Conservation in Guanajuato

More than a dozen species of the encino oak tree spread a dark green canopy across the rocky Sierra de Santa Rosa, but centuries of mining, grazing, and firewood-gathering have taken a toll on the forest. Trees have been cut down to provide wood for the mines; cows and goats roam the hillsides; people gather leña (firewood) and pack it to town on burros where it is sold to fuel the cooking stoves of street vendors. The land is dry, and when the trees disappear, the vegetation is slow to recover. The soil erodes dramatically, and this affects the streams and reservoirs that provide water for Guanajuato and many of the surrounding pueblos.

Several decades ago, the government engaged in a program to address the deforestation problem by planting non-native, fast-growing eucalyptus trees. This solution has created new problems; the eucalyptus trees suck up a lot of the water and they have taken over areas that would historically have been covered by encino trees.

A small but impressive nonprofit conservation organization, Cuerpos de Conservación Guanajuato, is addressing these problems to improve the health of the mountains and the well-being of the tiny pueblos that are embedded in the remote reaches. The organization really has just one full-time employee: Arturo. But he knows how to mobilize people. Today we explored the mountains with him and learned about the projects of the Cuerpos. He has worked with local people to build extensive stone terraces across hillsides that have been deforested. The loose stones are gathered from the mountainsides, and they are arranged in countoured walls that help to catch sediment and rebuild the top soil. In some places, native maguey plants have been planted along the terraces to facilitate the process. The terraces prevent ongoing erosion and slowly facilitate the restoration of the soil on the mountainsides; the work of building the terraces provides employment for local people (the Cuerpos organization has received government funding from both México and the United States for these projects). Many of the workers are women; Arturo said the organization has had more success mobilizing women in the small mountain towns for these new projects.

The Cuerpos de Conservación Guanajuato also helped a group of about twenty women develop a community-based cooperative business to make and sell traditional sweets, jams, and syrups from the seasonal fruits of the region. One of the women, Margarita, told us today how the women have always made these preserves in their homes, but, with encouragement from Cuerpos and others, they began to imagine it as a viable business. Now they have a beautiful kitchen and shop on the main street in Santa Rosa where they sell glowing yellow and orange and amber jars of preserved fruits: tejocotes en almibar, mermelada de fresa, mermelada de mango, chiles chipotles. Their strawberry jam is shipped weekly to restaurants in Mexico City. The business provides an economic boon for the community and celebrates the land by honoring the traditional fruits of the area without contributing to deforestation (as livestock grazing and firewood gathering have done). The business has grown organically from the kitchens of the women in the pueblo, and it promotes natural foods and an environmental ethic.

As we surveyed the landscape and learned about these projects, Arturo said, "La sierra es una buena escuela." The mountains are a good school.