It’s just before noon on a Saturday in the forest shared by the San Juan Totolapan ejido Not a single bird can be heard in the forest are the sounds of chainsaws and machetes as they cut into tree branches these sounds don’t signal illegal logging activity underway along with their children and grandchildren spend much of their weekend doing what they call faena or various tasks to benefit their forest and the community “We prune them so that they grow straighter and faster and so that the trunk thickens,” says Gregorio Martínez Sandoval an ejidatario who is also the head of the surveillance brigade for the community forest in San Juan Totolapan in the municipality of Tepetlaoxtoc de Hidalgo the ejidatarios organize themselves into brigades to do various types of work to keep their forest healthy They also carry out surveillance rounds to prevent undercover logging a group of 30 people enters the forest to work The ejido has hired four technical advisers who indicate where in the forest they should work in addition to the other forests in this region close to the metropolitan area a professor at Chapingo Autonomous University who specializes in silvicultural systems and forestry production “In a place close to an area as anthropized” — transformed by humans — “as the metropolitan area everything that can be done to conserve the forests [which are] the places where water is captured and where forest management is done that allows there to be young trees and not just for these communities,” Bastida says The San Juan Totolapan ejido has 99 members who collectively manage 746 hectares (1,843 acres) of forest Pine trees (Pinus sylvestris) and oyamel fir trees (Abies religiosa) abound here and the local wildlife includes bobcats (Lynx rufus) the community members have managed their own forest they have a forest-use program in place that allows them to produce timber in a way that’s sustainable and authorized by the Mexican Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT) The program establishes how much timber they can extract each year and from which areas based on recommendations from the technical advisers It also outlines reforestation plans for areas where timber harvesting is done and we are in the technical studies [phase] for the next [program],” said Víctor López The revenue from the sale of the timber is distributed among the ejidatarios with a portion also allocated for buying the materials needed to care for the forest and invest in the community [and] the ejido’s assembly hall was constructed that is where the [money] comes from to help with the funeral and the same goes for any emergency that any ejidatario has,” says Javier González Chávez one of the technical advisers hired by the ejido to help with forest management although plants are only planted in necessary cases because we prefer that the forest would regenerate on its own [by] seeds falling and new trees being born,” said López To this end the community also carries out a kind of forestry housekeeping process: After cutting down a tree with the permission of SEMARNAT they clear away any remaining residue and leave the area clean the soil is in good condition for any new seeds to take root and grow It hasn’t been easy for the community members to manage their land a forestry expert from Chapingo Autonomous University says that in addition to having to get permission for various activities they also have to contend with people who don’t understand how forest use works “The people from outside [of the community] denounce them because they believe that they are using up the forest They don’t know that they are authorized to make use of it,” Ayala Sosa says The ejidatarios’ efforts in San Juan Totolapan have been fruitful: their community forest looks lush and cared for Unlike neighboring communities that also carry out forest management “Up to here!” shouts technical adviser González Chávez to indicate how the trees should be pruned the trees in another section of the forest will be pruned five ejidatarias begin to prepare food by starting a fire nopales (chunks of prickly pear cactus) and meat fall onto a griddle “We do not come to do the [physical] work because it is heavy but we pay someone to do the work that we need done,” says María López García We come and get informed about what is needed so that our forest [stays] well and we participate in decisions about what is going to be done.” González Chávez later describes López García as one of the most active participants and seasoned people in the assembly meetings She has already been asked to be president of the commission but she says no — because there is still a lot of sexism — but I think that she will warm up to [the task] soon,” González Chávez says the women talk about the benefits they receive from the community forest it’s also a source of food and medicinal plants community members enter the forest to collect edible mushrooms Some then sell them in the nearby city of Texcoco; others trade them for other goods The forest is also like a pharmacy for the ejidatarios they find medicinal plants that they use to alleviate coughs Our ancestors knew and used even more plants,” says Guadalupe Martínez “That is another reason it is important to take care of these places: because they provide us with these plants to cure ourselves.” “Open your arms with your palms facing backward so that the wind carries all the bad [things] away,” says an ejidatario at an overlook spot at El Cedral Recreational Park in the San Pablo Ixayoc ejido The community’s 125 ejidatarios manage 896 hectares (2,214 acres) of a forest that includes netleaf oak trees (Quercus rugosa) They’ve set aside 42 hectares (104 acres) to create an ecotourism park an economic alternative to timber extraction a plant that grows in humid places in temperate and tropical regions These grayish strips lend an air of mystery to the forest making it an ideal setting to listen to the community members’ legends about the fantastic beings they say are found in this forest Community members say that spirits known as chaneques live among these trees They leave alcohol and food as offerings meant to thank the spirits for allowing them to drink water from their spring The community members say that if any visitor to the park dares to take any of the clay jugs that are part of these offerings the spirits will haunt that person every night the ejidatarios in San Pablo Ixayoc are benefiting from their forest under a management program authorized by SEMARNAT They extract only the timber that’s allowed under the program We just reforested with 9,500 pine trees,” says Armando Hidalgo president of the San Pablo Ixayoc ejido’s commission and San Miguel Tlaixpan form a union of ejidos whose territories make up part of the forested slopes of Mount Tláloc The highest pre-Hispanic ceremonial center in Mesoamerica is located on this mountain at an elevation of 4,120 meters (13,520 feet) representatives from each of the ejidos in the union meet to evaluate the work that’s been done in their forests and determine what else is needed to maintain them because not all visitors are conscious of the fact that the forest must be taken care of “They come with their four-wheelers and they want to pass through everywhere because they say that the forest [belongs to] everyone although it is an ecosystem that provides benefits to everyone,” says Ayala Sosa we take good care of our forest,” says Hidalgo the San Pablo Ixayoc ejido commission president says a bark beetle infestation affected 3-4 hectares (7-10 acres) of the forest creating grooves that prevent water and nutrients from being dispersed fires are another problem facing the forests the San Pablo Ixayoc ejidatarios maintain firebreaks in their forest These gaps of about 5 meters (16 feet) are meant to prevent fires from spreading and make it easier to extinguish them “There will be 400 meters [1,310 ft] of firebreaks and the adjacent trees will be pruned to prevent a fire from rising up high in the event of an accident,” says Artemio Pineda an ejidatario and member of the commission Pineda cites a fire that broke out in a neighboring community four years ago thanks to the work that is done in the forest we helped them to extinguish the fire in that community [Catarina] and for the individual whose land was burning,” he says The work done by the communities in their forests is arduous and time-consuming They think that we are logging without permission but no; we have everything regulated,” says Andrés Espejel the forest is cleaned because of the [bark beetle] infestation This is for everyone: for the youth to come To ensure that the youngest community members learn to take care of the forest the ejidatarios of San Juan Totolapan take their children and grandchildren along to help with the work of maintaining the forest it’s less of a chore and more of a game: when a branch needs pruning that’s too high They challenge each other to see who can jump the highest They’re learning that the forest is intertwined with work This story was reported by Mongabay’s Latam team and first published here on our Latam site on Feb The “fortress conservation” model is under pressure in East Africa as protected areas become battlegrounds over history and global efforts to halt biodiversity loss Mongabay’s Special Issue goes beyond the region’s world-renowned safaris to examine how rural communities and governments are reckoning with conservation’s colonial origins and trying to forge a path forward […] The “highway of death” in México state lived up to its name yesterday when 11 people died in a collision between a bus and a truck The accident occurred about 9:45am on the Texcoco-Calpulalpan highway near Santa Inés Local residents later seized four buses and used them to block the highway to demand that the bus company assume responsibility for the medical costs of yesterday’s victims and compensation for the families of the dead Residents say they warned federal transportation authorities in April that the stretch of road where yesterday’s collision occurred is dangerous and frequently the scene of accidents The situation has become worse in recent months because of an increase in truck traffic delivering construction materials to the site of Mexico City’s new airport Source: El Universal (sp) ADVERTISE WITH MND COMMUNITY GUIDELINES Subscription FAQ's Privacy Policy Mexico News Daily - Property of Tavana LLC