| MEXICO
-- The 119,177 hectares (294,367 acres) reserve in the southwestern
corner of Chiapas, near the border of Guatemala, protects one
of the richest and most biologically important sections of the
Sierra Madre. Named for an inactive volcano, El Triunfo was
declared a biosphere reserve in 1990. In 1993, the park was
included in the UNESCO's
Man and the Biosphere Program and is considered one of the country's
most pristine and diverse natural areas.
El Triunfo is located in the highlands of the Sierra Madre
de Chiapas, a mountainous chain of steeps and pinnacles surpassing
2,000 meters, surrounded by wide and numerous valleys that reach
1,000 meters above sea level. Its climate varies from the dry
and hot lowlands to the cool and humid western slopes and highlands.
The reserve has almost constant cloud cover. This is one of
Mexico's wettest places. The area supplies the water for nine
rivers that supply more than 20 towns, including a large area
of coffee plantations and the La Angostura dam.
BIRD WATCHING
In the forest thicket, resplendent quetzals flash their green
feathers as they dart through the canopy. More than 300 species
of birds live here. Besides quetzals, the national symbol of Guatemala,
you may see the horned guan, hummingbirds, flycatchers, forest
falcons, manakins, and the azure-rumped tanager.
The horned guan (Oreophasis derbianus) belongs to a group
of birds that can be found only on the North American Continent.
The cloud forests of the Sierra Madre of Chiapas and Guatemala
are its exclusive habitat. The reserve also attracts the blue
morpho, a large and fairly common large blue butterfly. These
extremely humid environments favor the abundance of tree-like
ferns, some reaching up to 15 meters.
NATURAL HISTORY
The reserve is divided into five core zones measuring more than
25,000 hectares (61,750 acres). A 90,000-hectare (222,300-acres)
buffer zone surrounds the core zones. Management regulations prohibit
all kinds of productive or extractive activities in the core zones,
which are dedicated to conservation and research programs.
The reserve has 12,000 residents who live in 37 ejidos. The
population increases significantly during the coffee harvesting
season. The highlands of Chiapas are one of Mexico's most significant
coffee-growing regions. Coffee arrived in the region at the
end of 19th century, when European investors, invited by the
government, installed the first plantation.
The prevailing climatic conditions favored the new crops (as
it does the cultivation of cacao); so coffee plantations increased
in number and size, which in turn brought a large migration
of Indians from the highlands of Chiapas, Oaxaca, and Guatemala.
The economic success of cattle ranchers developed parallel
to ecological destruction of the area. In the 1940s, research
by Miguel Alvarez del Toro provided the evidence needed to protect
the area. In 1972, the first policies emerged and the Natural
History Institute of Chiapas took the direction of the area
into its hands.
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