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Aralar Natural Park
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Population and Cultural Heritage
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- Population
 With the exception of its surroundings and the village of Aia, there are no inhabited nuclei within the park. There is only the presence of isolated cottages, scattered in the lower areas of the Park and some shepherds' huts, which are only used during the shepherding season. However, the territory is ensconced in a very humanised area, and all the municipalities that contribute terrain to the Park accumulate a population of 28,070 inhabitants. However, the urban and industrial character of Tolosa and Lazkao make these municipalities much less dependent on dynamics derived from the use of the territory of Aralar than in the case of the other municipalities that have a predominantly rural orientation.
Strictly speaking, the population directly related to the park is of 5112 inhabitants, distributed among the municipalities of Abaltzisketa, Amezketa, Ataun and Zaldibia, and a village of Bedaio (in the municipality of Tolosa):
| Abaltzisketa |
290 |
| Amezketa |
1.075 |
| Ataun |
1.822 |
| Bedaio |
229 |
| Zaldibia |
1.696 |
| Total |
5.112 |
Public property is this 57.5 per cent of the total surface of the park, while 543 private owners divide amongst themselves the remaining 42.5 per cent, 4659 ha. Especially noteworthy because of its extension is the Public Land belonging to the County Council District of Enirio-Aralar, with 3404 ha.
- Customary use
The human past of Aralar dates back to shepherding activity during the Neolithic period. Numerous funerary monuments have resisted the passage of time, in a natural environment that is very similar to that which the first human beings transformed: ample coal plant pastures gained at the expense of the pre-existing forests in these extensive limestone mountains.
In fact, cattle raising continues being the economic basis of most of the cottages in the area, not counting the income that proceeds from industry. Of all the types of cattle, stabled cattle have the most importance, followed by latxa sheep. The latter is connected to a migrant shepherding culture, the result of which are the very appreciated artisan cheeses that have contributed to make this area well-known. As from the month of May, herds of sheep are taken to the higher parts of the mountains and stay there until autumn. Towards the end of October, the shepherds, together with their herds, migrate to their winter emplacements, situated in the lower parts of the surrounding municipalities or in places farther away from Gipuzkoa.
During the summer the shepherds live and carry out their activity in mountain pastures, belonging in their most part to the County Council District of Enirio-Aralar
 On the other hand, in spite of not being part of the best-known landscape in Aralar, the beech groves and forest plantations also constitute one of the elements of its identity, occupying 52% of the surface. To zones are especially important: the inside of Ataun dome, mainly occupied by masses of medium-period trees, and the beech forest that spreads throughout the south of Aralar, from Balankaleku to Errenaga, that constitutes one of the best examples of highland beech forests in the Basque Country. These tree formations are particularly interesting, both because of their rarity and the exclusivity of their flora, and because of their important role as soil protectors in the rocky slopes.
Aralar has traditionally constituted a clear point of reference for Gipuzkoan and Basque mountain climbing as a whole. The attraction of mountain tops like Txindoki, Ganbo, Putterri, Autza, Irumugarrieta and others, and that of the Navarran beech forests and the sanctuary of San Miguel attract many visits to these mountains, together with the strategic situation of the massif with respect to nearby urban areas, both in Gipuzkoa and in Navarre. The distribution of accesses to the Park configures two big sectors for public use: the Ataun area, accessible from the Lazkao/Lizarrusti pass and centred around the Lizarrusti Reception Centre and the rest of the Park, accessible from the Ordizia/Alegia road. Here, the gateway to the Park would be the Abaltzisketa/Larraitz and the Amezketa/San Martin complexes
- Archaeological and architectural heritage
Aralar has been the cradle of numerous legends and myths. The appearance of St Michael the Archangel to Teodosio Goñi, in the eighth century, Mari and her cave in the Txindoki, the Lady of the Putxerri, the Gentiles and the arrival of Kixmi, are all well known mythological episodes localised in this mountainous area. Joxe Maria de Barandiaran (1889 - 1991), who was born in Ataun, compiled many of these legends, and researched the many archaeological deposits in Aralar, where there are 30 dolmens, 15 tumuli, 7 monoliths, 2 cromlechs and 13 caves listed.
 In historical eras, the old Munoa road and the remains of Ausoko castle tell us of a past of commerce and war. The remains of the Arritzaga mines and the Lizarrusti forest train, the mills and ironsmitheries, remind us of the feverish industrial activity that existed in the Park a few decades ago, times in which gangs of loggers, charcoal makers and shepherds stayed in these mountains for months at a time.
In the villages around the park there is a rural (cottages, fortified houses and palatial family houses) and religious (hermitages and churches) architecture of considerable interest. Among the latter, the most noteworthy is the hermitage of San Miguel, situated in the heart of these mountains, although in Navarran territory, where every second Sunday in August, the image of the Saint is taken in pilgrimage all the way up to Igaratza, in Gipuzkoa.
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