Boquerón State Forest (

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

: ''Bosque Estatal de Boquerón'') is one of the 20 forestry units that make up the public forest system 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 ...

. Despite its name, the Boquerón State Forest is not only located in Boquerón, Cabo Rojo but also spans almost 5,000 acres across the municipalities of Cabo Rojo, Lajas and Mayagüez. The forest area is also known for its limestone cliffs, the lighthouse, and the salt flats which have been a source of salt since the pre-Hispanic era and, dating to 700 C.E., they are considered to be one of the oldest industries in the

Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...

History

Boquerón State Forest is one of the oldest forests in the Puerto Rico state forest system. It was proclaimed and designated a forest preserve 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 Col ...

with the purpose of preserving the

mangrove 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 severa ...

biomes in Cabo Rojo and Lajas. Two additional segments, the Guayacán and Cuevas Keys, were added in 1943. The areas of the Molino mangroves, Los Morrillos (famous for its lighthouse) and the Guaniquilla Lagoon and surrounding mangroves were annexed to the Boquerón State Forest in 1980. The state forest today is managed by the

Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources The Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (PRDNER) is the executive department of the government of Puerto Rico tasked with protecting, conserving, developing, and managing the natural and environmental resources in Pue ...

and extends across 9 management segments across three municipalities: # Mangrove forest of Guanajibo, Mayagüez. # Joyuda Lagoon and mangroves in Joyuda, Cabo Rojo. #

Puerto Real Puerto Real () is a seaport in Andalusia, in the province of Cádiz. , it had a population of 40,667. The town is located on the northern shore of the inner lobe of the Bay of Cádiz, on the site of the ancient Roman settlement of Portus Gad ...

mangrove forest in Miradero, Cabo Rojo. # Boquerón mangrove forests in Cabo Rojo. #

Cabo Rojo National Wildlife Refuge Cabo Rojo National Wildlife Refuge (Spanish: ''Refugio Nacional de Vida Silvestre de Cabo Rojo'') is an 1,836-acre National Wildlife Refuge located in southwestern Puerto Rico, in the municipality of Cabo Rojo. The refuge is a habitat for num ...

in Llanos Costa, Cabo Rojo. # Las Salinas de Cabo Rojo (the

salt flats Salt flats, Salt flat, Salt Flats, or Salt Flat may refer to: Geology *Salt pan (geology), a flat expanse of ground covered with salt and other minerals *Dry lake, an ephemeral lakebed that consists of fine-grained sediments infused with alkali salt ...

) and adjacent mangrove forests in Llanos Costa, Cabo Rojo. # Molino mangrove forest in Llanos Costa, Cabo Rojo. # Pitahaya mangrove forest in Llanos Costa, Cabo Rojo. # Bahía Montalva mangrove forest in Costa, Lajas. The 607-acre area designated since 1980 as the Cabo Rojo National Natural Landmark is also located within the state forest area.

Geology

The forest is located in the Puerto Rico southern karst region and as such all of its geological formations contain

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

, particularly the

Ponce limestone The Ponce Limestone is a geologic formation in Puerto Rico. It preserves fossils dating back to the Neogene period (20.45 million years ago ( Mya). Description Ponce Limestone includes beds of brown clay and has a maximum estimated thickness o ...

. It is often said that the reddish-colored limestone is what gives its name to the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

and

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

of Cabo Rojo (Spanish for "red cape").

Ecology

The Boquerón Forest is ecologically important and it hosts several marine biomes in addition to the

forests such as

coral reefs A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups. Co ...

and

seagrass meadows A seagrass meadow or seagrass bed is an underwater ecosystem formed by seagrasses. Seagrasses are marine (saltwater) plants found in shallow coastal waters and in the brackish waters of estuaries. Seagrasses are flowering plants with stems and ...

which are important to threatened species such as the

West Indian manatee The West Indian manatee (''Trichechus manatus''), also known as the North American manatee, is a large, aquatic mammal native to warm coastal areas of the Caribbean, from the eastern US to northern Brazil. Living alone or in herds, it feeds on un ...

. All four species of mangrove are found within the forest, in addition to important indicator plant species such as the bullet tree (''

Terminalia buceras ''Terminalia buceras'' is a tree in the Combretaceae family. It is known by a variety of names in English, including bullet tree, black olive tree, gregorywood (or gregory wood), Antigua whitewood, and oxhorn bucida. It is native to Mexico, Cent ...

''), the greenheart ('' Colubrina arborenscens'') and the sea grape (''

Coccoloba uvifera ''Coccoloba uvifera'' is a species of flowering plant in the buckwheat family, Polygonaceae, that is native to coastal beaches throughout tropical America and the Caribbean, including southern Florida, the Bahamas, the Greater and Lesser Antille ...

''). The endangered black cóbana (''

Libidibia monosperma ''Libidibia monosperma'' is a species of legume in the family Fabaceae, with the common names cóbana negra and cóbana polisandro. It is found in the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands. It is a federally liste ...

'') and the critically endangered bariaco ('' Trichilia triacantha'') are also found and preserved in the forest. The beaches around the forest are important sea turtle nesting sites, particularly for the leatherback sea turtle ( ''Dermochelys coriacea''), the hawksbill sea turtle ( ''Eretmochelys imbricada'') and the green sea turtle ( ''Chelonia mydas''). Additionally, the forest serves as one of the few habitats in the world where the endangered yellow-shouldered blackbird (''

Yellow-shouldered blackbird The yellow-shouldered blackbird (''Agelaius xanthomus''), known in Puerto Rican Spanish as ''mariquita de Puerto Rico'' or ''capitán'', is a species of blackbird endemic to Puerto Rico. It has black plumage with a prominent yellow patch on the ...

'') can be found.

Recreation

The forest's main offices are located in Poblado de Boquerón, Cabo Rojo. Tours are available for large groups but must be reserved in anticipation by contacting the forest office at (787)-851-7260. The reserve offers opportunities for hiking, fishing, kayaking, biking, snorkeling and birdwatching. The area also contains numerous landmarks and tourist attractions such as the Los Morrillos Lighthouse, the salt flats, and the limestone cliffs and rock formations such as the Stone Bridge (Spanish: ''Puente de Piedra''), and numerous beaches.

Gallery

File:Bosque Boqueron 2018.jpg, Aerial view of the Boqueron mangroves forest, 2018. File:Cabo Rojo Lighthouse, PR-301, Boquerón, Cabo Rojo 00622, Puerto Rico - panoramio.jpg, ''Puente de Piedra'' ("stone bridge") in Los Morrillos, Cabo Rojo. File:Cabo Rojo Lighthouse, PR-301, Boquerón, Cabo Rojo 00622, Puerto Rico - panoramio (1).jpg, Limestone cliffs in Los Morrillos, Cabo Rojo. File:Acantilados en Area del Faro - Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico - panoramio (4).jpg, Limestone cliffs and rock formations in Los Morrillos, Cabo Rojo. File:Yellowshouldered Blackbird standing on a tree (5840495126).jpg, The yellow-shouldered blackbird, locally known as ''mariquita''. File:Laguna Boquerón, Cabo Rojo.jpg, Lagoon with mangrove in Boquerón, Cabo Rojo. File:Antillean Nighthawk (Chordeiles gundlachii); with distinctive white patch, resting in Cabo Rojo National Wildlife Refuge, Puerto Rico.JPG, Endangered Puerto Rican nightjar in the National Wildlife Refuge area. File:Salinas de Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico.jpg, Cabo Rojo salt flats.

References