Surfbirds News

The announcement comes on the heels of a similar decree last November that set aside five million acres of rainforest in two new reserves, in the state of Para. While certain parts of these two reserves will be fully protected from any use, with local communities acting as stewards, other parts will be cooperatively managed by local communities for low-impact activities such as rubber tapping and vegetable oil extraction.

Para has been at the center of a bitter dispute since President da Silva reversed some logging restrictions in the early part of 2005, angering local environmentalists and indigenous groups. Following the death of an American missionary, Dorothy Stang on February 12, at the suspected hands of illegal loggers, da Silva reinstated the restrictions and created the new, larger protected area. Although tensions in Para have calmed for now, illegal land use remains a constant threat to these new reserves and the rest of the Amazon’s rainforests.

Olive-sided Flycatcher from the Surfbirds Galleries © Robert Hughes

Over 1,000 bird species inhabit the Amazon, along with approximately 60,000 plant species, 2,000 freshwater fish species, and over 300 species of mammals. Many North American birds use Amazonian rainforests as their wintering grounds, such as the Olive-sided Flycatcher (an ABC Green List species) and Veery.