Cabo Rojo National Wildlife Refuge (

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 ...

: ''Refugio Nacional de Vida Silvestre de Cabo Rojo'') is an 1,836-acre National Wildlife Refuge located in southwestern

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 ...

, in 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 ...

of Cabo Rojo. The refuge is a habitat for number of native bird species including the endangered

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 ...

, locally known as ''mariquita de Puerto Rico'' or ''capitán''. Many birds find their way to the refuge while migrating between North and South America, and more than 118 bird species have been recorded near the area. The Cabo Rojo National Wildlife Refuge is administered as part of the

Caribbean Islands National Wildlife complex Caribbean Islands National Wildlife Complex is an administrative unit of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service which oversees National Wildlife Refuges in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Navassa Island of the U.S. Minor Outlying ...

History

The refuge was established in 1974, when 587 acres of land were obtained by the

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS or FWS) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior dedicated to the management of fish, wildlife, and natural habitats. The mission of the agency is "working with othe ...

from the

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

which had operated the Caribbean Bureau of the

Foreign Broadcast Information Service The Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) was an open source intelligence component of the Central Intelligence Agency's Directorate of Science and Technology. It monitored, translated, and disseminated within the U.S. government openly ...

there for a number of years. In 1999, the FWS purchased and added to the refuge the Cabo Rojo Salt Flats, a historic salt mining site located near the Los Morrillos Lighthouse. This site dates to 700 C.E. and is considered one of the oldest industries in the Americas.

Caborrojeños Pro Salud y Ambiente Caborrojeños Pro Salud y Ambiente, Inc. (CPSA, Caborrojeños for Health and Environment) is a non-profit environmentalist organization based in Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico. The organization was founded in 1990 by a group of concerned residents who w ...

, a local civic group, runs a visitor center in the salt flats area.

Features

The Cabo Rojo National Wildlife Refuge was established to protect the rolling hills, grasslands, mangroves and subtropical dry forests of Cabo Rojo. Due to decades of

overgrazing Overgrazing occurs when plants are exposed to intensive grazing for extended periods of time, or without sufficient recovery periods. It can be caused by either livestock in poorly managed agricultural applications, game reserves, or nature res ...

, much of the native vegetation has been replaced by plants from other regions. Invasive species like the grasses that feed cattle are considered undesirable because they compete with the native vegetation, reducing diversity and therefore decreasing optimal food and nesting habitat for the native wildlife. Grassland management, through haying, has allowed native grasses to grow back and provide a better home for the native fauna. Additionally, native trees are being planted to return the land to its original mature hardwood forest.

Special designations

The Cabo Rojo National Wildlife Refuge has been designated a

Critical Habitat Critical habitat is a habitat area essential to the conservation of a listed species, though the area need not actually be occupied by the species at the time it is designated. This is a specific term and designation within the U.S. Endangered Spe ...

for the yellow-shouldered blackbird ('' Agelaius xanthomus''), and the Cabo Rojo Salt Flats are recognized as an Important Critical Wildlife site within the refuge. The refuge has also been declared a BirdLife International Important Bird Area (under the name ''Suroeste de Puerto Rico'') and was the first Caribbean site to be added to the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network (WHSRN).

Wildlife

Cabo Rojo National Refuge is home to 245 plant species and 145 bird species, including shore and land birds. Some of the bird species found in the refuge include the American kestrel ('' Falco sparverius''), the smooth-billed ani ('' Crotophaga ani''), the black-necked stilt (''

Himantopus mexicanus The black-necked stilt (''Himantopus mexicanus'') is a locally abundant shorebird of Americas, American wetlands and coastlines. It is found from the coastal areas of California through much of the interior western United States and along the Gul ...

''), the yellow or mangrove warbler ('' Setophaga petechia''), the Adelaide's warbler ('' Setophaga adelaidae''), the troupial ( ''Icterus icterus'') which was introduced from Venezuela, the semipalmated plover ('' Charadrius semipalmatus''), the Wilson's plover ( ''Charadrius wilsonia'') and the Puerto Rican woodpecker (''Melanerpes portoricensis''). The refuge is also home to a large number of endemic reptiles and amphibians such as the Puerto Rican red-eyed frog (''

Eleutherodactylus antillensis The red-eyed coqui, ''churi, coqui churi'', or ''coqui de las Antillas'' (''Eleutherodactylus antillensis'') is a species of frog in the family Eleutherodactylidae that is found in Puerto Rico, the British and U.S. Virgin Islands, and introduced t ...

''), the Cuban tree frog ('' Osteopilus septentrionalis'') and the white-lipped frog (''

Leptodactylus albilabris ''Leptodactylus albilabris'' is a species of frog in the family Leptodactylidae. Common names Its local name is ranita de labio blanco or sapito de labio blanco ("white-lipped froglet") and English name either Gunther's white-lipped frog or Hisp ...

''). Native plants found in the refuge include the cobana negra ('' Stahlia monosperma''), the pipe-organ cactus ('' Cephalocerus royenii''), the West Indian birch ('' Bursera simaruba'') and the guayacan (''

Guaiacum officinale ''Guaiacum officinale'', commonly known as roughbark lignum-vitae, guaiacwood or gaïacwood, is a species of tree in the caltrop family, Zygophyllaceae, that is native to the Caribbean and the northern coast of South America. Description This sm ...

'').

Adjacent protected areas

The Cabo Rojo National Wildlife Refuge is located close to the

Laguna Cartagena National Wildlife Refuge The Laguna Cartagena National Wildlife Refuge (Spanish: ''Refugio de Vida Silvestre de Laguna Cartagena'') is a 1043-acre National Wildlife Refuge in Lajas, Puerto Rico. It is part of the Caribbean Islands National Wildlife Refuge Complex. The ...

, both of which are administered as part of the

. The national wildlife refuge is also adjacent to different units belonging to the Boquerón State Forest, which protects the mangrove forests that stretch from Cabo Rojo to Lajas, and the Cabo Rojo National Natural Landmark.

Gallery

File:Cabo Rojo NWR, Salt Flats (23261823173).jpg, Cabo Rojo Salt Flats File:Puerto Rican Troupial, Icterus icterus, Venezuelan Troupial;belly view, Cabo Rojo National Wildilfe Refuge Puerto Rico.JPG, Venezuelan troupial ('' Icterus icterus'') File:Antillean Nighthawk (Chordeiles gundlachii); with distinctive white patch, resting in Cabo Rojo National Wildlife Refuge, Puerto Rico.JPG, Antillean nighthawk ('' Chordeiles gundlachii'') File:Bee on Leptocerus grantianus (5871111565).jpg, Bee on '' Leptocerus grantianus.'' File:Stahlia monosperma flower (5840542648).jpg, '' Stahlia monosperma'' flower File:Cabo Rojo national wildlife refuge Puerto Rico.jpg, Aerial view of the salt flats and lagoon

References

External links

Cabo Rojo National Wildlife Refuge

N.W.R at the recreation.gov
Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico National Wildlife Refuges in Puerto Rico 1974 establishments in Puerto Rico Protected areas established in 1974 {{CaboRojoPR-geo-stub