The Aguirre State Forest (in es, Bosque Estatal de Aguirre) is a nature reserve on the south coast of

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

and one of the commonwealth's 20

state forests A state forest or national forest is a forest that is administered or protected by some agency of a sovereign state, sovereign or federated state, or territory (country subdivision), territory. Background The precise application of the terms va ...

. It mainly consists of

mangroves A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evolution in several ...

and

floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...

forests, and it borders the Jobos Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve. The Aguirre State Forest is owned and administered by

. It was established in 1918 by Puerto Rico governor

Arthur Yager Arthur Yager (October 29, 1858 – December 24, 1941) served as the governor of Puerto Rico from 1913 to 1921. Biography Yager was born in Campbellsburg in Henry County, Kentucky. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees from Georgetown Coll ...

to protect the mangrove forests areas between the municipalities of

Guayama Guayama (, ), officially the Autonomous Municipality of Guayama ( es, Municipio Autónomo de Guayama) is a city and municipality on the Caribbean coast of Puerto Rico. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 36,614. It is the c ...

and Santa Isabel.

Natural features

The forest is notable for its dense mangrove forests and salt ponds. As such it is an ecologically diverse area that is home to 13 species of reptiles, 4 species of amphibians and 3 species of bats. At least 184 bird species can be found within the forest and the area is an important bird nesting site. Some notable bird species found here are yellow-crowned night herons ('' Nyctanassa violacea''), mangrove rails (''

Rallus longirostris The mangrove rail (''Rallus longirostris'') is a species of bird in subfamily Rallinae of family Rallidae, the rails, gallinules, and coots. It is found in Central and South America.HBW and BirdLife International (2021) Handbook of the Birds of ...

''), yellow warblers ('' Setophaga petechia''), and endangered birds such as yellow-shouldered blackbirds ('' Agelaius xanthomus).''

Manatees Manatees (family Trichechidae, genus ''Trichechus'') are large, fully aquatic, mostly herbivorous marine mammals sometimes known as sea cows. There are three accepted living species of Trichechidae, representing three of the four living species ...

can also be observed in the lagoons located in and around the forest. The types of mangroves found within the state forest are white mangrove (''

Laguncularia racemosa ''Laguncularia racemosa'', the white mangrove, is a species of flowering plant in the leadwood tree family, Combretaceae. It is native to the coasts of western Africa from Senegal to Cameroon, the Atlantic Coast of the Americas from Bermuda and ...

''), black mangrove (''

Avicennia germinans ''Avicennia germinans'', the black mangrove, is a shrub or small tree growing up to 12 meters (39 feet) in the acanthus family, Acanthaceae. It grows in tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas, on both the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts, ...

''), red mangrove (''

Rhizophora mangle ''Rhizophora mangle'', the red mangrove, is distributed in Estuary, estuarine ecosystems throughout the tropics. Its Vivipary, viviparous "seeds", in actuality called propagules, become fully mature plants before dropping off the parent tree. Th ...

'') and buttonwood (''

Conocarpus erectus ''Conocarpus erectus'', commonly called buttonwood or button mangrove, is a mangrove shrub in the family Combretaceae. This species grows on shorelines in tropical and subtropical regions around the world. Range Locations it is known from inc ...

''). ''

Batis maritima ''Batis maritima'', the saltwort or beachwort (also known as ''turtleweed'', ''pickleweed'', ''barilla'', ''planta de sal'', ''camphire'', ''herbe-à-crâbes'', and ''akulikuli-kai''), is a halophyte. It is a C3-plant, long-lived perennial, dio ...

'', ''

Sesuvium portulacastrum ''Sesuvium portulacastrum'' is a sprawling perennial herb that grows in coastal areas throughout much of the world. It is commonly known as shoreline purslane or (ambiguously) " sea purslane," in English, ''dampalit'' in Tagalog and 海马齿sl ...

'' and ''

Sporobolus virginicus ''Sporobolus virginicus'', known by numerous common names including seashore dropseed, marine couch, sand couch, salt couch grass, saltwater couch, coastal rat-tail grass, and nioaka, is a species of grass with a wide distribution. Description ...

'' are the main grass species found in the area, particularly around the tropical salt ponds.

Recreation

The forest is offers opportunities for bird watching, nature walks, camping and kayaking in designated areas. Most of the visitors' amenities are found in Laguna El Toconal in Jobos, Guayama.

Gallery

File:Sphaerodactylus macrolepis (cropped).jpg, ''

Sphaerodactylus macrolepis ''Sphaerodactylus macrolepis'', also known as the big-scaled dwarf gecko or the big-scaled least gecko, is a lizard of the ''Sphaerodactylus'' genus. It was first documented in 1859 in the US Virgin Islands, specifically, St. Croix. This diurnal s ...

'' File:Anolis pulchellus.JPG, '' Anolis pulchellus'' File:Two west Indian manatee trichechus manatus foraging for food.jpg, West Indian manatees can be found in the state forest.

References

External links

Information provided by the Jobos Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve
{{Protected areas of Puerto Rico Puerto Rico state forests Protected areas of Puerto Rico Guayama, Puerto Rico Santa Isabel, Puerto Rico Mangroves

Natural features

Recreation

Gallery

See also

References

External links