Restoration in Yucatan 2021: 7 Steps from Devastation to Biodiversity
Replanting Pastures and Restoring Forests
We are working to restore the forest landscapes in and around the San Felipe Bacalar Natural Protected Area, as well as the Balam-Kú and Calakmul Biosphere Reserves. Our work takes place within 20,000 hectares, an area larger than the country of Liechtenstein.
Our sites have suffered different levels of degradation: Some areas are recently abandoned cattle pastures with only a few scattered trees left (like parts of Las Americas 5 & 7).
Other areas were never fully deforested, but either economically valuable trees have been logged or significant proportions of the forest were destroyed by fires (like San Felipe Bacalar A and B), leaving behind relatively species-poor vegetation. In other areas, the forest is still full of many species and we are either conserving it or letting it grow back on its own (like Las Americas 3 & 4).
Trees Planted in 2021 Planting Season (July–December)
Semi-evergreen Tropical Forest
We aim to restore a seasonal semi-evergreen tropical forest. Unlike the wetter forests we imagine when we think of the tropics, these forests have 4–6 month long dry seasons where only little rain falls. Where we work, 25–50% of the trees drop their leaves during that time because they are water stressed.
In the state of Campeche, where our work takes place, 8.1% of the original forest has been lost since 2002. Restoring this ecosystem is not just important for plants, but also the animals. In Campeche, jaguars and tapirs are in danger of extinction because of deforestation, habitat fragmentation and incidental deaths by human encounters.
In our sites, we often wake up to the sound of howler monkeys near the camp and see box turtles while planting. So far, only Nicolas, Juan and Jose have seen Jaguars.
Project Leader
Restoration Ecology Research
We set up the first experiment with 16,000 trees in 2020 to understand what percentage of all trees planted should be nitrogen-fixing species to optimise overall survival and growth rates.
Nitrogen-fixing tree species can help to fertilize the soil and help nearby tree species, without the ability to fix nitrogen, to grow.
We are also testing a hypothesis that a simple addition of forest soil to a tree’s planting hole can increase survival rates. We expect to be introducing symbiotic microbes through the soil addition and thus the soil microorganism diversity in degraded soil towards communities that ‘help’ the trees grow.
In a second experiment, to be set up in September 2021, we aim to determine how rates of forest recovery are influenced by the characteristics of planted tree species. We will plant tree species mixes that span a gradient of diversity (both species richness and functional diversity) and evaluate how characteristics of planted tree species can catalyze ecosystem recovery.
Balam-Kú/Calakmul Biosphere Reserve Region
- Las Americas 7
The western half of the site is mostly intact forest, with smaller patches of degradation. The eastern half is entirely deforested. We are planting in the deforested and degraded sites in 2021 and 2022. - Las Americas 5
Our research site (90 ha) is located within the Balam-Kú reserve. It is just one km from our office and is used for our large field trials. - Las Americas 3 & 4
Our two largest project sites are within the Calakmul and Balam-Kú reserves. They are the least degraded of all our project sites. We are currently preparing a thorough field analysis of the conditions of these forests. All areas not severely degraded are conserved and allowed to naturally regenerate. If sufficient degradation is discovered to merit an intensive restoration intervention, we will apply for a permit and potentially begin work in 2023. - Las Americas 1, 2 & 6
These sites experienced varying states of degradation. In the years 2015–2020, we reforested and implemented enrichment planting.
San Felipe Bacalar Natural Protected Area
- San Felipe Bacalar A
339 hectares of forest burned in 2019. However, many trees survived the blaze. We are conducting enrichment planting in 2021 to restore the lost species. - San Felipe Bacalar B
Another devastating fire in 2020 affected this section (220 ha) of the Natural Protected Area. We will be conducting enrichment planting here in 2022. - San Felipe Bacalar C, D & E
In 2022 we will be converting what used to be a 87 ha coconut plantation back into a natural forest.
The Las Americas sites are owned by Plant-for-the-Planet. The San Felipe Bacalar sites are owned by our partners, INIFAP. INIFAP is a federal agriculture and forestry research institution. We partnered to restore the San Felipe Bacalar Natural Protected Area. As part of this partnership, Plant-for-the-Planet is conducting the restoration and maintenance work of the trees for the first three years after planting, in close collaboration with INIFAP. INIFAP is then responsible for the long-term protection of the forests.
We aim to plant 100 million trees in Mexico by 2030. That’s a very ambitious target. Not all of these trees are to be planted on the Yucatan Peninsula, but also in other efforts around the country. Of course, the sites of Plant-for-the-Planet and its partners are not big enough for all these trees. We are continuously looking for additional sites to continue our work.
In addition to our work on the Yucatán Peninsula, we also work with partners to restore the forest in central Mexico (see below). Depending on where they are needed most, tree-donations to Plant-for-the-Planet are allocated to one of these two projects.
We are incredibly grateful for every donor and supporter allowing us to restore these ecosystems. Due to the delays caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and in order to focus on maximising the diversity of species planted and to do our best to restore these ecosystems as well as possible, we are not scaling up our operations as quickly as initially planned. Thus, we expect that trees donated today might not be planted until late 2022 or even the 2023 planting season.
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