Create 50 guardians for Bahia Magdalena mangrove

Thanks to your donation, and the community’s enthusiasm, an additional territory is now part of the Bahia Magdalena Ecological Reserve. Pronatura Noroeste in collaboration with the Bahia Magdalena community has been working for years with the use of legal conservation mechanisms to create private natural protected areas that legally back up the community’s conservation efforts. This led to the creation of the Bahia Magdalena Ecological Reserve with 1,700 hectares which includes a large section of the mangrove forest.

This past September two additional land plots have been legally acquired adding a total of 3,084.27 hectares to the ecological reserve. Now our guardians have more support from federal laws to protect the mangrove that feeds their families.

With this addition, collaboration between the community and our team is more important than ever. This December we will visit the community to create a plan for surveillance routes through the reserve. All of this is possible due to your contribution for us to remain on the site and to highlight with the community and local authorities the importance of maintaining the largest mangrove forest in Baja California Sur.

Due to Bahia Magdalena being a priority ecosystem, our field team carries out bio-monitoring in the area to evaluate its conservation status. This procedure consists of taking panoramic photographs of previously designated observation points covering a 360º angle. This way the photographs can be compared to previous ones taken along the years and identify any significant changes in the landscape.

Monitoring also serves to maintain a constant presence in the area and discourage any damaging activities. This is also why the team takes note of any activity that could potentially harm the ecosystem that is observed during the process.

This month a monitoring run was carried out by the team where 33 inland observation points and 16 coastal observation points were visited. Photographs were taken of each point along with notes on any observed significant changes in the landscape or any irregularities.

Overall, during the monitoring, the landscape around the observation points seems normal, except for two points where temporary facilities of what may be fishing camps and/or oyster cooperatives were observed. We will be attentive to the way in which these facilities are appearing and to investigate their origins. This way the situation can be managed appropriately to maintain the ecosystem’s conservation status.