The Roblehondo Field Station, which is 350 kms from Seville,
is situated in the Sierras de Cazorla, Segura
y Las Villas
Natural Park (214,300
hectares). The CSIC has had a presence in the region since the mid-fifties, when
José Antonio Valverde, founder of the Doñana Biological Station, led several zoological
expeditions. The CSIC's research activity intensified greatly in 1978, when researchers
from the Doñana Biological Station began to use the field station (Casa Forestal)
at Roblehondo in the municipal district of La Iruela as a base for their investigations.
The infrastructure, located in the center of Navahondona-Guardahornillos Reserve,
houses a field station, administratively dependent on the Doñana Biological Station,
thanks to a cession of use granted by the
Junta
de Andalucía (Andalusian Regional Government) to the CSIC.