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Although Somiedo was the first area in Asturias to be declared a Natural Park in 1988 and, in 2000, it was also included in the Natura 2000 Network as a Biosphere Reserve, Somiedo has managed to preserve its natural and ethnographic values and is a clear example of sustainable development. The Park includes 38 population centres with around 1,600 inhabitants, organised mainly into four main valleys: Saliencia, Valle, Somiedo and Pig\u00fce\u00f1a. <\/p>\n\n
Somiedo\u2019s main economic activity has been, and continues to be, extensive beef livestock farming. However, the declaration as a Natural Park has led to a notable increase in the tertiary sector related to visitor services and greater tourist influence. <\/p>\n\n
Its varied geological substrate is one of the main characteristics that directly influence its great natural diversity, and the areas formed by Ordovician quartzites and Carboniferous limestones make up the highest zones and the main ridgelines. In turn, the areas that coincide with a lutite or sandstone substrate form the main valleys. <\/p>\n\n
The rocks that make up Somiedo Natural Park form a powerful sequence more than 6,000 m thick that was bent and folded during the Hercynian and Alpine orogenies, resulting in an almost vertical arrangement of the strata. After the compression suffered by the crust, the rocks of Somiedo were folded into a large synclinal fold whose axis roughly coincides with the town of Pola de Somiedo. Some of the limestone ridges display faults and folds that reveal the Earth\u2019s internal forces. <\/p>\n\n