The area next to Llebreta lake, where the only private building inside the Aigüestortes and Estany de Sant Maurici national park stands, is one of the properties that the Generalitat wants to acquire to preserve its environmental values. The Department of Climate Action shuffles a list of about 200 properties in protected enclaves that it considers should be public. The Generalitat has started by focusing on two spaces that are part of the integral nature reserve (RNI) of the Aiguamolls de l'Empordà natural park and a third in the partial reserve (RNP) of Punta de la Banya, in the Delta of the Ebro.
The challenge is to reach agreements with the owners, but when this is not possible, a process of forced expropriation begins, as has happened with one of the farms of the RNI de los Aiguamolls del Empordà, that of Vilaüt, of 29 hectares. The priorities, according to Marc Vilahur, director general of Environmental Policies of the Department of Climate Action, are the areas that are in private hands within the two RNIs - the figure of maximum protection - that exists in Catalonia, in the natural park of Aiguamolls de l'Empordà and Cap de Creus. In this last one, it is expected to act throughout this 2023. Later, among other farms, the one of the lake of Llebreta is included.
Vilahur points out that the current Government has promised to allocate five million euros a year to be able to acquire different spaces. The first step is to appraise the land in question and if the owner agrees with the fixed price, the purchase is made; In the event of disagreement, it is studied whether expropriation is activated.
The house, with a basement, two floors and an attic, built in front of Lake Llebreta, on a property of just over one hectare in the Vall de Boí, is the only private home in the national park, although there are also fifteen cabins shepherd and a colony camp. In addition, there are 19 mountain refuges in operation, of which thirteen are guarded for several months a year. Of the 40,852 hectares that are part of the park, including the peripheral area, 94.3% are public, owned by the Generalitat and the municipalities, and 5.7% are in the hands of individuals.
Vilahur indicates that the Llebreta house was built around 1955, as a fishermen's shack, the same year that the creation of the park was decreed. The property, recently renovated inside, is located in a place of great beauty, at an altitude of 1,610 meters, very popular with visitors to Aigüestortes. Between the building and the lake runs a track along which, in high season, 4x4 taxis full of tourists circulate continuously.
The construction has changed hands several times, the last time in 2004, when it was acquired for 240,339 euros, according to Vilahur. The current owners, the Armengol family, indicate that the Generalitat has never made them a purchase offer. Despite considering that this building should be public, the administration has never exercised the right of first refusal and withdrawal on it when it has been put up for sale. Vilahur adds that the last, or one of the last times that it has been offered, 1.1 million euros were requested, a figure that he describes as exorbitant since one issue is its extremely high environmental value and another is the real price, taking into account that the The activities that can be carried out on the farm are very limited, and in no case can it function as tourist accommodation. It has hosted the filming of a movie and fashion brand advertisements, with the authorization of the national park. "Now we use it for meetings with friends and for publicity, for us it has great sentimental value," say sources from the property.
“For the Generalitat, the Llebreta house is a priority, it is the only house within a national park, an anomaly that must be corrected. The forecast is to carry out an appraisal quickly, in 2024, to acquire it in the coming years”, concludes Vilahur.
