The place name, El Matorral, located next to the Juan Grande Thermal Power Plant, is the only vestige that remains of the extinct Tabaibal forest that extended along all the southeastern plains of the island. This forest was described in this area, hence the name, as an impenetrable jungle in which people were lost, with centuries-old specimens the size of fig trees, under which cows took refuge seeking shade and, according to some texts, with those who made fishing rafts with their logs.
Unfortunately, nothing remains of these forests, which completely disappeared in the 40s, with the clearing of the land for tomato cultivation. Added to this, in the last 30 years, is the profound anthropization of the southeastern region, which has caused the virtual disappearance, except in small pockets, of the habitat of steppe birds, the extinction of the gariñuela or Saharan runner and the laying of in serious danger of the disappearance of birds, such as the calandro and the moro bird, very common in our childhood.
Researchers Daniel González, Manuel Amador and Juan José Ramos tell us this in the article 'The invisible desert of Gran Canaria' (2021), which we attach and which describe the Llanos del Sureste, from Gando to Tarajalillo, as the largest delta of the Canary Islands, and until not long ago as "one of the most spectacular, unknown and misunderstood environments of the Canary archipelago."
In addition to this, the Juan Grande region has become the area for the implementation of the main and essential services on the island: power plant, prison, landfill, fish farms, quarries, and now renewables: photovoltaic and wind, without consideration or compensation for the neighbors and much less for the birds, except for the small redoubt of Juncalillo del Sur, completely surrounded by dangers for these animals. Now, to them will be added the expansion of the Juan Grande Quarry to the south, next to the highway, just 380 m from this protected space of Juncalillo del Sur.
In addition to being a threat to birds, the expansion of the Juan Grande quarry is an attack on our archaeological heritage because in the area of the expansion there is a historical path that has been accessed since the time of the Canary Islands, from the plain to Amurga. and that runs along the right bank of the Barranco Hondo. The road connected the town of Amajo, located in the current Salinas de Abajo, with the sacred space of El Coronadero and with what we believe Amago/Umiaga, the sacred mountain of the Tirajana Sanctuary, which for us was the Las Tabaibas Mountain. , located behind the future expansion of the quarry.
According to our interpretation, this path is most likely where the Castilian troops of Hernández Cabrón went up in 1479, to reach the sacred mountain and on the way down the Battle of Tirajana took place, on the day of San Bartolomé, which gave its name to the municipality. Also along this road, in the same area of the future quarry, Los Arrastraderos are located, where the beasts lowered the trunks of the disappeared Amurga pine forest and also, through this strategic place of communication, the cattle were driven in the Amurga apañadas since the times of the Canaries.
Finally, this historic road that will soon be literally destroyed, was very important for the castilleros in more recent post-war times, when the Guedes shepherds from Castillo del Romeral, who had their cattle in the Vuelta de La Montaña (next to the Coronadero), They came down with skins loaded with milk on their shoulders, which allowed the locals to feed themselves during that time of famine. And this is the pass, which can no longer be used, through which hundreds of hikers currently go up to visit the site of El Coronadero and the natural beauties that, we do not know for how long, we still have in Amurga.
