Laguna Babicora in the Sierra Madre Occidental is part of the central migratory route; it provides shelter and food for more than 120 species of migratory and resident birds and in 2008 was declared a Ramsar site. This lagoon, known as the land of cranes and geese, annually receives twenty-five thousand specimens of the Sandhill crane (Antigone canadensis) and nineteen thousand Snow geese (Anser caerulescens).
Even with these characteristics and designation from CONABIO as “An important area for the conservation of these birds,” Laguna Babicora is not within the federal or state protected category of Natural Protected Area. For this reason, Pronatura Noroeste promotes conservation schemes like ecological easements with nearby communities. In these, owners voluntarily designate the use of their land to protect the habitat of the birds that visit the lagoon.
The site is constantly impacted by urban and productive activities. Due to this, in the last two years, the Gomez Farías and Peña Blanca ejidos, and the Nicolas Bravo, San Jose Babicora, and Libertad developments have collaborated with Pronatura Noroeste in activities of restoration, habitat management, monitoring, and environmental education to keep the wetland healthy.
This joint work constitutes the fourth phase of the Laguna Babícora protection and management project, which is being conducted with NAWCA. It managed to integrate the legal baseline for the three properties in addition to biological baselines, as a first diagnostic of the characteristics of the ecosystem and soil, which in the medium term will be compared with data collected during periodic monitoring to evaluate if the easements achieve their aim or if new conservation strategies should be established.
In turn, two more programs were developed: The Ecological Easement of the Gómez Farias Ejido and the Colonia San Jose Babicora Conservation Area. These facilitate organizing of the activities already being conducted and making recommendations about the use of these areas to positively impact the ecosystem. Also, the Livestock Management Plan of the Peña Blanca Ejido was developed, which, through regenerative management techniques of ranches, will allow pasture recovery.
Likewise, as part of the restoration activities, the Nicolas Bravo development and Peña Blanca Ejido desilted six kilometers of natural canal since, with the rainy season, runoff from the high area of the mountain carries sediments that make the lagoon shallower, reducing habitat for the birds.
The presence of these species is considered an indicator of ecosystem stability. The Babicora-Madera basin is home to the largest number of geese and cranes from the Mexican highlands. The arrival of these birds at Laguna Babicora plays an important role in the dispersal of seeds each season and provides food to other species such as birds of prey that congregate in the lagoon, including: the Golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos), Bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus), and Aplomado falcon (Falco femorali).
The arrival of migratory birds is the perfect setting to explore ecnomic alternatives, such as birdwatching, an ecofriendly activity. For this reason, Pronatura Noroeste facilitated the training of members of the Nicolas Bravo development and the Peña Blanca, Gomez Farias, and El Porvenir del campesino ejidos in bird identification and monitoring procedures. Similarly, it worked with primary school teachers from fourth, fifth, and sixth grades in school district 95 so that the teachers can replicate the learnings about shorebirds and wetlands.
As part of environmental education activities that involve the whole community and celebrate bird migration and biodiversity, each year the Crane Festival, a series of conferences and creative courses on environmental education, is held. This year it could not be held due to the health contingency. However, to continue sharing the wonders of the site and its birds, Pronatura Noroeste and NAWCA produced five radio programs. The Babicora Refuge for Birds series is broadcast on Tuesdays in June and the first week of July on Radio Madera.
When sanitary conditions allow, the team will continue in-person activities to support the conservation of this site. If you would like to support the continuation of these activities in Laguna Babícora, contribute here.
