Pedra Tosca Park

Pedra Tosca Park is located in Tosca forest, bordering Les Preses and Olot. The area was covered by a lava flow coming from the Croscat volcano 11.000 years ago. It is 25 hectares big and stands on this lava flow.When the volcanic stone is porous it is called pumice stone and some historians believe that this could be the origin of the forest name, since it identifies a place with a forest, located between walls of volcanic stone. Throughout history, the human intervention in this place was orientated towards food production and the necessary actions to achieve this objective. Thus, the forest was turned into cultivating land, which led to the construction of paths, walls and huts, as supplementary elements for agricultural activities. Thanks to the European Project Life, some small areas which have never had any impact have been found. It is also important to take into account that, in the Tosca forest, hills are common, since they appeared during the cooling processes of the eruptive materials. The Pedra Tosca Park was given the Rosa Barba European Landscape Prize thanks to the restoration of the volcanoes natural landscape, as well as the crop fields, with a combination of artificial and natural elements. Moreover, since 1985, the park has been part of the La Garrotxa Volcanic Zone Natural Park and has a special plan of protection of the natural means.