Surfbirds News

Loma Charco Azul has been declared a reserve after several years of active lobbying by Grupo Jaragua and its partners. The President of the Dominican Republic, Leonel Fernández, proudly announced the decision to extend the protection in Sierra de Bahoruco by 28,748 hectares.

Narrow-billed Tody, Dominican Republic © Leo Boon, from the surfbirds galleries.

"Loma Charco Azul contains populations of several threatened endemic birds and migratory species and, until now, was an unprotected portion of the Sierra de Bahoruco IBA. Key among the endemics there are the Bay-breasted Cuckoo, La Selle Thrush, Hispaniolan Crossbill and a good population of the vulnerable Hispaniolan Amazon. We applaud the action of President Fernández to designate this important new protected area", said Yvonne Arias, President of Grupo Jaragua. "Grupo Jaragua thanks Leonel Fernández, Jaime David Fernández Mirabal and Eleuterio Martínez, President of the Dominican Republic, Secretary and Deputy Secretary (Subsecretario) of Environment."

The work to create the new protected area and to improve the management of Sierra de Bahoruco National Park was a result of the partnership of Grupo Jaragua, American Bird Conservancy, Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales and the Consorcio Ambiental Dominicano. The work was supported by the US Fish and Wildlife Service through the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act grant program.

Sierra de Bahoruco IBA is one of the three core zones of the Jaragua-Bahoruco–Enriquillo Biosphere Reserve where the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation supported the project “Biodiversity Conservation of the Jaragua-Bahoruco–Enriquillo Biosphere Reserve”.

"This establishes the foundations for more conservation work needed to diminished the impact of threats such as agricultural expansion, introduced animals, fires, illegal logging, capture of parrot chicks and illegal hunting", said Ernst Rupp, who coordinated the work. Moreover, this IBA connects in the west with Massif de la Selle in Haiti, another Globally Important Biodiversity Area, where forests are nearly gone.