January 2007

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Capacity-building for Park Rangers in the Sierra La Laguna Biosphere Reserve, Baja California Sur, Mexico

By Victor Anguiano, Biologist, Sierra La Laguna Biosphere Reserve

 (Editor’s note: As part of our Resource Awards Program, the SJV recently donated four copies of the Kaufman Guía de Campo a las Aves de Norteamérica to the Sierra La Laguna Biosphere Reserve in Baja California Sur, Mexico. This report from Victor Anguiano discusses what they have been able to accomplish with these guides. To learn more about this program, contact Jennie Duberstein) Special thanks to the Black Swamp Bird Observatory and Tucson Audubon Society for helping to make field guides available to SJV partners.

The Sierra La Laguna Biosphere Reserve is located in the extreme south of the Baja California peninsula. It includes 112,437 hectares and three principle ecosystems: tropical deciduous forest, oak forest, and, in the highest regions, pine-oak forest. Over 14 million years of evolution and adaptation have created high numbers of endemic plants and animals. The pine-oak forest is a region that has been isolated and can be thought of as an island surrounded by a sea of desert. The closest pine-oak forest to the Sierra La Laguna is more than 1800 km away by land (on the Baja Peninsula) and more than 500 km away if you cross the Gulf of California. This isolation has allowed for limited interactions between species living in different mountains and what was once a single species has, in some cases, evolved into multiple species or subspecies. One example of this is the pine tree that is shared with forests in Sinaloa and Sonora. Pine trees in Sierra La Laguna currently have such different characteristics from their mainland cousins that they are considered an endemic species, Pinus lagunae. Over 900 species of plants have been identified in Sierra La Laguna, of which nearly 18% are endemic.

There are approximately 40 endemic breeding subspecies or distinct forms of birds the Reserva, including Northern (Cape) Pygmy-Owl (Glaucidium gnoma hoskinsii),Band-tailed (Sierra de la Laguna) Pigeon (Patagioenas fasciata vioscae),American (San Lucas) Robin (Turdus migratorius confinis), Yellow-eyed (Baird's) Junco   (Junco phaeonotus bairdi), Oak Titmouse (Baeolophus inornatus cineraceus), White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis lagunae), Pacific-slope Flycatcher (Empidonax difficilis cineritius), Warbling Vireo (Vireo gilvus victoriae), Acorn Woodpecker (Melanerpes formicivorus angustifrons), and Hutton's Vireo (Vireo huttoni cognatus).

Improvements in training and capacity building of park rangers and biologists have allowed us to update and correct the bird list for Sierra La Laguna Biosphere Reserve. For example, the management program for the Reserve notes the presence of Aphelocoma coerulescens (Florida Scrub-Jay). We now know that this species is restricted to Florida and the species we have in the Reserve is Aphelocoma californica (Western Scrub-Jay). There are a number of other examples like this.

Part of the Reserve’s management program includes biological inventory of the flora and fauna. This year we are working to update these lists, beginning with birds. We began this effort with capacity building of the four park rangers who live in the Reserve and have shown an interest in learning more about the resources around them. With the support of the Sonoran Joint Venture, who donated four Kaufman Field Guides to the Birds of North America, we have been able to implement a capacity-building workshop for the park rangers and we now have a more effective monitoring program that allows us to update and quantify the resident and migratory birds that use the Reserve. It has been a great experience for me to spend time with the park rangers and learn from their field experiences. They are able to identify many species of birds by song and local common names, can identify different types of nest construction, and are learning what areas are preferred by different species of birds. Each of the park rangers is in charge of a specific area of the Reserve, for which he keeps field notes about the bird species observed and works to improve the Reserve checklist and make new sightings. We will continue to work with the park rangers to mprove their skills in bird identification and monitoring, as well as field guide use.

Marismas Nacionales Regional Alliance Hires Coordinator
by Areli González, Coordinator, Marismas Nacionales Regional Alliance

Marismas Nacionales is a coastal area on the Pacific in central Mexico, generally located between Mazatlán, Sinaloa and San Blas, Nayarit. In March 2006, with support from the North American Wetlands Conservation Act-Mexico (NAWCA-Mexico), biologist Areli González was hired to coordinate the Marismas Nacionales Regional Alliance for the Conservation of Birds and their Habitats, Sinaloa-Nayarit.

In 2001, the NABCI Trinational Committee identified Marismas Nacionales as one of five sites to pilot the development of regional alliances, entities that would parallel the bird habitat joint venture partnerships that operate in the United States and Canada. The regional alliances would promote the development of trinational projects and help provide strong links in Mexico for these continental partnership activities. Like joint ventures, the Marismas Nacionales Regional Alliance has the principal aim of involving federal, state, and municipal agencies and non-governmental organizations in the sustainable management of Marismas’s wetland habitats to protect and restore the bird populations that depend upon them.

Marismas Nacionales is a treasure of biodiversity. Its vast coastline supports 113,248 hectares of mangrove swamps and estuaries, representing 15 to 20 percent of Mexico’s mangroves ─ the most extensive stretch of these habitats along Mexico’s Pacific coast ─ including four mangrove species under protected status. Scientists have recorded a total of 446 bird species in Marismas, representing almost 44 percent of Mexico’s avifauna. The coastal habitats support numerous birds listed as priority species by the NAWCA, including 83 percent of priority ducks, 41 percent of priority shorebirds, 66 percent of priority colonial waterbirds, 71 percent of priority marshbirds, and 5 percent of priority land birds. Twenty percent of the world population of American avocets uses this ecosystem.

The numerous wetlands in Marismas Nacionales generate significant economic benefits by supporting commercial fisheries, especially shrimp, reducing impacts of wave surges and cyclones, filtering pollutants, and providing wood and medicines. Marismas Nacionales is a RAMSAR wetland of international importance, a Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserves Network site of international importance, and a Mexican Area of Importance for the Conservation of the Birds (AICA). Nevertheless, conservationists are faced with an array of significant environmental problems in Marismas, including habitat destruction due to expanding shrimp farms, agrochemical contamination of water, sea water incursion through human-made canals, and domestic sewage in water from upriver cities. The Regional Alliance is working to protect the Marismas ecosystem through sustainable development and use of natural resources, environmental restoration, and protection from chemical contamination. Through a series of workshops and meetings, the Regional Alliance has formalized its Steering Committee, membership, declaration of principles, and a master action plan that establishes roles, mechanisms, and commitments. The workshops were funded by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, local partners, Mexican agencies, the Sonoran Joint Venture, NAWCA-Mexico, NABCI-Canada and NABCI-US.

Members of the Marismas Nacionales Regional Alliance are currently working on an action plan that proposes a budget and timeline for research, monitoring, habitat conservation, environmental education, training, and sustainable development projects. For more information, contact Areli González.