| Conservation and Management of the Cota de Caza El Angolo
Reserve
| Internationally recognized
for its diversity of birds |
The Cota 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, INRENA. 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:
 Several
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
participation of eight community leaders from the buffer zone.
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