the opinion of Ecologistas en Acción, the exposed irregularities convert the approval of the specifications for the new occupation into a null administrative act. And this has been stated in the appeal that the organization has presented to the Ministry of the Environment, Agriculture and the Interior. For this reason, it calls for withdrawal and dismantling of the ski resort on the Madrid side.
A ski resort between two autonomous communities and on three public mountains
The ski resort of Port of Navacerrada It is located between the provinces of Segovia and Madrid. In the first, it occupies 7.6 hectares of Mount Pinar de Valsaín, which is property of the Autonomous Organization of National Parks (OAPN), dependent on the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge. In addition, there is a smaller part that sits on the Guarramillas mountain, property of the Community of City and Land of Segovia. In the Madrid’s community The area is 9.2 hectares, located on Mount Pinar Baldío, property of the City Councils of Cercedilla and Navacerrada.
The three mountains on which the facilities and buildings of the sports complex are located are included in the public utility catalogs of Castilla y León and the Madrid’s community. This means that to make private use of the public forest domain, the titular administration (municipalities and OAPN) and the one with management powers (Community of Madrid and Junta de Castilla y León) must authorize temporary occupations. These occupations expire at the end of the period for which they were granted and are not renewable.
The OAPN, in 2021, announced that once the concession of the El Bosque, Escaparate and Telégrafo ski slopes expired, it would not put them out to tender again, due to the environmental impact and the lack of snow. This decision triggered a sterile political confrontation promoted by the Junta of Castilla y León, against the central administration. Recently, the Superior Court of Justice of Castilla y León has ruled in favor of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and forces it to declare the expiration of the occupation, to remove the facilities for practicing skiing and to restore the land.
Now, the Madrid’s communityprolonging the agony of the season and the political confrontation, aims to renew an expired occupation, on a public mountain and in an area where skiing has not been possible for a long time due to lack of snow.
Ecologists in Action encourages the regional government to abandon the tension and take advantage of the support provided by the Ministry for the Ecological Transition, to dismantle the ski resort and convert the Port of Navacerrada in a new world reference in nature restoration, as Puerto de los Cotos already is, where in 1998, it was decided to dismantle the Valcotos ski resort and restore Peñalara.