Page 32 - ARUBA TODAY

A32 FEATURE
Thursday 27 July 2017
Mexican farmers using fireflies to save forest

LULU OROZCO
Associated Press
NANACAMILPA, Mexico
(AP) — In the village of
Nanacamilpa, tiny fireflies
are helping save the tow-
ering pine and fir trees on
the outskirts of the mega-
lopolis of Mexico City.
Thousands of them light up
a magical spectacle at
dusk in the old-growth for-
ests on reserves like the Pie-
dra Canteada park, about
45 miles (75 kilometers)
east of Mexico’s sprawling
capital city.
Piedra Canteada in Tlax-
cala state isn’t a govern-
ment-run park, but a ru-
ral cooperative that has
managed to emerge from
poverty and dependence
on logging with the help of
the fireflies.
For years, economic forc-
es, including low prices for
farm produce, forced rural
communities like Piedra
Canteada to cut down
trees and sell the logs. In this July 21, 2016 photo, fireflies light up in sync in the woods of Piedra Canteada, near Nanacamilpa, Tlaxcala state, Mexico.
Then, in 1990, community Associated Press
leader Genaro Rueda Lo-
pez got the idea that the
forest could bring tourism
revenue from campers. acres (630 hectares). He said their operation is a co-op acquired a small main source of income.
Business was slow for years. “We log, we live from the reservation-only ranch and sawmill in 1998 so it could “We have reduced our
Then in 2011, community forest, from cutting trees, they are trying to reduce sell higher-priced cut lum- wood production, you can
members realized the mil- but in an orderly way,” said the amount of people who ber instead of just logs. say by 60 or 70 percent to
lions of fireflies that appear Rueda Lopez, one of the visit the area, 250 maximum The sawmill gives residents preserve the forest and
between June and August cooperative’s founders. on the weekends, to main- jobs and income beyond have better amount of
could draw tourists from “It’s like a garden, you have tain a sustainable space in the three-month firefly sea- tourism,” said sawmill man-
larger cities where few to remove the branches the forest. son. ager Salvador Morale.q
people have seen them yourself, the dry parts, the In Piedra Canteada, the But the fireflies are now the
in significant numbers. In- parts with diseases to really
deed, around the world, grow.” He said they have
deforestation and urban plans to plant over 50,000
growth are threatening the pine trees in the areas they
over 2,000 species of fire- log each year.
flies with extinction. The idea has spread to
Five years later, the park’s nearby places in largely
cabins and camp spaces rural Tlaxcala, like Granja
are sold out weeks in ad- Interactiva Salma, whose
vance, with the attraction primary business is still crops
especially popular among like corn, wheat, broad
families with young chil- beans and peas. But they
dren and couples seeking say firefly tours are a much-
a romantic setting. needed source of extra in-
“The amount of fireflies come.
you see is impressive,” said “We are trying to treat the
Carlos Landa, a Mexico whole area here with no
City native who visited Pie- herbicides, because it’s
dra Canteada this week. logical if we have insecti-
“Something that I also find cides, that could affect the
quite impressive is their syn- fireflies,” said Hugo Brindis,
chronicity: To turn off and a certified guide at Granja
turn on, that is something Salma. “We are talking to
really spectacular. It’s like biologists and the people In this July 21, 2016 photo, fireflies seeking mates light up in synchronized bursts as photog-
Christmas in the forest.” who make these chemi- raphers take long-exposure pictures, inside Piedra Canteada, a tourist camp cooperatively
The cooperative of 42 fam- cals to see which have less owned by 42 local families, inside an old-growth forest near the town of Nanacamilpa, Tlaxcala
ilies still cuts some trees, but of an effect on fireflies and state, Mexico.
has preserved over 1,560 the forest.” Associated Press