Caño Martín Peña Nature Reserve (

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 countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

: ''Reserva Natural Caño Martín Peña'') is a nature reserve in

San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan ( , ; Spanish for "Saint John the Baptist, John") is the capital city and most populous Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality in the Commonwealth (U.S. insular area), Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the ...

located along the 3.75 mile long

Martín Peña Channel The Martín Peña Channel (Spanish: ''Caño de Martín Peña'') is a body of water in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The similarly named Martín Peña is a neighborhood, with informal housing, adjacent to the channel. The channel runs from San Juan Ba ...

. The nature reserve protects wetlands and an urban

mangrove forest Mangrove forests, also called mangrove swamps, mangrove thickets or mangals, are productive wetlands that occur in coastal intertidal zones. Mangrove forests grow mainly at tropical and subtropical latitudes because mangrove trees cannot withsta ...

which extends throughout the channel between the Los Corozos and San José Lagoons in the east and the

San Juan Bay San Juan Bay () is a Bay#Types, semi-enclosed bay, estuary, and harbor connected to the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean in the northeastern coastal plain of Puerto Rico. Surrounded by the capital Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality o ...

in the west, and between the districts of Santurce in the north and

Hato Rey Hato Rey ( Spanish for ''king’s cattle farm''), often considered the central business district of Puerto Rico, is a highly urbanized financial, commercial, and residential district in San Juan, the capital municipality of the archipelago and ...

in the south. This reserve is managed by the

Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources The Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (PRDNER) () is the executive department of the government of Puerto Rico tasked with protecting, conserving, developing, and managing the natural and environmental resources in P ...

(DRNA) and belongs to the larger San Juan Bay National Estuary, the only tropical estuary in the National Estuary Program network.

History

This nature reserve is bordered by a number of residential areas, such as the Martín Peña neighborhood which formed in 1940 during the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

. This community is constantly threatened by floods from the channel, and from industrial pollution which also threatens the ecosystem of the mangrove forest. The community formed the Caño Martín Peña

Community Land Trust A community land trust or (CLT) is a nonprofit corporation that holds land on behalf of a place-based community, while serving as the long-term steward for affordable housing, community gardens, civic buildings, commercial spaces and other communi ...

in 2017 which aims to formally legalize the housing in the neighborhood, guarantee safe and sustainable housing, relocating the families that live in critical flooding areas, and to aid and develop the ecological sustainability of the area.

Ecology

The Caño Martín Peña Nature Reserve is home to a

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows mainly in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. Mangroves grow in an equatorial climate, typically along coastlines and tidal rivers. They have particular adaptations to take in extra oxygen a ...

forest which is home to a number of animal and plant species in the middle of the highly urbanized San Juan metropolitan area. All four species of mangrove that occurs in Puerto Rico can be found within the nature reserve: the red mangrove (''

Rhizophora mangle ''Rhizophora mangle'', also known as the red mangrove, is a salt-tolerant, small-to-medium sized evergreen tree restricted to coastal, estuarine ecosystems along the southern portions of North America, the Caribbean as well as Central America ...

''), black mangrove (''

Avicennia germinans ''Avicennia germinans'', the black mangrove, is a shrub or small tree growing up to 12 meters (39 feet) in the acanthus family, Acanthaceae. It grows in tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas, on both the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts ...

''), white mangrove ('' Laguncalaria racemosa'') and button mangrove (''

Conocarpus erectus ''Conocarpus erectus'', commonly called buttonwood or button mangrove, is a hardy species of mangrove shrub in the family Combretaceae. Taxonomy These two varieties are not accepted as distinct by all authorities: *''C. e.'' var. ''erectus' ...

''). The reserve is home to large populations of invasive species such as green iguanas,

lionfish ''Pterois'' is a genus of venomous fish, venomous marine fish, commonly known as the lionfish, native to the Indo-Pacific. It is characterized by conspicuous aposematism, warning coloration with red or black bands and ostentatious dorsal fins tip ...

caimans A caiman ( (also spelled cayman) from Taíno language, Taíno ''kaiman'') is an alligatorid belonging to the subfamily Caimaninae, one of two primary lineages within the Alligatoridae family (biology), family, the other being alligators. ...

and

alligators An alligator, or colloquially gator, is a large reptile in the genus ''Alligator'' of the family Alligatoridae in the order Crocodilia. The two extant species are the American alligator (''A. mississippiensis'') and the Chinese alligator (''A ...

. The area is also important to a number of migratory bird species such as the merlin (''

Falco columbarius The merlin (''Falco columbarius'') is a small species of falcon from the Northern Hemisphere, with numerous subspecies throughout North America and Eurasia. A bird of prey, the merlin breeds in the northern Holarctic; some migrate to subtropical ...

''). Some common native bird species include: little egrets ('' Egretta garzetta''), little blue herons ('' Egretta caerulea''), snowy egrets (''

Egretta thula The snowy egret (''Egretta thula'') is a small white heron. The genus name comes from Provençal French for the little egret, , which is a diminutive of , 'heron'. The species name ''thula'' is the Araucano term for the black-necked swan, app ...

''), tricolored heron ('' Egretta tricolor''), great egrets ('' Ardea alba''), great white herons ('' Ardea herodias occidentalis''), brown pelicans (''

Pelecanus occidentalis The brown pelican (''Pelecanus occidentalis'') is a bird of the pelican family, Pelecanidae, one of three species found in the Americas and one of two that feed by diving into water. It is found on the Atlantic Coast from New Jersey to the mouth ...

''), yellow-crowned night herons ('' Nyctanassa violacea'') and black-crowned night herons (''

Nycticorax nycticorax The black-crowned night heron (''Nycticorax nycticorax'') r black-capped night heron commonly shortened to just night heron in Eurasia, is a medium-sized heron found throughout a large part of the world, including parts of Europe, Asia, and Nort ...

'').

Recreation

The nature reserve is open to visitors who are allowed access through the Enrique Martí Coll Linear Park (''Parque Lineal Enrique Martí Coll'') by entrances located in the San Juan Central Park (''Parque Central de San Juan'') in the western edge of the reserve, the Teófilo "Teo" Cruz Park at the midpoint in Santurce, and the AcuaExpreso ferry Hato Rey Terminal and Trocadero Diverplex next to the rapid-transit

Tren Urbano The ''Tren Urbano'' (English language, English: Urban Train) is a List of automated urban metro subway systems, automated rapid transit system serving the San Juan–Bayamón–Caguas metropolitan area, main metropolitan area of Puerto Rico ...

station of

by the '' Choliseo''.

References

External links

Fideicomiso de la Tierra Caño Martín Peña (Spanish)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cano Martin Pena Nature Reserve Mangroves Protected areas of Puerto Rico San Juan, Puerto Rico

History

Ecology

Recreation

See also

References

External links