Antonio Ballester, director of the Puebla de San Miguel Natural Park in the Rincón de Ademuz region, celebrates the fact that the Sabinas Blancas forest has been declared Forest of the Year 2026 thanks to an initiative promoted by the Ministry for Ecological Transition since 2007, following a proposal by the NGO Bosques Sin Fronteras (Forests Without Borders). The main characteristic of the white junipers is that “they are exclusive to high mountain areas; they only grow above 1,000 meters above sea level,” explains Ballester. The natural park submitted the application to boost the appeal of a traditionally neglected area where “there is never much investment,” Ballester continues, “the CV-35 is still only two meters wide.”

The junipers are called white because of the color of their bark, and many of the trees in the forest are over 900 years old; “they have seen a lot.” “Juniper trees are slow-growing and have very hard wood,” says Ballester. “When they are cut, the slices have a reddish color and, in the past, they were used to deodorize closets because they act as insect repellents.” Creeping junipers also grow here, plants of the same genus that, to protect themselves from the cold and wind, spread out like a carpet on the ground.

The forest is home to junipers, Scots pines, black pines, holm oaks, oaks… “Many of them are around three hundred years old; we have a pine tree with a diameter of six meters,” Ballester boasts. The fauna associated with the forest is essentially high-mountain: golden eagles, imperial eagles, and other more elusive species; various types of bats; and “the Apollo butterfly, which is at an all-time low; only a few remain in Penyagolosa and here because they are very colorful and have fallen victim to armchair entomologists, who simply captured them to pin them to cork.” Fortunately, the Cavanilles Institute of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology has been able to breed Apollo butterflies in the laboratory, “something very complicated because butterfly metamorphosis is very complex, but they have succeeded.” Creeping junipers are their best refuge and food source.

Ballester dreams of opening a restaurant for griffon vultures. “The feeding station, a restaurant for vultures, would allow us to set up an observatory for those interested in watching these birds of prey feed.” For now, the remains of dead animals tumble down the ravine, and it's not easy to turn that into a tourist attraction.

The park manager also highlights the presence of amphibians such as the natterjack toad and the Iberian ribbed newt. “We have cleaned abandoned watering troughs, we have installed ramps so that the animals don't drown, and as soon as you restore a pond, they appear because the eggs were there,” he says.

The park benefits from the presence of sheep. “They clean it naturally.” Not so much the goats. “They’re like bears, they stand on their hind legs and eat everything.” “But there’s very little livestock,” he laments. Ballester tried to start a shepherd school. “There’s one that works very well in Andalusia; I tried to bring the same initiative here, but it came to nothing.”

Ballester is a veteran who has dedicated more than thirty years to the Puebla de San Miguel and Turia Natural Parks. “When I started, there were ten natural parks with allocated budgets, but that’s over now. It wouldn’t be very expensive; it’s surprising what can be done with one hundred thousand euros and a little common sense.”

Convinced that nature protection and conservation are of paramount importance, Ballester dreams that “the entire Rincón de Ademuz region will one day be declared a protected area.” “It is an initiative that has significant institutional support throughout the region,” he argues, “it would promote tourism, rural accommodations would proliferate, and the area’s unique traditions and customs would be showcased through farm schools.”