Protecting Wild Cat Habitat

Mexico suffered one of the most intense droughts on record, record-breaking heat waves, and a terrible forest fire season, which occurred in the Sierra Gorda and kept us on alert of the serious danger.

The management and combat of these fires has been the main activity of the team of park rangers and our Valle Verde Forest Fire Fighting Brigade. First, the fire that threatened one of the private reserves was reactivated on two occasions, even though it was already properly fenced with a fire gap and was reduced to a few burning logs within the perimeter, which, being oak trees, could take weeks to ignite and with the fire embers staying active. Due to the intensity of extraordinary gusts of wind, sparks flew out of the gap and started the fire again. This finally reached the southern slope, where approximately 3 hectares of cloud forest burned - an ecosystem and its species that by definition did not burn and is not adapted to fire. That last week of the fire it was essential to have our own brigade of the Sierra Gorda Ecological Group (GESG), since only one of the Government brigades stayed with us, as other fires were activated and had to be attended. The use of backpack-pumps was essential, so for 3 days we had the task of “combing” the forest in search of hot spots where there were still burning embers and logs and put them out definitively. However, this task is heavy, because as there is no water on the site it meant carrying it from the vehicle and the steep and complicated terrain makes it difficult to walk and obviously to carry 20 liters of water in each backpack. Still in the last week of April, we made walks and cleared the embers.

In the month of May, the first fire we attended was near the Las Arenitas r private eserve in an oak forest caused by agricultural burning, where the fire started on Thursday, May 9, and was immediately attended by our brigade and that of the National Forestry Commission (CONAFOR), also based in Valle Verde, and that of the Secretary of Agricultural Development (SEDEA) in nearby San Juan de los Durán. On Thursday and Friday they worked to control the fire and on Saturday we were able to put it out 100%, again thanks to the use of backpack pumps. In these cases it is crucial to extinguish all the burning logs. All this during this year's second heat wave in Mexico, which broke historical records all over the country.

On Monday 13, a new fire occurred between the reserves of El Socabón and Cañón del Fresno, where once again our Brigade intervened along with two others, so the suppression occurred that same day and on the 14th it was liquidated with the backpack-pump and water. It is clear to us that having greater response and combat capabilities, inter-institutional coordination and collaborating as a single team among the different brigades and institutions is allowing for a better and faster response. The idea is that as soon as a fire breaks out, it will be dealt with as quickly as possible and with the largest possible number of fire fighters. On June 6 and 7, a new fire was started in Carrizal de los Durán, relatively close to the Hoya Verde Reserve, so the GESG brigade once again joined the Federal and State Government in fighting it. With the delay of the rains, on the 16th and 17th another fire broke out, where once again our Brigade participated in its combat and control. Finally, on the night of the 19th, rains fell in a good part of the Sierra Gorda, initiating a rainy season that put a stop to the most intense drought on record and the heat waves that successively occurred and broke the historical heat records on a daily basis.