Buenaventura Reserve, Ecuador

PROJECT SUMMARY
Buenaventura, located in southwestern Ecuador, protects a narrow zone of cloud forest amid the otherwise dry west slope of the Andes. Here, elements of the northern Chocó and southern Tumbesian biogeographic zones mix to form a rich area of biodiversity and one of the ornithologically richest sites in the Ecuadorian Andes. The area has unusually high endemism and is the only habitat of the El Oro Tapaculo and the recently discovered El Oro Parakeet, of which there are only roughly 120 individuals remaining in the wild. The area is believed to be home to 327 different species of birds, 26 of which are restricted-range bird species and nine of which are classified by BirdLife International as globally threatened or vulnerable. Buenaventura is also rich botanically and has numerous endemic plant species.

None of this unique habitat was protected until 1999 when Fundación Jocotoco began to purchase pristine sections of the forest and regenerate degraded ones. A 2002 purchase of 450 hectares made possible with funding from World Land Trust-US and others increased the size of the Buenaventura reserve to 1,500 hectares.

Recently, researchers at Buenaventura identified four properties adjacent to the reserve totaling roughly 100 hectares that, if acquired, would protect the majority of the habitat used by two-thirds (or 80 individuals) of the remaining population of the El Oro Parakeet.

Jocotoco's goal is to eventually expand the reserve to 5,000 hectares, an area large enough to maintain the area's bird community and associated biodiversity.