More than 50 volunteers attended the Punta Tuna Wetland Natural Reservein Maunaboto plant 410 native trees, as part of an activity that had the purpose of reforesting and preparing the ecological corridor to mitigate the impact of future atmospheric events.
The event – organized by Department of Natural and Environmental Resourcesthe non-profit organization Watershed Protectors and the Maunabo Pro Development Committee– was part of a “larger project” to achieve the planting of 10,000 new trees in the area after the dramatic forest loss due to the passage of the Hurricane Maria nine years ago.
“The project is a larger project, a project of about half a million dollars, where we are going in stages, and “This is one of the most important stages, which is creating the biological foundations for the reserve to be rehabilitated.”held Pedro Torres Moralespresident of the Committee, by telephone.
Among the species planted, there were maria, moca, pana, guava, mamey, cocoa, fruit trees and others that were germinated by Watershed Protectors and planted near the Green House, a structure that serves as a community center and office in the nature reserve.
“When you can call people together, people come, people are part of the process and those same people are going to defend the values, they are going to defend the reserves, because the same people are the ones who are working here,” said Torres Morales, highlighting citizen participation as a fundamental part of the community work carried out by the Committee.
The next call to continue planting will be on Saturday, March 28, he reported.
On the other hand, Torres Morales expressed that currently “dialogues continue” with the government to prevent construction on three plots of land that border the north of the natural reserve and that provide water to the wetland.
“We are asking, begging, the government not to allow construction there, that it can be built somewhere else, not there. Why not? It is scientifically documented that the water, that the hydrology of the reserve comes from there, which is one of the important factors”He added, commenting that they have asked the government to buy the land, but the response they received is that there is no money for it.
“We continue to insist that we have to buy it. How are they going to do it? I don’t know, but it is necessary. We need it, the Punta Tuna reserve needs it and the survival of the reserve,” he added.
Likewise, the Committee is awaiting a response from the secretary of the DNER, Waldemar Quiles Pérezto continue the dialogues on the reconstruction of the reserve’s observation tower, since Torres Morales assured that the official told them, last October, “that in the first months of this year the reconstruction would begin” and they have not yet received information about it.