Mexico’s army joins nature in recovery of fire-stricken forest La Primavera

(Mexico to go) – 7 July

The on-going rain season is speeding up the recovery of La Primavera forest in the state of Jalisco, three months after a wildfire that destroyed some 270,000 trees, Agustín del Castillo reported Saturday on Milenio newspaper.

New infrastructure projects pose a threat to such species as

Puma in La Primavera, the main eco-reserve near Mexico's

second largest city (Source: Aura Jaguar)

La Primavera is the most important ecological reserve near Guadalajara, Mexico’s second largest city, but in the last 30 years it has lost 25% of its surface due to urban development. New infrastructure projects such as the so called “macrolibramiento”, a highway which would be built across the forest, would threaten a variety of animal species such as the Puma.

Most of the 8,300 hectares damaged by the fire three months ago will recover naturally within three years. However, an area of 2% of the involved territory might take up to 15 years to return to normality, according to estimates of forest authorities interviewed by Milenio.

Large portions of greenery and a variety of flora are sprouting up across La Primavera due to the rain, along the displacement of ashes and other materials which provoke erosion and mudslides that threaten urban settlements such as Santa Ana Tepetitlán.

At the time, some 100 hundred members of Mexico’s army are stationed at La Primavera, repairing roads, building damns and ditching pits in order to contain landslides.

Every year thousands of hectares of forests, woods, and grasslands are lost to wildfires that cause death and environmental destruction.  

As urban development makes its way into virgin territories, wildfires have become a major source of economic losses. In the US alone, these amount to $10 billion in the last 25 years, according to Air Worldwide, a consulting firm developing risk models involving natural and human-made disasters.

In Mexico, communities such as CAMAFU, integrated by social, academic and government organizations, are moving towards collaborative schemes to produce knowledge and solutions for the management of wildfires.

Scientific developments in software are also being used to speed up the recovery of wildfire stricken areas and to address erosion and sedimentation. Firms like North American Green have developed biodegradable filtration systems which enable forest fire rehabilitation.

Some international initiatives to fend off the impact of wildfires include the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Fire management strategy, which relies on the Global Fire Information Management  System to help countries around the world to deal with wildfire related risks.