Does anyone know the main forests in Spain and about how many forests in Spain their are?

Question

Does anyone know the main forests in Spain and about how many forests in Spain their are?

Answer 1

Jona has given you a fantastic detailed explanation of the types of trees in the spanish forests...Now I will try to fill in the gaps.

Most fair sized forests in Spain have now become national parks.

Where I live, in  Malaga, we have the pine forest in El Parque Nacional La Sierra de Las Nieves, near Ronda. Further west is the Parque Nacional de La Sierra de Grazalema, still in Malaga and after that, there is El Parque de los Alcornocales (cork oak forest) in Cadiz, and Parque Natural de Doñana with both woods and marshlands. In Huelva there are the Juniper trees and pines along the coast of Punta Umbría.

Now I'm going to have to get out my Atlas...

I'll start in the northwest: there is the Parque Naconal de Somiedo south of Oviedo, Parque Natural de los Ancares and Bosque de Muniellos in Galicia, Parque Natural de San Emilio near Campomanes, Parque Nacional de Ordesa in the Pyrenees and Parc Nacional de Aigües-Tortes in the Catalonian Pyrenees.

Then going further south and just north of Portugal in Galicia the Parque Natural del Lago de Sanabria. Again heading east  Parque Natural del Cañon de Rio Lobos in Burgos, then in Cataluña El Parc Natural del Montseny near Barcelona. Next, again in the west there are two: Parque Natural de las Batuecas, east of Ciudad Rodrigo and Parque Natural de El Candelario. just south of Bejar and west of Avila. A little further south of Avila there is the Parque Natural de la Sierra de Gredos near Arenas de San Pedro. Then going south there is El Parque Natural de Montfragüe southwest of Navalmoral de la Mata. On the south side of the mountains near Toledo, there are El Parque Nacional de Cabañeros and just west of that La Reserva Nacional de Cíjara. East of that, and just north of Ciudad Real are the Tablas de Daimiel (that is more of an animal reserve with marshlands rather than forest).

Back on the west near Portugal, there is the Parque Naturaal Sierra de Aracena and Picos de Aroche in northern Huelva province, east of that is El Parque de la Sierra Norte in the northern part of Seville province, then Parque N. Sierra de Andújar and Parque Nacional Sierra de Cardeña and Montoro in Córdoba. In Jaén there are several. P.N. de Despeñaperros on the northernmost part of Andalucía, Parque Natural Sierra Mágina just east of Jaén, then Parque Natural de las Sierras de Cazorla, Segura y Las Villas further east near Úbeda, and southeast of there Parque Natural de la Sierra María..

Going south for the last part there is the Parque Natural de los Montes de Malaga (just east of me) and in Granada El Parque Natural de Sierra Nevada, Parque Natural Sierra de Huétor and Parque Natural Sierra de Baza...

I think those are all...

As you can see Spain is blessed with many forests, woods and Sierras (mountain ranges) with a good amount of trees. If you are going to travel to Spain and visit some of these natural wonders...Cazorla in Jaén is well worth a stay. And the ones in Galicia and Asturias are also magnificent.

Answer 2

I'm from Spain and I hold a BSc in Env. Science so I should be able to help you, I hope...

Spain is the european's country with the biggest ecologic diversity. There are mountains which are always covered by snow and places similar to african desserts. You can find pretty much everything between those two ecosystems.

Most part of Spain has Mediterranean climate. The main tree in this climate is the Holly Oak (Centre, South and East of Spain). There are also Cork Oaks, specially in the West 'cause the different type of soils. If you go further north, especially noth west, you can find another species of Oaks, which need more water. In the North, you can also find Beechwoods. The north is considered to be part of the eurosiberian region opposed to the mediterranean one in the rest of the country.

On a second level, you can find in Spain up to 6 different types of pinewoods depending on the average precipitation of the area. I say secondary level, 'cause oaks are the forest most resistant and best adapted to the Spanish climate, which can be generally described as mild in winter and hot and dry in summer. In the half north, though, it's common to have snow at least once a year. Pinewoods are widely found but mainly 'cause human interaction.

Precipitation levels are the key factor which determines which forest dominates an area. Precipitation is higher in the north west and it's gets lower as we go south and east, therefore the south-east region is the driest. Temperatures go higher in the south as spected but the differences b/w north and south are no more than 10ºC usually.

Spain is the second highest country in Europe, only after Switzerland. There are a lot of mountains, in this case, as you go higher, humidity rises and temperature decline, so forests change accordingly. You can go to some mountains in Spain, start from the bottom, go up the hill , and be able to see nearly all the existing types of forest in the country as it exemplifies what it is the country itself. I did a module regarding Spanish vegetation and we went to two mountains, the Pyrenees to exemplify all the forests existing in the eurosiberian region and to Sierra Nevada to exemplify the ones from the mediterranean region.

Summarizing

HIghly common:

Holly Oak

Cork Oak

Oaks (different types - couldn't fint them in the dictionary)

Pines (6 different types)

Common in some areas:

Beech

Chestnut

Fir

Balearic Islands have a mediterranean climate, with mainly holly oaks. Canary islands have a tropical climate and have completely different forests, can't tell you them as I didn't study them. I can't tell you either how many forest are in Spain, but if you want further info email me.