[3] The objectives behind the creation of this park were as follows:[4] The concept of creating a large green area to serve as the "lung" for the urban region encompassing the city of Porto and its surroundings dates back nearly a century.

[11] On April 18, 2016, at the São Pedro da Cova [pt] Mining Museum in Gondomar, the public deed establishing the Associação de Municípios Parque das Serras do Porto was signed.

[3] At the beginning of the Ordovician period, a new sea formed in the interior of the continent, leading to the deposition of sediments that gave rise to the base conglomerates and quartzites of the Arenigian.

[15] Due to their complex geological history, the Serras do Porto preserve an important fossil collection, serving as evidence of the fauna and flora that have inhabited the region over the millennia.

Other notable endemic species with restricted distribution include Dryopteris guanchica, Sucissa pinnatifida, Linkagrostis juressi, and the emblematic Narcissus cyclamineus (commonly known as hammerheads).

These include the spotted frog, Iberian frog, marbled newt, natterjack toad, horseshoe whip snake, Spanish pond turtle, iberian emerald lizard, eurasian otter, greater horseshoe bat, common bent-wing bat, pyrenean desman, Pseudochondrostoma duriense, bordalo, panjorca, red-tailed godwit, and, among invertebrates, the blond goat and dragonflies with the scientific names Gomphus graslinii, Macromia splendens, and Oxygastra curtisii.

[16] Archaeological evidence shows that humans have inhabited the territory of the Serras do Porto for more than six thousand years, due to the abundance of natural resources and the favorable conditions for defense.

In addition to evidence of the use of natural shelters as habitats by humans in their hunter-gatherer phase, megalithic monuments confirm the presence of people in the area during the Neolithic period.

[18] Across the park, there are mining works related to gold extraction during Roman times, including open cuttings and underground galleries, and quadrangular shafts.

[21] The agricultural tradition is particularly visible in the popular architecture found throughout the park area, such as the houses, granaries, hydraulic mills, and their weirs, which mark the end of the cereal production cycle.

The construction of these mills dates back to the Middle Ages, and they are mentioned in the Afonsinas Inquiries of 1258, as well as in the Manueline foral of the 16th century, laying the foundations for contemporary baking practices.

[22] As a result of abundant mineral deposits, the Serras do Porto are home to an important industrial mining heritage, reflected in a vast array of ruined structures related to ore management and processing.

[23] Since ancient times, the tree formations in the area that now makes up the Serras do Porto Park have been dominated by oak (Quercus robur), a period when pastoralism and the collection of undergrowth (for agriculture, animal bedding, and baking ovens) were the predominant activities.

However, from the 1970s onwards, the combined effects of the abandonment of agricultural practices, reduced use of these areas by the population, and the introduction of successive public programs to support afforestation led to a drastic transformation in land use.

[24] Official data from 2017 showed that 4,129 hectares, or 69% of the park's total area, consisted of eucalyptus trees in various forms (pure and mixed with hardwoods or conifers), with other species now having a reduced presence, particularly native oak forests, which are now limited to small clusters.

Besides the lack of economic viability, these vast areas are the main sources of high-intensity forest fires, which are harder to control, posing a danger to both the park's flora and fauna as well as to the people living nearby.

[30] The uncontrolled dumping of rubble and the pollution of surface and groundwater caused by agricultural, industrial, and urban waste activities negatively impact the species of river fauna and riparian galleries.

Unregulated visitation, improper harvesting of species, and off-road activities with motorized vehicles are other serious threats and contribute to the degradation of spaces (particularly the forest road network), with no positive benefits for the local community.