Maricao 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 Maricao'') is a

state forest A state forest or national forest is a forest that is administered or protected by some agency of a sovereign or federated state, or territory. Background The precise application of the terms vary by jurisdiction. For example: * In Australia, a ...

located in the eastern Cordillera Central mountains 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 ...

. It is commonly known as ''Monte del Estado'' due to the fact that it was one of the first forest reserves in Puerto Rico to be designated a ''state forest'' in its official name. With an area of , the Maricao State Forest is the largest of the 20 forestry units of the Puerto Rico state forest system.

History

The Maricao State Forest was created after a proclamation on December 22, 1919, by then

Governor of Puerto Rico The governor of Puerto Rico ( es, gobernador de Puerto Rico) is the head of government of the Commonwealth (U.S. insular area), Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and commander-in-chief of the Puerto Rico National Guard. The governor has a duty ...

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 ...

Geography

The forest location makes its environment unique in Puerto Rico for its humid climate, its

serpentinite Serpentinite is a rock composed predominantly of one or more serpentine group minerals, the name originating from the similarity of the texture of the rock to that of the skin of a snake. Serpentinite has been called ''serpentine'' or ''ser ...

soils and its high rate of animal and plant endemicity. The forest is located on the western region of the Cordillera Central of Puerto Rico and encompasses of land in a high

rainfall Rain is water droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. It provides water f ...

area through the municipalities of San Germán, Sabana Grande and

Maricao Maricao () is a town and the second-least populous municipality of Puerto Rico; it is located at the western edge of the Cordillera Central. It is a small town set around a small square in hilly terrain, north of San Germán, Sabana Grande and ...

Climate

In summer the climate is warm and humid. Thunderstorms are common, along with temperature around 85 °F with heat index in the upper 90s during the daytime. In summer, nighttime is usually cool with low temperature in the mid- to lower 60s. In winter, it is very dry, the forest with mild temperature in daytime and cold in nighttime. Occasional days drop to 40 °F with mid-30s wind chill.

Geology

Almost 100% of the soils of the Maricao forest are derivates of serpentinite, a

metamorphic rock Metamorphic rocks arise from the transformation of existing rock to new types of rock in a process called metamorphism. The original rock (protolith) is subjected to temperatures greater than and, often, elevated pressure of or more, causin ...

that produces red and argillaceous soil whenever it crumbles down. More than 80% of the forest ground is low in depth and close to the

bedrock In geology, bedrock is solid Rock (geology), rock that lies under loose material (regolith) within the crust (geology), crust of Earth or another terrestrial planet. Definition Bedrock is the solid rock that underlies looser surface mater ...

. These soils are

acidic In computer science, ACID ( atomicity, consistency, isolation, durability) is a set of properties of database transactions intended to guarantee data validity despite errors, power failures, and other mishaps. In the context of databases, a sequ ...

with high contents of

iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in f ...

and aluminum oxides.

Biology and ecology

Flora

There are 1,164 species of plants in the forest. Of the 128 species of

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

plants of

, 23 are in the Maricao State Forest. There are plantations of

mahogany Mahogany is a straight-grained, reddish-brown timber of three tropical hardwood species of the genus ''Swietenia'', indigenous to the AmericasBridgewater, Samuel (2012). ''A Natural History of Belize: Inside the Maya Forest''. Austin: Unive ...

eucalyptus ''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of over seven hundred species of flowering trees, shrubs or mallees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalypteae, including '' Corymbia'', they are commonly known as euca ...

, Honduras pine, and others.

Fauna

There are 136 species of birds recorded in the park, 23 of which are

. Some examples are the

Puerto Rican sharp-shinned hawk The Puerto Rican sharp-shinned hawk, ''(Accipiter striatus venator)'', ''falcón de sierra'' or ''gavilán pecho rufo'' in Spanish, is an endemic subspecies of the North American sharp-shinned hawk, occurring only in Puerto Rico. Discovered in 19 ...

(''Accipiter striatus venator''), which is an

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inva ...

subspecies, and the Puerto Rican emerald (''Chlorostilbon maugaeus'').

Recreation

Due to its location along the Luis Muñoz Marín Scenic Route (better known as the ''Ruta Panorámica''), the Maricao State Forest offers some iconic panoramic views of the Cordillera Central and the southwestern coast of Puerto Rico. In clear days it is possible to observe the city of Mayagüez and even

Mona Island Mona ( es, Isla de Mona) is the third-largest island of the Puerto Rican archipelago, after the main island of Puerto Rico and Vieques. It is the largest of three islands in the Mona Passage, a strait between the Dominican Republic and Puerto R ...

from the Santa Ana Observation Tower (better known as ''Torre de Piedra''). The forest has hiking trails and is featured in Caribbean guides as an important destination for

birdwatching Birdwatching, or birding, is the observing of birds, either as a recreational activity or as a form of citizen science. A birdwatcher may observe by using their naked eye, by using a visual enhancement device like binoculars or a telescope, b ...

. Hiking trails are accessible from route PR-120, from the Monte del Estado Ecological Park (''Parque Ecológico Monte del Estado'') and the Monte del Estado Vacation Center (''Centro Vacacional Monte del Estado''), both of which also provide limited camping and lodging to visitors. In addition to the Torre de Piedra, other historic attractions within the state forest include the Stone House (''Casa de Piedra''), the ruins of a former architectural gem built during President Roosevelt's Civilian Conservation Corps works during the 1930s, and the

Maricao Fish Hatchery The Maricao Fish Hatchery (Spanish: ''Vivero de Peces de Maricao''), also known as the Insular Fish Hatchery (''Criadero Insular de Peces''), is a historic 3.32 acre fish hatchery located in the Maricao Afuera district (''barrio'') of the Puerto ...

, built in 1937 for research purposes and now listed under the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

as one of the New Deal Era Constructions in the Forest Reserves of Puerto Rico (1933-1942). Curet Falls (''Salto Curet'') is an impressive waterfall located along the Lajas River in the northeastern section of the forest reserve. Other waterfalls found in the forest area include El Pilón and La Iglesia waterfalls.

References

External links

Information about Maricao Forest

Hiking trails (AllTrails)
{{Protected areas of Puerto Rico Puerto Rico state forests Puerto Rican moist forests