| As a pair of roseate spoonbills swept over
the brackish lagoon their elongated red- pink flanks and coverts
cast a surreal radiance. Unfortunately my peripheral vision
ruined the moment jolting me back to the new reality of Mazatlán.
Above the low forest I could see a dozen workers resuming work
on a condominium building rising above Estero
Del Yugo. At just 11 hectares, Estero Del Yugo is one of
the most important wildlife preserves on Mexico's rapidly changing
Sinaloa coast. Real estate development is transforming Mazatlán
and environs into an updated Cancún.
Mazatlán
is awakening from a 30 year development siesta, but instead
of new hotels it's several thousand high rise condo apartments
aimed at American and Canadian snowbird investors.
This development is replacing tracts of the flat coastal dry
tropical deciduous forest. Amidst the hastening sprawl sits
Estero Del Yugo where over 200 species of aquatic and terrestrial
birds call home.
Mexico boasts the second most wetland sites in the world with
112 listed on the International Wetlands Registry, which promotes
conservation and sustainable development. Several Mexican wetlands
have gained international biosphere stature such as Sian
Ka'an (652,193 hectares) in Quintana Roo and have protection
but most do not. Estero Del Yugo is a vest pocket preserve lost
in the swirl of Mazatlán's wheeling and real estate dealing.
Yet Estero del Yugo's founder has big ambitions. She wants a
sustainable future for the Sinaloa coast.
SMALL IS BEAUTIUL
"This is conservation by the square meter, but we desperately
need this type of setting. We are becoming more and more urbanized
and we can approach nature less and less,"said Sandra Guido,
the 47 year-old driving force behind Estero Del Yugo. "If
you are not able to conserve what is in your backyard we lose
hope and the ability for people to connect with nature. Where
will our troubled kids go for peace and solitude?"
For a decade the University of Guadalajara trained biologist
has built Estero Del Yugo's infrastructure with a lot of workaholic
grit and not a lot of money. Despite not having a budget, she
has been able to build classrooms that host 2,500 school children
annually. A well-defined trail winds around the lagoons and
forest where a bird blind and tower offer intimate views of
the estuary's feathered flotilla. Mexico's federal agency, CIAD,
provided the land but didn't provide ongoing funding. Ecotourists
are encouraged to contribute 50 pesos upon entry and this is
Guido's primary financial support.
"The NGOs and large conservation groups won't contribute
because we don't fit their criteria, we are too small and we're
in an urban setting," Guido said. Her short term achievable
goals seem modest, putting up interpretative signs, building
a handicap trail and getting funding for infrastructure maintenance.
Hurricanes and termites have taken their tool on the shaky tower
and the bird blind.
Guido is among the loudest voices trying to stem the tide of
the real estate pipeline. Increasing development has led to
myriad battles over land claims making ejido leaders and residents
feeling threatened. She worries that proper sewage will not
accompany the new buildings. Much of the new development is
occurring north and south of Mazatlán's city limits.
The estuary is located 10 miles north of the Zona Dorado, the
major tourist area. The high rise condos are rising in Zona
Dorado but also spilling north to Cerritos and Playa Delfin
where the estuary is located. These areas have trailer parks
but were considered too far north for major tourist development
in the past, but that is changing and the coast is being reshaped
by 10 and 20-story towers. South of Mazatlán a golf course
has gone in adjacent to new condo project on a peninsula called
Stone Island.
SOLAR ENERGY
There is also sustainable redevelopment occurring in Mazatlán's
historic center. Older buildings are being rehabbed by eco-conscious
builders such as Bill McGrady, a Nevada- based developer who
has opened a new boutique hotel there Olas Altas. He installed
the city's first roof top solar panels to heat the project's
pool. McGrady has bought two other properties downtown and says
it's now Mazatlán's time. Nothing will stop rampant development,
sustainable or otherwise.
"Mexico is a bottle of beer, it's full and when the foam
spills over it settles in Mazatlán. The rest of the country
is built out and Mazatlán is cheap," McGrady explains.
"For years the local hotel owners kept the international
chains from coming to Mazatlán and resort development
went elsewhere, but nothing is going to stop the real estate
development happening now. We're just seeing the start."
Guido takes a dim view of the development calling it a bubble
fueled by American and Canadian developers. Investors who were
able to cash in on the bull real estate market before it crashed
in 2006 redeployed their profits to Mexico. The strong Canadian
dollar is fueling investment by developers from Vancouver.
Guido is also head of the Alliance for the Sustainability of
the Northeast Mexican Coast, a group trying to keep developers
at bay.
"She has worked in those communities trying to bring sustainable
projects to them such as beekeeping to keep them from selling
the land to real estate developers," said Alwin van der
Heiden, a Mazatlán-based wildlife photographer whose
work is starting to be recognized globally. Van der Heiden's
wrote about the first Christmas bird count in Sinaloa's history
at Estero Del Yugo. It shed publicity about the preserve bringing
more visitors to the sanctuary earlier this year. Van der Heiden
has also worked as a guide in Mazatlán's ecotourism industry
but quit after he saw raw sewage being dumped into the ocean
by kayak operators working with cruise lines.
Still he encourages ecotourists to visit Sinaloa because it
is among Northern Mexico's richest wildlife states. He has photographed
jaguars
20 miles east of Mazatlán in the Sierra Madre foothills
as well as riverine crocodiles 20 miles north of the city. His
photos of the myriad birds that find sanctuary amid the rising
condos adjacent to Estero Del Yugo are equally as dramatic.
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