After eleven years of uninterrupted work, Pronatura Noroeste has transformed the Miguel Alemán site into an oasis for wildlife habitat creation. Thanks to the collaborative work of donors, volunteers, the Revive the Colorado River alliance and Pronatura Noroeste’s restoration brigade staff, this area covering nearly 190 hectares in the Colorado River Delta acquired new life, with the reforestation of more than 100,000 native plants.

The Mexican government officially recognized the importance of the Colorado River Delta and the Gulf of California in 1993, when they declared it a Natural Protected Area with the category of Biosphere Reserve. However, in the last 40 years, the Miguel Alemán site was a semi-desert plain with little animal presence due to harsh climatic conditions, water scarcity, and the proliferation of invasive plants such as salt cedar. This was radically modified with the intervention of Pronatura Noroeste, because before undertaking this restoration in 2010, only 23 bird species were recorded in the area; twelve years later, in 2021, this site is home to more than 122 bird species.

This is a success story in Mexican environmental conservation, which is being carried out with the production of native plants in four nurseries located at the Miguel Alemán site under the responsibility of Pronatura Noroeste. These nurseries grow species native to the local ecosystem, such as sweet mesquite or tornillo, Mexican palo verde, palo verde azul, palo verde amarillo and palo verde brea, as well as the strawberry bush, whose fruit serves as food for numerous species, and the ash bush, a refuge for quail, roadrunner, and sparrows, among other birds. The abundant growth of these species favored the aquifer’s recharge, which benefits the local flora and fauna and the region’s inhabitants by improving air quality and creating opportunities for coexistence and recreation in open-air public spaces.