PRESERVING MEXICO CITY'S ECOLOGICALLY VITAL URBAN FOREST

[Judi Lynn]

A massive nature preserve exists inside one of the world's largest megacities, and it's continued existence is vital to the urban area's water supplies and ecosystems.

CHRISTINE MACDONALD
5 HOURS AGO

- click for image -

https://psmag.com/.image/c_limit%2Ccs_srgb%2Cq_80%2Cw_960/MTU0MDE5MzcxMTE3NzE2NTYy/gettyimages-833096252.webp

View of nopal plantations on the slopes of the extinct Teuhtli volcano in Milpa Alta borough, Mexico City. on August 3rd, 2017.

(Photo: Yuri Cortez/AFP/Getty Images)

Strolling through the forest under a canopy of pine trees along a path lined with shaggy native grass, Agustín Martínez Villarreal pauses to point out signs that the endangered volcano rabbit passed this way recently. The little creatures were a common sight during his boyhood here, says Martínez, 54, a Mexican peasant farmer and conservationist. Only a few thousand of these endemic animals, known locally as teporingo, remain today.

Perhaps even more remarkable than signs of the presence of the teporingo is the fact that its forest home is in Mexico City, the Western Hemisphere's most populous megacity. The United Nations defines a megacity as an urban area with over 10 million residents. Mexico City's greater metropolitan area, which includes nearby Cuernavaca and Toluca, is home to about 22 million people.

The term "urban forest" is often used to describe public parks and sidewalk shade trees. But I am standing with Martínez and several other members of a local conservation group, Grupo de Monitoreo Biológico de Milpa Alta, in an actual forest inside the Mexico City limits: the Water Forest.

The wind rustles through tree branches. Pine nettles crunch beneath our feet. The occasional bird adds its song to this natural chorus. Inside the hushed enclave of the Water Forest not even a car horn penetrates. Conservationists have taken to calling the Mexico City district of Milpa Alta and the surrounding region Mexico's "Water Forest" to underscore its importance to sustaining the capital's water supplies.

More:
https://psmag.com/environment/saving-mexico-cities-water-forest

Environment and energy:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1127115873