Sarstoon-Temash is the southernmost

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 ...

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 ...

. The national park was designated in 1994, and covers an area of 165.92 km². It is managed by the

Sarstoon Temash Institute for Indigenous Management The Sarstoon Temash Institute for Indigenous Management (SATIIM) is a nonprofit non-governmental organization which represents people in a group of five villages that live outside of Sarstoon-Temash National Park in Belize. They co-manage the par ...

(SATIIM), in partnership with the Forest Department.

Geography

The park is bounded on the south by the

Sarstoon River The Sarstoon River ( es, link=no, Río Sarstún) is a Central American river that forms part of the international border between Belize and Guatemala. The river's source lies in Guatemala's Alta Verapaz Department, Alta Verapaz Department. It fl ...

, which forms the border with

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...

. The lower Temash River runs through the park. It is bounded on the east by the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea ( es, Mar Caribe; french: Mer des Caraïbes; ht, Lanmè Karayib; jam, Kiaribiyan Sii; nl, Caraïbische Zee; pap, Laman Karibe) is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico ...

Flora and fauna

The park includes a variety of habitat types. Seasonally and permanently flooded tropical forests predominate, which are part of the

Petén–Veracruz moist forests The Petén–Veracruz moist forests is an ecoregion of the tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forest biome found in Belize, Guatemala, and Mexico. Setting The Petén–Veracruz moist forests cover an area of , extending from central Veracr ...

ecoregion. Wetland habitats include 1,100 hectares of freshwater sphagnum moss bog, which are distinct in the region, and the Belize's only stands of comfra palm (''

Manicaria saccifera ''Manicaria'' is a palm genus which is found in Trinidad, Central and South America. It contains two recognized species: #''Manicaria martiana'' Burret – Colombia, northwestern Brazil #''Manicaria saccifera'' Gaertn. – Central America, Trin ...

''). The park also includes a brackish-to-saline inland lagoon, which forms a transition between the freshwater wetlands and 9,600 hectares of saline mangrove swamps. The mangrove swamps are Belize's largest and least-disturbed stand of red mangrove (''

Rhizophora mangle ''Rhizophora mangle'', the red mangrove, is distributed in Estuary, estuarine ecosystems throughout the tropics. Its Vivipary, viviparous "seeds", in actuality called propagules, become fully mature plants before dropping off the parent tree. Th ...

''). The park is home to several threatened and vulnerable species of animals, including the

black howler monkey The black howler (''Alouatta caraya'') or black-and-gold howler, is among the largest New World monkeys and a member of the ''Alouatta'' genus. The black howler is distributed in areas of South America such as Paraguay, southern Brazil, eastern ...

(''Alouatta caraya''),

hickatee 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 Cen ...

turtle (''Dermatemys mawii''),

Baird's tapir The Baird's tapir (''Tapirus bairdii''), also known as the Central American tapir, is a species of tapir native to Mexico, Central America, and northwestern South America. It is the largest of the three species of tapir native to the Americas, as ...

(''Tapirus bairdii''),

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 ...

(''Trichechus manatus''), and

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 ...

(''Crocodylus moreletii'').

People

The indigenous Kekchi Maya and

Garifuna The Garifuna people ( or ; pl. Garínagu in Garifuna) are a people of mixed free African and indigenous American ancestry that originated in the Caribbean island of Saint Vincent and speak Garifuna, an Arawakan language, and Vincentian ...

people live in the park's buffer zone, and both peoples attach cultural importance to areas of the park.

Conservation and threats

The park is jointly managed by the Sarstoon Temash Institute for Indigenous Management (SATIIM) and Belize's forest department. The park was designated a

wetlands A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

of international importance under the

Ramsar Convention The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of Ramsar sites (wetlands). It is also known as the Convention on Wetlands. It i ...

in 2005. Threats to the park include illegal logging of valuable mahogany, cedar, and rosewood timber.

References

External links

Sarstoon Temash Institute for Indigenous Management
{{authority control National parks of Belize Protected areas established in 1994 Ramsar sites in Belize Toledo District Petén–Veracruz moist forests Central American Atlantic moist forests