The Sierra Gorda ()Viva Sierra Gorda: Livelihood from the Land, Earth Island Journal, Laura Perez-Arce, Winter 2009, retrieved August 16, 2020 is an ecological region centered on the northern third of the Mexican state of Querétaro and extending into the neighboring states of Guanajuato, Hidalgo and San Luis Potosí. Within Querétaro, the ecosystem extends from the center of the state starting in parts of San Joaquín and Cadereyta de Montes municipalities and covering all of the municipalities of Peñamiller, Pinal de Amoles, Jalpan de Serra, Landa de Matamoros and Arroyo Seco, for a total of 250 km2 of territory. The area is extremely rugged with high steep mountains and deep canyons. As part of the Huasteca Karst, it also contains many formations due to erosion of limestone, especially pit caves known locally as sótanos. The area is valued for its very wide diversity of plant and animal life, which is due to the various microenvironments created by the ruggedness of the terrain and wide variation in rainfall. This is due to the mountains' blocking of moisture coming in from the Gulf of Mexico, which generally makes the east side fairly moist and the west semiarid scrub brush. Most of the region is protected in two biosphere reserves, with the one centered in Querétaro established in 1997 and the one centered in Guanajuato established in 2007. The Sierra Gorda is considered to be the far west of the La Huasteca region culturally and it is home to the Franciscan Missions in the Sierra Gorda of Querétaro World Heritage Site. Sierra Gorda has become the first National Park in Mexico to join the EarthCheck Sustainable Destinations program.
Geography
The region is on a branch of the Sierra Madre Oriental mountain range and consists of a series of mountain chains that run northwest to southeast, formed 240 million years ago. Most are made of limestone, formed by sea beds from the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. Later there were intrusions of volcanic rock, especially in the eastern portion in Hidalgo state, from which come the mineral deposits of the area. The limestone has been affected by erosion to form the Huasteca Karst, and the area contains a large number of caverns, and pit caves (sótanos), some of which extend for hundreds of meters in depth. All of the Sierra Gorda is marked by very rugged terrain, which includes canyons and steep mountains. Elevations range from just 300 meters above sea level in the Río Santa María Canyon in Jalpan to 3,100 m asl at the Cerro de la Pingüica in Pinal de Amoles. The most significant peak in the Hidalgo area is Cerro Cangandhó which has an elevation of 2,820 m asl. Rainfall also varies greatly from 350 mm to 2,000 mm per year. Among its mountains are the peaks associated with the Sierra Alta de Hidalgo, the pine forests of Zamoarano, the Extoraz Canyon and the slopes of the Huazmazonta, the inter-mountain valleys where the five missions are found and the rolling hills leading into La Huasteca. The wide variations of elevation and rainfall favor a wide variety of flora and wildlife.
There are three main rivers in the Sierra Gorda, all of which are part of the Pánuco River basin. These are the Santa María River, the Extoraz or Peñamiller River and the Moctezuma River. All three pass through deep canyons and tend to form borders between the states and municipalities of the region. Santa María marks part of the border between Querétaro and San Luis Potosí, and the Moctezuma River marks part of the border between Querétaro and Hidalgo. The Tula and Moctezuma Rivers meet in the Sierra Gorda of Hidalgo. Here, the Moctezuma River Canyon extends for twelve km and rises 480 meters above the floor.
Climate The climate of the region depends on elevation and that the mountains form a natural barrier against the main source of moisture, the Gulf of Mexico. The east side of the mountains gets significant more rainfall than the west, in the form of orographic precipitation and clouds as the moisture-laden winds from the Gulf of Mexico ascend the mountain slopes. Forests and even rainforests are found in the east, while the west is dominated by desert and near desert conditions. In the east, mornings in the high mountain areas usually bring cloud cover and fog. The most moisture falls in the northeastern edges of the regions, where it merges into La Huasteca proper, in San Luis Potosí and Hidalgo. In the entire region, the coldest temperatures occur between December and January, with high temperatures in April and May. Temperatures vary widely depending on elevation with an annual average of 13 °C in the higher elevations such as Pinal de Amoles to 24 °C in lower areas such as Jalpan. In the highest elevations, frosts and freezes are not uncommon. In 2010, the Sierra Gorda had it first significant snowfall in eighteen years in the municipality of Pinal de Amoles, with temperatures of −4 °C. In some places, the cover was 15 cm deep.
Ecology Because of its great variety of ecosystems, the Sierra Gorda has one of the most diverse ecologies in Mexico, with one of the largest number of species of plants and animals.
The micro-environments of the region range from conifer forests, oak forests, mostly found on mountain peaks, banana and sugar cane fields in the deeper canyons. On the east side, there are deciduous forests. On the west side, bordering the Mexican Plateau, there are desert and semi desert conditions, with a variety of cacti and arid scrub brush.
Species in danger of extinction include the jaguar, puma, the black bear, the green parrot, the Veracruz partridge, and the Humboldt butterfly, mostly due to human activities. Endangered plant species include the biznaga gigante (Echinocactus platyacanthus), the chapote (Diospyros riojae), the guayamé (Abies guatemalensis), the magnolia (Magnolia dealbata) and the peyote (Lophophora diffusa). monarch butterflies can be found in the area as well, as they pass through to their wintering grounds on the State of Mexico-Michoacán border . There have been plagues in the forests of the area due to the recent drought conditions. The most serious is a bark beetle (Dendroctonus adjunctus) and mistletoe (Arceuthobium sp.). The drought conditions have been blamed on global climate change. Areas in Querétaro and Guanajuato have been declared as biosphere reserves. The Sierra Gorda in Hidalgo has not, but it still contains a large number of important ecosystems.
Biosphere reserves There are two major conservation areas in the Sierra Gorda region: one in Querétaro and one in the state of Guanajuato.
Biosphere reserve in Querétaro
The Sierra Gorda Biosphere in Querétaro was established by decree on May 19, 1997 because of its exceptional variety of species and ecosystems. Uniquely among protected areas of Mexico, it was established thanks to environmental activism, efforts that were led by Martha Isabel Ruiz Corzo and her Sierra Gorda Ecological Group (GESG, Grupo Ecológico Sierra Gorda). The reserve extends for about 400,000 hectares over the states of Querétaro and San Luis Potosí. It covers about 32% of the state of Querétaro and is roughly the size of Rhode Island. When it was declared, the reserve had 683 communities with about 100,000 inhabitants. However, since then, the population has nearly dropped to about half. In Querétaro, the biosphere reserve encompasses the municipalities of Jalpan de Serra, Landa de Matamoros, Arroyo Seco, Pinal de Amoles (88% of its territory) and Peñamiller (69.7% of its territory). The biosphere was declared as a result of grassroots efforts, the only one to be established this way in Mexico. The original declaration encompasses 383.567 hectares. In 2001, it was added to the International Networks of Man and Biosphere of UNESCO as the thirteenth Mexican reserve on the list, occupying first place in regards to ecodiversity. It is also recognized as a Área de Importancia para la Conservación de las Aves (Area of Importance for the Conservation of Birds) by the Consejo Internacional para la Preservación de las Aves Mexicanas.
The reserve begins in the dry semi desert areas in the center of Querétaro and as one moves north and higher into the mountain peaks of Pinal de Amoles at around , the scenery changes to temperate forest of conifers. The elevation is lower north into Jalpan and the climate is warmer and wetter before moving into the rolling hills of the La Huasteca in San Luis Potosí and Hidalgo. Elevations in the reserve range from 350 to 3,100 meters above sea level, with rugged mountains, canyons, lush valley and “sótanos” or pit caves carved out from the limestone of the Huasteca Karst. Humidity is primarily from the Gulf of Mexico, which makes the northeast of the region green, but the southwest, blocked from the moisture by the high mountains, is dominated by arid scrub brush. This combination of varying elevation and moisture patterns creates the regions primary biological characteristic, which is a large number of ecosystems in a relatively small area. It has 15 vegetative types, including old growth moist montane forests covered in bromeliads and orchids, high elevation pine-oak forests, a great diversity of cactus, wild oregano and lowland tropical forests . The biosphere is the seventh largest federally protected natural area and has the greatest biodiversity of all of them, including those which encompass marine areas, as it is home to 10 of Mexico's 11 ecosystems. The diversity of the area can also be seen in the number of plant and animals species found in the reserve. There are 2,308 species of plants, with about thirty-five percent of the area covered by forested areas of oaks, junipers and pines. There are 130 mammal, 71 reptile and 23 amphibian species, including six feline species, the black bear (Ursus americanus) and the Mexican spider monkey (Ateles geoffroyi vellerosus). There are 360 species of birds, more than 30 percent of the bird species in the country, including military macaws (Ara militaris). Migrating monarch butterflies pause here on their southern route, and butterfly species in general total more than all that are in the U.S. and Canada combined. Many of these species are endangered, and many have not yet been studied.
The biosphere reserve in Querétaro is managed by Comisión Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas of Semarnat. The management system is a combination of federal authorities working with the participation of local communities. The land is generally not owned by the government. Thirty percent of the reserve is communally owned land with the rest privately owned, with the government issuing regulations. Cooperation between federal authorities and local communities has not always gone smoothly, with local residents complaining that the government has issues decrees without consulting them. The CESG and the biosphere project have attracted international support from sponsors such as the Schwab Foundation, Shell, Wal-Mart, Hewlett-Packard, Grupo Bimbo and nongovernmental organizations such as Ashoka, conservation foundations and U.N. agencies. The Grupo Ecológico Sierra Gorda was one of 94 winners of the Energy Globe competition among 700 entrants. It received 10,000 Euros to help fund its projects. Conservation of the area has also attracted the attention of people such as director James Cameron, who sponsored a reforestation project on 120 hectares. This is in addition to various other reforestation projects that have been ongoing since the 1990s. These projects even include an overall forest management plan designed to produce enough wood for local woodcutters to earn a living.
Biosphere reserve in Guanajuato