Its limits depend on the source consulted. According to the municipality of Castrillón, it would include the beaches of Salinas and San Juan de Nieva , although it would be commonly referred to as Salinas. It would be 2,600 m long, 2,100 m long for Salinas and 500 m long for San Juan.
The commonwealth of the Avilés region, to which the council of Castrillón belongs, in the document Beaches all year round. Comarca Avilés , includes the delimitation of the town hall and, in the section dedicated to surfing in Salinas, the name of El Espartal for the central area of ??the arenal, between Salinas and San Juan.] In this sense, the beach inventory of the 2009 Asturias Beach Rescue Plan includes El Espartal beach as differentiated from Salinas and San Juan de Nieva. And according to La Nueva EspañaIn 2012, the El Espartal rescue station was attended by six lifeguards, the same as in San Juan and three or four in Salinas.
According to the beach guide of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment, El Espartal would be another name by which San Juan beach is known, the 500 m from the eastern end of the sandy area.
This delimitation would coincide with the one used by the Principality of Asturias , in the inventory of beaches included in the Subregional Guidelines for Spatial Planning for the Coastal Strip. These guidelines are, according to the operative part of the decree that approves them, "an obligatory frame of reference for the territorial action of the public Administration in the Asturian coastal zone." According to this document, El Espartal beach, made up solely of sand, has a length of 500 m and an area of ??50,000 and 105,000 m² at low and high tide, respectively. It is classified as an urban beach, with a very high impact importance, a high conservation interest and a predominant use of bathrooms. Likewise, the document establishes, together with the Plan for the Management of Natural Resources of Asturias, the need for a special protection area for the beach of El Espartal, as a natural monument .
El Espartal beach was declared a natural monument on July 21, 2006. [The introduction of this decree indicates as values ??to be highlighted in the enclave the dune system in which the species of marine tuberose and sea ??spigot are found. , included in the Regional Catalog of Threatened Species of the Asturian Flora. In addition, two habitats of community interest have been described in El Espartal, the embryonic dunes (primary mobile dunes) and the primary and secondary Mediterranean and Oromediterranean heaths with dominance of genisteas.
This space is part of the Natura 2000 Network , within the Cabo Busto-Luanco Site of Community Interest and the Special Protection Area for Birds of the same name.
It is an area of ??dunes of less than one hectare although in its beginnings it was the largest in Asturias but industrialization (with the construction of companies such as Cristalería Española or Asturiana de Zinc and the urban growth of Salinas, Raíces and San Juan left its size reduced to that of now from the kilometer that it used to measure almost, between the cliffs of Pinos Altos and the sea. It has two well differentiated areas, the first is a dune wall formed by white dunes that in some areas reaches 15 meters high Behind this wall is the rest of the dune area with gray dunes.
The delimitation of the protected geographical area established in the decree for the declaration of the natural monument was modified after a ruling by the Superior Court of Justice of the Principality of Asturias, in a contentious-administrative appeal filed by the municipality of Castrillón against said decree.
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