Key Mexican Desert Land to Be Protected
Reuters, Copyright 2000
November 21, 2000
MONTERREY, Mexico (Reuters) - Private landowners and environmentalists reached agreement to protect 7,000 acres of Mexican desert in one of the largest private land purchases for conservation in the country, environmental groups said on Tuesday.
The property, on the edge of the Sierra Madre in the state of Coahuila, holds ``the best remaining examples of desert springs in North America,'' the international Nature Conservancy and the Mexican group Pronatura said in a communique.
The deal calls for a conservation easement on the property that will keep it under private ownership while protecting it permanently.
The Nature Conservancy will provide more than $250,000 to help purchase and protect the land, with Mexican partners to supply matching support.
``This is a clear demonstration that Mexico's private sector leaders are willing to collaborate with the government and local community to save this last great place,'' Brian Houseal, director of the conservancy's Mexico division, said in the news release.
Rancho Pozas Azules, or Ranch of the Blue Pools, is in the 200,000-acre valley Cuatro Cienegas and has more than 70 of the valley's 200 desert springs.
Mexico decreed Cuatro Cienegas a national reserve in 1996, but threats from agriculture and other uses persist, the groups said.