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| Waterfowl at Valsequillo, photo by Jajean Rose |
By Jay Burney
(Published in Artvoice, May 5, 2012: http://artvoice.com/issues/v11n18/greenwatch)
1769 Word count
Cinco de Mayo, the 5th Day of May, is essentially
a regional holiday celebrated in the Mexican State and Capital City of Puebla.
The holiday celebrates the defeat of the French Army at the Battle of Puebla in
1862. It is not Mexican
Independence Day, which is celebrated nationally on September 16. At first glance you might think that Puebla and Buffalo
N.Y have little in common. But you would be wrong.
Puebla is Mexico’s 4th largest city, with a
population of over 2 million. It is located in the central eastern highlands
between Mexico City to the west, and Veracruz, on the coast, to the east. There
is evidence that Puebla in one of the oldest inhabited areas in all of the
America’s with settlements and pyramids dating back 12,000 years and evidence
of humans going back almost 40,000 years.
The city was established in 1531 by the Spanish in order to
establish a trade route between the coast and the interior areas of today’s Mexico
City. That trade route has been
the place of some of the epic conquistador stories involving the Aztecs and
Cortez. Many of the great military campaigns that characterized the conquest
took place in this corridor.
Later, The Battle of Puebla helped Mexico determine that it could become
independent of European rule. Indeed the human history of Puebla reflects the
history of Mexico.
Buffalo was founded because of its strategic location as
well. From early human history dating back almost 10,000 years and throughout
the modern era, the place that we call home has been characterized by its
location at the confluence of the Niagara River and Lake Erie. Buffalo has long
been a central character in the abilities of humans to move and trade between
the interior of the continent and the coast. Indeed wars have been fought here,
and civilizations established. Buffalo’s significant role in the American
Revolution and the War of 1812 also helped patriots in the United States
believe that our Country could become independent of European rule.
There is more that links our two areas. The physical geography of both places
is a magnet for biodiversity, and in particular wildlife migration. The Niagara
River Corridor “globally significant” Important Bird Area (NRIBA) anchored to the west by the
gateway Times Beach Nature Preserve are places that has been recognized
globally as critical habitat for migrating and breeding birds. The IBA designation was applied because
the area is part of the Atlantic Flyway, it supports many species, and because
there are serious threats to wildlife populations by its urbanized and built
environment.
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| El Popo Volcano from Valsequillo |
La Presa Valsequillo
Puebla also has a remarkable area that is a Mecca for
migrating birds. There is a huge
2,700 hectare /7,000 acre reservoir that hosts hundreds of species and hundreds
of thousands of individual birds especially during migration. Like the NRIBA,
Valsequillo is home to species common, threatened, and endemic.
Like the Niagara Corridor, few local people are aware of the
biological significance of this site. In fact, Valsequillo is surrounded by urban industry and there is
untreated sewerage discharged into its waters. Not unlike Lake Erie and the
Buffalo/Niagara River complexes.
Remarkably, some of the same species and probably some of
the same individual birds that migrate through our Niagara region may in fact
pass through Puebla and Valsequillo on their journeys between North America and
Central and South America.
El Guerro in Mexico
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| Bird Club at Valsequillo, photo by Ana Hernandez |
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| Jajean Rose at Valsequillo, photo by Ana Hernandez |
Jajean Rose was born in Buffalo, attended Montessori and
City Honors. In 2009 he graduated with a Masters in Planning from UB. Jajean is active in the promotion of the
NRIBA, and is a dedicated Friend of Times Beach. From a young age he learned about and worked to get the word
out on the critical biodiversity of our region. He has been a dedicated promoter of all things nature
and of our special places such as
Times Beach and the NRIBA. Just after graduation from UB he married Ana
Hernandez Balzac, and together they joined the Peace Corps. They were assigned
together to Puebla, Mexico. They wanted to do something with ecology and
conservation.
The Peace Corps encourages volunteers to establish their own
programs and interests and the pair were assigned to SEMARNET, in Puebla, which
is the Mexican government equivalent of the EPA.
When they first arrived and looked at maps, the Valsequillo
reservoir caught Jajean’s attention.
He wrote
in his blog: “When I arrived in
Puebla in November of 2010, I
asked everyone I could about Valsequillo. What it was like, who lived there,
what I could see if I went. I was more than disappointed by the responses. “Se
murio la presa.” They said the reservoir was dead, too polluted to drink from,
swim in, or even go boating on. The fish? They all died long ago. The birds?
There aren’t any. The reservoir is nothing more than a smelly, toxic, mud hole.
“
Undeterred
he checked out the site in person. Over many visits he was astonished by what
he found. While the reservoir was
certainly a sewerage lagoon and full of waste from nearby industry, it was
teaming with life.
“The
water was clear and blue.” He wrote. “Huge rafts of ducks were floating on its
surface. Flocks of herons were wading in its shallows. Fishermen on little
boats were pulling in the days catch. Farmers were collecting the last of the
season’s harvest along its shores. No, the reservoir wasn’t dead. And I knew
that I had to find a way to protect this incredible place.”
It was
not easy. He had to convince his
boss and nearly everyone involved with local, state and federal government that
it was worth spending Peace Corp time on.
“I knew that if we worked at it we could find ways to turn the reality
of this place from a perceived wasteland to one of the worlds more important ecological
sites.”
Not unlike
Buffalo, not unlike Times Beach, not unlike the NRIBA.
Jajean knew
early on that he could make a good case for conservation. Personal observations
helped his list of birds jump from an initial 63 to over 230 including rare and
endangered species.
He recognized
that at least 60 endemic species found only in Mexico are found at Valsequillo.
He found 27 species of
federally protected species, species that are at risk of extinction. He found that Valsequillo is also an
important part of the flyway for migratory aquatic birds, and thousands of
ducks, herons, and shorebirds can be seen in the reservoir during the winter.
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| American Bittern at Valsequillo, also found at Times Beach in Buffalo. Photo by Jajean Rose |
He recognized and
articulated that the wetland
sustains recreation and tourism activities, and is surrounded by
significant paleontological and archaeological sites.
He found
legal strategies to protect the wetland. He concentrated on the RAMSAR Convention, which is an
international treaty between 160 nations designed to conserve critical
wetlands. RAMSAR sites are deemed important for their ecological, cultural and
economic values. There are 2,000 RAMSAR sites recognized worldwide. Mexico has 140 RAMSAR sites, but
there are only a handful of urban RAMSAR sites on the planet. In December of 2010
he began applying for RAMSAR status.
He met with
government officials at the local, state and federal levels, presented at
community forums, and helped to organize a bird watching club that focused on
exploring and documenting the biodiversity of the site. He finished and
submitted the RAMSAR site nomination study. He received the support of his
counterparts at SEMARNAT, Peace Corps staff, the local, state and federal
governments, as well as numerous community organizations, universities,
friends, and his wife whom he gives tremendous credit to.
Global Recognition
On World Wetlands Day, February 2, 2012,
Jajean was notified that Vasequillo and a large portion of its watershed had
been designated as Mexico’s newest RAMSAR site and was now identified as a
“wetland of international importance.”
Today, all three
levels of government are looking for a way to sustainably manage the site and
have already used the designation to guide its long term land use planning for
the zone.
The RAMSAR designation has already helped conservation efforts in
Valsequillo. Just this past month the state government of Puebla designated a
large portion of Valsequillo as a state park, the second state managed natural
protected area in Puebla. The Ramsar designation was the principal
justification for the state park designation. The state park includes a mixture
of public and private lands, much like Adirondack State Park in upstate New
York. The state park designation will allow for a new set of land use
regulations that will limit urban growth in the most ecologically important parts
of the area around the reservoir.
In total, the
Valsequillo Ramsar site is just over 90 square miles in size. The state park is
slightly smaller, at approximately 50 square miles. To put this into
perspective, the city of Buffalo is approximately 40 square miles.
You can surely see Mexico from here.
The migratory aquatic birds that Valsequillo
sustains during the winter are some of the same birds that we get to see in
Buffalo during the spring, summer, and fall. These birds breed on wetlands in
Buffalo and as far north as Canada and Alaska during warmer months, fly south
to spend colder months in the southern United States, Mexico, Central America
and South America, and return north as temperatures warm again. The protection
of wetlands further south allows us in Western New York to enjoy the birds that
characterize our region.
Jajean writes that “WNY also has wetlands
that need protecting. We are the stewards of the earth’s largest supply of
freshwater, the Great Lakes. Niagara Falls, one of earth’s great natural
wonders, is in our backyard.
There are countless other lakes, ponds,
rivers and streams in our region. Many of these could be Ramsar sites. The
Times Beach and Tifft Farm Nature Preserves in downtown Buffalo, for example,
include wetlands that sustain species of birds that are threatened, some of
which nest in the reserves, and are refuge to countless migratory bird species.
Like Valsequillo, rapid urbanization,
industrial contamination, inadequate sewage treatment, and invasive species threaten
Western New York’s wetlands, the habitat they provide for wildlife, and the
life-sustaining resources they provide us. What we do here in Western New York
impacts Valsequillo. What we do in Valsequillo impacts Western New York. Our
fate, as Mexicans and Americans, as Buffalonians and Poblanos, as citizens of
one world, are tied together. Our global wetlands are a clear example of this.
“
This is a good
thing to contemplate on this Cinco de Mayo.
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| Times Beach in downtown Buffalo New York, photo by Jay Burney |
---
UPDATE: On May 5, 2012, the President of Mexico, Felipe Caldaron came to Puebla to announce that Valsequillo is now a state park.
email from Jajean: "I already told you
about the Ramsar site, and I mentioned the possibility of getting a state park
in Valsequillo. Well, in April it was designated a state park, a natural
protected area like other natural protected areas in Mexico, with a mix of
public and private lands. But I’ve been waiting for some sort of official
announcement, before I really believed it. On Friday the president of Mexico
(Felipe Calderon) came to Puebla for the Cinco de Mayo festivities. Among other
things, he announced that Valsequillo is now a state park. When the president
of Mexico says it, it´s real. (I hope)"
Statement Issued by the Office of the President of Mexico: Cholula,
Puebla, 4 of may of 2012.
- as part of his tour of work by the State, President
Calderón toured the Park Metropolitan Puebla, which integrates the Atoyac River
Bank.
The
first representative explained that the Park is a green space, with a woodland
of various species, where sports and coexistence surrounded by nature can be
made. He explained that, for the works of rescue in the area, were eight
thousand tonnes of compost, restored soils of the basin of the River, reforestó
Park and carried out work of bio-remediation with more than four thousand
square meters of wetland. Then, celebrated the Decree of the State
"wetland of Valsequillo" protected natural area. He pointed out, at
present, about 13 per cent of the national territory are protected natural
areas, with what Mexico will preserve its natural wealth for future
generations.
He
concluded his participation by ensuring that with the reforestation of forests
and the recovery of rivers with the help of the rehabilitation of water
treatment plants, Mexico retrieves its public spaces and builds a cleaner
Mexico, with more green areas.
