Acción Serrana is propagating Polylepis trees in Argentina aiming to restore interconnected cloud forests along the impressive Sierras Grandes de Córdoba and the Andes.
We are now mid-way through the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. The grassroots regenerative movement Acción Serrana in collaboration with the Foundation of Biospheric Activities are bringing water back to dry streams through large-scale reforestation of the highest forests on Earth – the Polylepis (“Tabaquillo”) cloud ecosystems, in the Sierras Grandes of Córdoba, Argentina.
The project is currently crowdsourcing funds in order to carry out a next cycle of propagation, planting and outreach. Your contribution builds a better world for next generations.
23 years ago, the Foundation of Biospheric Activities purchased a biospheric reserve in the highest watershed of central Argentina: “Milking the Clouds” project. The foundation also set up the Centre for Ecological Restoration and Environmental Education (CREEA) in the town of Las Rosas below, to serve as project headquarters and the main portal to the mountain for visitors and local. Then from 2018 the foundation launched the regenerative movement: the Acción Serrana – a Tony Manu grassroot project – as part of the initiative Acción Andina which operates in all of the South Américan mountains.
Champaqui Mountain is part of the Provincial Watershed Reserve of Pampa de Achala, consisting of private lands under environmental protection, and serves as a buffer for the National Park in the Province: “Quebrada del Condorito.” Cordoba recently created additional national parks: The Traslasierra National Park which protects the Dry Chaco Ecosystem, and the Ansenuza National Park which protects the biggest salt lake of South America and which is an important point to shore birds conservation. The “Milking the Clouds” project area is the southern border of the Provincial Hydrological Reserve of Achala, spreading over the western flank of Mount Champaquí. The area is the last buffer zone between urban development in the semi-arid Traslasierra valley and wild lands.
Less than 3% of the forests that were in Cordoba Province a century ago remain. The oldest of these forests are found in the reserve and on the land of neighbors allied with the project. The main threats are forest fires, overgrazing, speculative land development, deforestation, hunting, fishing, unsustainable harvesting of medicinal herbs, and unregulated tourism. The “Milking the Clouds” biospheric reserve contains the oldest forests of the Traslasierra region.
These high mountain forests are biodiversity hotspots. The reserve is composed of ancient forests of Polylepis australis and Maytenus boaria at the high watersheds and dense forests of Lithraea molleoides and Prosopis albae at the low parts (among many other native species). There are over 159 endemic species of plants in the high areas. The reserve is home to several emblematic endangered species: the Condor (Vultur gryphus), Mountain Lion (Puma concolor), Red Fox (Pseudalolpex culpeus smithersi), White Eagle (Geranoaetus melanoleucus), Iguanas (Tupinambis merianae), Brown Brocket Deer (Mazama guazoubira), and many endemic species like the Achala lizard (Pristidactylus achalensis), Achala “four eyes” frog (Pleurodema kriegii), and other classes of endemic birds (Muscisaxicola rufivertex achalensis, Cinclodes oustaleti olrogi, etc.).
Restoring socio-ecosystems
The Champaqui mountains and Traslasierra valley host interconnected multicultural towns and villages. Their vision is a sustainable society integrated with nature. With forests, soil, and water disappearing, these ecosystems are endangered. They work relentlessly to restore and nourish them by raising awareness about unregulated tourism and forest fires, training volunteers, and developing educational curriculum on environmental issues. They collaborate with local governments and NGOs for environmental protection and sustainable development, engage in conservation activities, and keep the community informed through publications and bulletins.A team of neighbors and volunteers now maintain a seed bank of the main native tree species used in reforestation, constantly maintain nurseries of these trees in community greenhouses, coordinate firefighting activities, organize ecological restoration workshops and educational walkabouts, fence newly reforested areas, repair main trails and existing fences, regenerate dried springs, and grow and connect the fragmented forest by planting more trees. As they prevent and fight fires and restore high forests, they preserve and increase water resources for villages, indirectly boosting local agricultural production while conserving habitats of highly endangered, endemic species. Their goal includes saving the ethnobotanical legacy of native forests from the continued advance of farming and mining zones. With only a small fraction of ancient forests left, the urgency cannot be stressed enough.
Credits: Images, text and movies are from Acción Serrana – Argentina. The foundation of Biospheric Activites are long time allies of the Institute of Ecotechnics.
