The Coto de Caza El Angolo Reserve is a major national protected area encompassing 162,000 acres of endangered dry equatorial forest in the Amotapes mountain range of Piura. Its significant biological diversity includes 150 bird, 17 mammal, 13 reptile, and 10 fish species, many of which are restricted to this Tumbesian dry forest ecosystem.

The reserve has also been recognized by BirdLife International as one of 130 “Important Bird Areas” in Peru. This international recognition of its biological importance has made the reserve a conservation priority in the northwestern Peruvian dry forest.

NCI is working to improve the conservation of the reserve and to encourage local communities to use their natural resources in more sustainable ways. This work is being done in partnership with the reserve’s Management Committee (headed by NCI) and the Peruvian government’s park service, SERNANP. We place a particular focus on the conservation of the region’s endangered species of birds, through a program supported by Birdlife International in the reserve and its buffer zone.

Some activities that have been developed to date include:

• Scientific expeditions to study the biodiversity of the protected area
• Training courses for 16 local teachers in the Schoolyard Ecology methodology and publication of educational guidebooks with information on the reserve
• Public forums on biodiversity and management of the reserve to distribute and exchange information, experiences, and scientific advances related to the reserve and its buffer zone
• Training courses for buffer zone populations on alternatives to land exploitation and the benefits of sustainable management of resources such as forest management projects in the buffer zone of protected areas
• Gathering information on the principal economic activities of the area, including cattle ranching, to assist INRENA in initiating the process of cattle management
• Establishing the first program of voluntary national park rangers for the reserve and its buffer zone, with the participation of eight community leaders from the buffer zone.