Decidious forest in autumn near El Coto, Somiedo Natural park, Asturias.
Decidious forest in autumn near El Coto, Somiedo Natural park, Asturias.
Somiedo Natural Park (Spanish): Parque Natural de Somiedo) is a natural park located in the central area of the Cantabrian Mountains in the Principality of Asturias in northern Spain.
The park is a stronghold of the Cantabrian brown bear. In 2009 the Spanish newspaper El País referred to Somiedo with its 30 bears as the Spanish Yellowstone.
The farming methods traditional to the area are regarded as an example of sustainable living, and were a factor in UNESCO's designation of the park as a Biosphere Reserve in 2000. Of particular interest is the braña, a traditional system of livestock herding based on transhumance, which makes use of high pastures for summer grazing.