Rio Bravo Conservation and Management Area
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The Rio Bravo Conservation and Management Area is a nature reserve located in northwestern
Belize Belize (; bzj, Bileez) is a Caribbean and Central American country on the northeastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a wate ...
. Rio Bravo, as it is known, was established by
Programme for Belize The Programme for Belize is a private initiative, the first project undertaken in 1988. Financial and management assistance was generously given by the Massachusetts Audubon Society. After the project was identified and started, loans were provid ...
in 1988 with the purchase of 110,044 acres (44,533.2 hectares) of land from Gallon Jug Agroindustries. With logging encroachment imminent in 1989, 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 ...
joined Programme for Belize to protect the land. Additional land donations from
Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta ...
Foods, Inc. (42,007 acres in 1990 and in 1992) and purchases from New River Enterprises Ltd. (14,011 acres and both in 1994) enlarged the protected area to . Rio Bravo is the largest terrestrial conservation area in Belize, comprising 4% of the country's total land area.


Habitat, flora, and fauna

Rio Bravo is host to a wide variety of habitats including: *
Belizean pine forest Belizean may refer to: * Something of, or related to Belize, a Central American nation * Belizean people, people originating in Belize whether they live there or in the Belizean diaspora * Belizean population, see Demographics of Belize * Belizean ...
*Secondary palm/broadleaf forest *Marsh forest *Freshwater lagoon Surveys of Rio Bravo have yielded over 70 mammal species (greater than 50% bats) and 392 bird species (25% of which are nearctic migrants). Detailed inventories of fish and invertebrates have not yet been undertaken. Twenty-two vegetation types are encompassed by the boundaries of the conservation area, and support 230 tree species. Species of conservation concern found within the conservation area include the
yellow-headed amazon The yellow-headed amazon (''Amazona oratrix''), also known as the yellow-headed parrot and double yellow-headed amazon, is an endangered amazon parrot of Mexico and northern Central America. Measuring in length, it is a stocky short-tailed gree ...
,
Morelet's crocodile Morelet's crocodile ''(Crocodylus moreletii)'', also known as the Mexican crocodile or Belize crocodile, is a modest-sized crocodilian found only in fresh waters of the Atlantic regions of Mexico, Belize and Guatemala. It usually grows to about ...
, and the
Central American river turtle The hickatee (''Dermatemys mawii'') or in Spanish ''tortuga blanca'' ('white turtle'), also called the Central American river turtle, is the only living species in the family Dermatemydidae. The species is found in the Atlantic drainages of Ce ...
.


Physical geology and climate

Rio Bravo sits atop an extension of the
Yucatán Platform The Yucatán Platform or Yucatán Shelf is a geologic province, geologic or Physiographic province, physiographic province, and a Platform (geology), continental and carbonate platform, in the Maya Block of the southernmost portion of the North ...
, which is composed mostly of Cretaceous to early Pleistocene
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 ...
, although dolomite and evaporites are also present at various depths. Alluvial sands have been deposited over the limestones over extensive areas during the Pleistocene. The principal topographical features are a series of escarpments aligned southwest-northeast, which also guide the drainage of the Rio Bravo, Booth's River and New River systems. Overall elevation of the site ranges from 13–790 feet. The area is subject to a 3 month dry season between February and April and a bimodal wet season with highest rainfall in June and October There are wide variations from this basic pattern between years. Annual rainfall is approximately 61-63 inches per year. The coolest period is from November to January, with an average temperature range from 21-26.5C; the warmest period is April to May when average maximum temperatures rise to 31.5C. The record low is 9C and record high is 38C.


Visitor facilities

Visits to Rio Bravo consist primarily of researchers and university students, though educational outreach programs to the local community also attract visitors.


La Milpa Field Station

La Milpa Field Station is situated in the northeastern portion of the reserve, only three miles from La Milpa Archaeological Site, the third largest Mayan ruin in Belize. The field station offers a "green" dormitory and four double-unit cabanas, accommodating 30 visitors. All are constructed of local hardwoods and palm thatch. Activities include: birding, forest walks, community visits, and Mayan ruin exploration.


Hill Bank Field Station

Hill Bank Field Station is situated along the south shore of the New River Lagoon, along Ramgoat Creek. Originally, the site was used as a logging camp established by British buccaneers and African slaves in the 18th century to harvest mahogany. Records show that 400 trees were extracted per year in the early days, rising to 7,000 per year in the late 1970s. Mahogany supplies dwindled quickly at that rate, and the camp was abandoned in 1982. Like La Milpa, Hill Bank has both a dormitory and a cabana, sleeping 30 visitors. Activities include: forest walks, water-based activities (night crocodile spotting, river trips), frog watches, rain forest research and forestry research, the Hill Bank Reforestation Project, ranger patrols and community visits.
Lamanai Lamanai (from ''Lama'anayin'', "submerged crocodile" in Yucatec Maya) is a Mesoamerican archaeological site, and was once a major city of the Maya civilization, located in the north of Belize, in Orange Walk District. The site's name is pre-Columbi ...
is about 2 hours to the north by boat.


Income

Rio Bravo receives funding from donations as well as a number of income-generating projects, including carbon credit-generating sequestration plots.


Ongoing research

Hill Bank Field Station serves as a study site for Las Golondrinas de las Americas.http://golondrinas.cornell.edu/ Nest boxes in the shallows of the lagoon house a study population of the
mangrove swallow The mangrove swallow (''Tachycineta albilinea'') is a passerine bird in the swallow family that breeds in coastal regions from Mexico through Central America to Panama. It has blue-green upperparts, blackish flight feathers, a white rump, a blac ...
, and a vacuum insect sample sits behind the cafeteria.


References


External links


Programme for Belize
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rio Bravo Conservation And Management Area Protected areas of Belize Wildlife sanctuaries of North America Nature conservation in Belize Protected areas established in 1988