Three New Protected Areas Established in Mexico's Yucatán Region
Three New Protected Areas Established in Mexico’s Yucatán Region
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Cozumel Emerald by John McKean/www.whywelovebirds.com
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Two of the new reserves, Chichankanab Lagoon State Reserve (28,600 acres), and Bacalar Lagoon Ecological State Park (12 acres) will protect important water sources on the mainland of the Yucatán Peninsula. The 49,000-acre Cozumel Forest and Wetlands State Reserve is being created on the island of Cozumel off the eastern coast of the peninsula to protect forest and wetland resources.
“We are thrilled to see the government step up to the plate and take this action. Mexico is a wonderful birding destination, but like many other parts of the world, it is rapidly losing precious bird habitat to agriculture and development. Large land protection efforts such as this will go some way to conserving native bird populations and U.S. migrants that winter there or stop over en route farther south,” said Andrew Rothman, ABC’s International Conservation Officer who heads the organization’s Mexico program.
“The island of Cozumel is particularly significant, as it is home to three endemic bird species, the Cozumel Thrasher, Cozumel Emerald, and Cozumel Vireo, as well as 15 endemic subspecies, including the Yucatan Woodpecker, Yucatan Flycatcher, and Cozumel House Wren,” Rothman said.
“The new protected area in Cozumel is one of the most important conservation actions by the state government of Quintana Roo in many years. It not only represents a tool to preserve pristine tropical forest and endemic bird and mammal species, it also helps to promote a sustainable development on the largest inhabited island in Mexico and the most important cruise destination in the world. On the other hand the official protection of the Chichankanab lake creates the opportunity to create low impact ecotourism projects to help the local communities that are among the poorest in the Yucatan while directly protecting six endemic fish species” said Gonzalo Merediz, the Executive Director of Amigos de Sian Ka’an.”
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Cozumel Vireo by John McKean/www.whywelovebirds.com |
Juan Martinez, of the organization Endemicos Insulares, who is the Secretary of the Mexican Alliance for Zero Extinction, and a steering committee member of the International Alliance for Zero extinction agreed saying “The new three protected areas represent an important step for the conservation of species facing imminent extinction. The new reserve in Cozumel will assist species detected by AZE international while the other two, give the opportunity to preserve other species detected by AZE-Mexico, such as endemic freshwater fish. These reserves were possible to the continuous efforts of the groups Amigos de Sian Ka'an and Sacbé, members of AZE-Mexico.”
In 2004, ABC supported surveys to locate the Cozumel Thrasher. The expedition proved fruitful, however the species has not been seen since 2007 after first Hurricane Wilma and then Hurricane Dan devastated the island. The creation of this new reserve in Cozumel means that if the thrasher still survives, one of the very few remaining areas it may inhabit is now protected.
ABC and its Mexican partner Amigos de Sian Ka’an, along with the Yucatán Peninsula Avian Alliance are working together to protect bird habitat in the Yucatán for U.S. WatchList species such as the Reddish Egret, Wood Thrush, Prothonotary Warbler, Swainson’s Warbler, and Kentucky Warbler. Most recently ABC through the Southern Wings program helped to purchase a 650 acre property in Yucatan for the protection of migratory bird habitat.
