WCS Invests in Mayan Heritage

©WCS/J.Maher

Endangered temples and turkeys got a recent boost when the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) announced its plans to invest $3 million dollars in Guatemala’s Eastern Maya Biosphere Reserve. Over the next five years, WCS funding will continue to support ongoing programs in this reserve, as well as in community-managed areas, scarlet macaw nesting sites, and Mirador-Rio Azul National Park. The result will be a conservation network of 3,800 square miles, an area larger than Yellowstone National Park.

The globally important Eastern Maya Biosphere Reserve is home to both rare wildlife and Mayan archaeological sites. Ocellated turkeys—found nowhere else on Earth—are one of 400 species of birds that live here and in the Mirador-Rio Azul. The protected areas also contain jaguars, tapirs, and howler monkeys among 95 species of mammals. But these cultural and natural treasures all face the threats of illegal land settlement and poaching.

WCS began working in Guatemala in the 1980s by awarding small grants to native biologists. The Society has been supporting Mirador-Rio Azul National Park since 2001, when it provided key funding to create Asociación Balam. This Guatemalan non-governmental organization is dedicated to strengthening the park’s management. Other WCS partners in the region include U.S. Agency for International Development, U.S. Department of Interior, Rainforest Alliance, The Nature Conservancy, and Conservation International.

WCS will also include the expansive Mirador-Azul Natural and Cultural Area in its Gateways to Conservation campaign, launched in 2006 to help safeguard 200 million acres around the world. “WCS’s commitment to the protection and development of the Mirador-Rio Azul is one more tool to consolidate a new innovative management model,” said Bayron Castellanos, Director of Asociación Balam. This model provides local groups in the Maya Forest with a key role in the conservation of their natural heritage.

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