Ecological Importance

The healthy pine, pine-oak, and oak forests and chaparral of Ajos-Bavispe are prime habitat for a diversity of species including 1,234 species of vascular plants, 208 species of birds and 156 species of butterflies. Among the important species are black bear, peregrine falcon, golden eagle, porcupine and rare and threatened species such as the Mexican spotted owl, leopard frogs, thick-billed parrot, and horned lizard.

Threats

Due to its ruggedness, the reserve has remained largely protected. The most significant threats to the refuge are natural fire regime change through fire suppression programs, illegal cattle ranching and associated introduction of invasive species, road construction, and illegal timber harvesting and wildlife poaching.

A Strategy of Success

Although Ajos-Bavispe was designated a reserve in 1939, it did received the attention it deserved until 1998 and for six decades the area was impacted by logging, mining, cattle grazing and hunting. When PiP began funding, the program focused site consolidation efforts on improving basic operations of the park, including the hiring and training of staff, improving and building infrastructure, purchasing equipment, and strategic conservation planning. With these improvements Ajos-Bavispe has improved its threat score from “medium” to “low.”

The PiP partner organization, BIDA, is drafting an integrated fire management plan for the reserve one of the first in Mexico. The plan will be used to educate public agencies and local people on the important role of fire in maintaining the health of the watersheds and the forests and surrounding grasslands as well as to prevent catastrophic fires, such as those recently experienced in the U.S. in similar fire-maintained ecosystems.

Working with The Nature Conservancy in the U.S., PiP helped IMADES develop key programs for private lands and freshwater conservation techniques to promote watershed-management bi-nationally.

Read more about Ajos-Bavispe...

Comisión de Ecología y Desarrollo Sustentable del Estado de Sonora (CEDES)