ABOUT THE SIERRA: Bio-cultural RESEARCH:
Ejido Pino Gordo: Endangered Habitat And Biological Diversity of Southwestern Chihuahua, Mexico

Executive Summary

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The Sierra Madre Occidental of northwestern Mexico is a globally recognized center of biological diversity. The Sierra has variously acted as a corridor of migration between tropical and temperate biota, a refuge during glacial periods, a barrier between major desert provinces in western Mexico, and a center of adaptive radiation of both plants and animals. The result has been the creation of an incredible diversity of plant and animal communities of tropical and temperate origins that is without equal. It has received little recognition or protection relative to its biological importance.

The pine – oak forest of the Sierra is one of the most endangered ecosystems on Earth. Estimates of the amount of old growth pine – oak remaining in the Sierra range from less than 1% to approximately 3% of the original 93,560 km_. The Ejido of Pino Gordo in southwestern Chihuahua contains one of the largest remaining old growth stands left in the Sierra. Although surveys of the species contained within the ejido remain incomplete, biological studies to date documented 263 vertebrate species including many which are endemic to Mexico or are endangered or threatened with extinction. Estimates for total number of vascular plants exceeds 1,000 species. Nowhere in Mexico does there exist an area dedicated to conservation which contains continuous old growth pine – oak, oak and tropical forest to compare with those found in Pino Gordo.

Although the indigenous Tarahumara people of Pino Gordo are unanimous in their desire to conserve their forests they are threatened with illegal exploitation. If allowed to proceed, forest exploitation will result in erosion, degradation of water resources, changes in fire regime, depletion of timber resources, and loss of species which have been witnessed through much of the Sierra. Pino Gordo is a biological treasure of state, national, and global importance and deserves protection as such.

The Sierra Madre Alliance recommends:

1. Environmental impact assessments be required for all logging and roadbuilding permits in areas containing more than one hectare of old growth forests.
2. Indigenous pueblos should be consulted independent of the ejido or community prior to permission for exploitation of indigenous lands.
3. Species recovery plans must be prepared for Thick-billed Parrots, Northern Goshawk, and Mexican Spotted Owls. Interim measures such as Ecological Restoration Zones and standards for protecting feeding and nesting areas established.
4. Ejidos must be provided with the option for technical and legal assistance to conduct technical forest audits and financial audits of forestry operations.
5. Ejidos should be provided with training and financial mechanisms to convert to independent standards of internationally certified sustainable forestry, which incorporates nontimber forest values.
6. Development initiatives should focus on education, appropriate skills development and financial mechanisms for economic diversification, including nontimber forest products.
7. Appropriate mechanisms must be sought to recognize indigenous declared natural protected areas.

Sierra Madre Alliance concludes that further logging and roadbuilding in Pino Gordo would violate article 83 of the General Law of Environmental Equilibrium and would violate Treaty 169, Article 15.2 of the International Labor Organization which requires that the Tarahumara pueblo be consulted prior to exploitation of their resources.