The Heras reservoir: a harmonious anthropized landscape.

Article published in the Diario Montañés on January 20, 2019.

We are all travellers, walkers willing to discover secrets from other times in the landscape we see on our excursions. On my frequent field trips through the landscapes of Cantabria, I find numerous vestiges that, without fail, build a story of the territory's past that is intertwined with unique elements: a wall, the shape of a meadow, a group of trees, even the appearance of the surface my feet tread on.

And so, observing the signs of time, I discovered the remains of ancient abutments on the sides of the N-635 road - today sadly disappeared due to the indifference of our society towards what it ignores - which led me to follow the trail of what was perceived as an ancient and blurred layout that sank between the limestone slopes of Pico Llen and Monte Castillo.

And so the landscape of my choice emerges: the Heras reservoir (Medio Cudeyo), fed at its headwaters by the waters of the Cubón River. It is an artificial reservoir, with its interesting earth gravity dam, whose bed is divided between Solares, Heras and Sobremazas, witness to a prosperous past in the 19th century of iron mining on the slopes of the Sierra Cabarga massif. Its waters continue to support the processes of an iron and steel industry today with the recent renewal in 2016 of the use of this water resource.

The banks of the reservoir were once lined on both sides by the lines of the San Miguel Mines Railway, which, starting in the Somarriba neighbourhood of Liérganes, reached the San Salvador estuary in Heras. The current road to the west of the reservoir makes use of the old railway area, making it a pleasant route for walkers.

This karst landscape, as a natural setting but also dotted with vestiges of human ingenuity, has been modified by the socioeconomic exploitation of the natural resources found there, currently reaching a balance in the intensity of its uses and its degree of alteration.

In order to continue enjoying the heritage of our territory, landscape management is necessary to ensure the rational integration of the biophysical environment. The Heras reservoir enclave is included in the preliminary project of the Catalogue of Relevant Landscapes of Cantabria within the scope of Landscape of Peña Cabarga and Cabárceno.