The RAMA FORESTRY PROJECT is developed in the Valle de Pancanta, in Sierra de San Luis, which is in the central zone of the province and has a general orientation from N to S, with a development of 200km long. The western hillsides are steep and the eastern gentle extended.

It is one of the main Valleys of the province of San Luis. It begins at the north of El Trapiche and La Florida and includes from Cañada Honda to the beginning of Valle Conlara. The Valle de Pancanta, is crossed by different rivers, being the most relevant the Río Grande.

The Cerro Tololosta, is one of the attractions found in the Valley, it is estimated that its height reaches 2000m. A frieze of almost 25m may also be appreciated and it is one of the murals of most important rupestrian or cave art in the province; the colors used are red, yellow and black.
To the north of the Valley, there are several ranches built at the times when gold was found in La Carolina, and the divisions among these properties, can be clearly observed from the Valley. This is another attraction in Valle de Pancanta.

It is not an agricultural but a cultivation zone. It is very fertile and, for its height, 900m, it has the possibility that cultivation is not polluted (At present, to prove it, some tests with the potato cultivation was carried out).

As regards as livestock, is mountainous: there is curucol breeding (imported from Minor Asia) and also, fine cattle and milking production cattle is bred.

The Valle de Pancanta, is located between La Carolina, to the north, and El Trapiche, to the south.
La Carolina, is the typical mining village established in 1792 by the Marquis de Sobremonte in honor to the King Charles III of Spain. The small village is located along the only street and climbs the Cerro Tololosta of curiously golden colors. El Trapiche, is a wonderful mountain village that opens its arms of willows and water to shelter them in its freshness and greenness in the margins of the homonymous river which is plowed with hurried whisper, moving through the village among backwaters and stony grounds, with crystalline water where nature seems to have designed a painting of greater splendor.

The climate is arid to the West (400mm) and semi-arid to the East (700mm), with figures that exceed this numbers in certain sub-humid microclimates of some valleys, like this project in the Valle de Pancanta.

Taking into account the different situations and, in general terms, the Sierras de San Luis and their mountainous areas, constitute an important forestry space, located in a zone of great industrial and demographic development.

Geology

It is very ancient, of primary origin, with foundations and granite crests formed by igneous and metamorphic rocks. The great movements of the Tertiary period formed the current topography and an active genesis originated sedimentary rocks and the deposit of big layers of sand-muddy sediments forming gentle hillsides, valleys extended like pampas of height.

Climate

Temperate of the continental type, arid to semi-arid with sub-humid microclimates. The average temperatures vary from 12°C to 16,6°C. Rains are spring- estival, diminish in autumn and are poor in winter. The registers are 400 to 800 mm, being less the ones of the occidental valley. The best places and forestry species better adapted are located within this range.

Hydrography

The Sierras de San Luis constitutes the origin of the most important rivers of the province of San Luis, among them the Río Quinto, which goes beyond the provincial limits.