La Muralla National Park is a

national park A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

. It was established on 1 January 1993. and covers an area of approximately 13,708.35 ha and a buffer zone of 13,195.05 ha for a total area of 26,903.48 ha. The park is part of three

municipalities 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 the Department of Olancho, Honduras. Approximately 80% of the park is located in La Unión, with approximately 10% in

Jano Jano is a town and Municipalities of Honduras, municipality in the north west of the Honduras, Honduran Departments of Honduras, department of Olancho department, Olancho, west of Guata, south of Esquipulas del Norte and north of Manto, Olancho, ...

and

Esquipulas del Norte Esquipulas del Norte is a municipality in the north west of the Honduran department of Olancho, east of Guata and north of Jano. Demographics At the time of the 2013 Honduras census, Esquipulas del Norte municipality had a population of 10,138. ...

, respectively.

Recent history

La Muralla was designated a national park in January 1993, but like many national parks in

it has struggled to maintain the protected area due to lack of government support. Shortly after its creation a community group Organization for the Protection of National Park La Muralla (OPMA) was created, but has since stopped functioning for lack of financial support. On April 23, 2002 the Association of Community Services Union (ASECUN) was founded and is currently providing community support for La Muralla and other environmental projects. Other players involved in the protection and maintenance of the park include: * Institute of Forestry Conservation for the government of

(ICF) * PANAM Foundation * Project for Forests and Rural Productivity (PBPR) *

The Nature Conservancy The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is a global environmental organization headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. it works via affiliates or branches in 79 countries and territories, as well as across every state in the US. Founded in 1951, The Natu ...

(TNC)

Biodiversity

The first studies of biodiversity in La Muralla were conducted by the Forestry Conservation Project of Honduras (CONSEFORH) in 1992. A total of 101 plants were identified, including melastome families,

Lauraceae Lauraceae, or the laurels, is a plant family that includes the true laurel and its closest relatives. This family comprises about 2850 known species in about 45 genera worldwide (Christenhusz & Byng 2016 ). They are dicotyledons, and occur ma ...

, Pasiflorácea and

Solanaceae The Solanaceae , or nightshades, are a family of flowering plants that ranges from annual and perennial herbs to vines, lianas, epiphytes, shrubs, and trees, and includes a number of agricultural crops, medicinal plants, spices, weeds, and orn ...

. In 2001, the Paseo Pantera project cataloged 859 species of plants, including the previously recorded 101, corresponding to 410 genera and 127 botanical families. The biggest impact of this study was the addition 65 new species not yet registered, and three new genera of plants which are endemic to

: Bartlettina williamsii, Saurauia molinae, and Tetrorchirium molinae.

Orchids

There are currently 123 species of orchids found in La Muralla. In 2010, Dr. Dora Elisa Perez conducted a study with the discovery of 53 new varieties cataloged.

References

{{authority control National parks of Honduras Protected areas established in 1993