Related Research Articles
Camuy is a town and municipality of Puerto Rico, bordering the Atlantic Ocean, north of Lares and San Sebastián; east of Quebradillas; and west of Hatillo. Camuy is spread over 12 barrios and Camuy Pueblo. The town celebrated its 200th anniversary in 2007.
Aguas Buenas,, popularly known as "La Ciudad de las Aguas Claras" or "The City of Clear Waters", is a town and municipality of Puerto Rico located in the Central Mountain Range, north of Cidra, south of Bayamón, Guaynabo and San Juan; east of Comerio; and north-west of Caguas. Aguas Buenas is spread over 9 barrios and Aguas Buenas Pueblo. It is part of the San Juan-Caguas-Guaynabo Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Caja de Muertos is an uninhabited island off the southern coast of Puerto Rico, in the municipality of Ponce. The island and its surrounding waters are protected by the Caja de Muertos Nature Reserve, because of its native turtle traffic and ecological value of its dry forests and reefs. Hikers and beachgoers are often seen in the island, which can be reached by ferry from the La Guancha Boardwalk sector of Ponce Playa. Together with Cardona, Ratones, Morrillito, Isla del Frio, Gatas, and Isla de Jueyes, Caja de Muertos is one of seven islands ascribed to the municipality of Ponce.
Cerro Las Tetas, nicknamed Las Tetas de Cayey but officially Las Piedras del Collado, are two mountain peaks located in the municipality of Salinas, Puerto Rico, north of the city of Salinas proper. Since September 1, 2000, the peaks have become part of the Las Piedras del Collado Nature Reserve and are protected by law. Their height is 2,762 feet (842 m) above sea level.
The Parque Nacional de las Cavernas del Río Camuy is a cave system in Puerto Rico. It is located between the municipalities of Camuy, Hatillo, and Lares in northwestern Puerto Rico, but the main entrance to the park is located in Quebrada, Camuy. The caverns are part of a large network of natural limestone caves and underground waterways carved out by the third-largest underground river in the world, the Río Camuy. The cave system was "discovered" in 1958 and was first documented in the 1973 book Discovery at the Río Camuy (ISBN 0-517-50594-0) by Russell and Jeanne Gurnee, but there is archaeological evidence that these caves were explored hundreds of years ago by the Taíno Indians, Puerto Rico's first inhabitants. Over 10 miles of caverns, 220 caves and 17 entrances to the Camuy cave system have been mapped so far. This, however, is only a fraction of the entire system which many experts believe still holds another 800 caves. Only a small part of the complex is open to the public. The 268-acre park built around the cave system features tours of some of the caves and sinkholes, and is one of the most popular natural attractions in Puerto Rico. After restorations necessitated by Hurricane Maria, a destructive storm that struck Puerto Rico in 2017, the park re-opened on March 24, 2021. It then closed again due to Hurricane Fiona in September, 2022.
The Northeast Ecological Corridor Nature Reserve (NECNR) refers to an area designated as a protected Nature Reserve located on the northeast coast of Puerto Rico, between the municipalities of Luquillo and Fajardo. Specifically, the lands that comprise the NEC are located between Luquillo's town square to the west and Seven Seas Beach to the east, being delineated by PR Route # 3 to its south and the Atlantic Ocean to its north. It was decreed as a protected area by former Puerto Rico Governor Aníbal S. Acevedo-Vilá in April 2008, a decision reversed by Governor Luis G. Fortuño-Burset in October 2009, although he later passed a law in June 2012 re-designated as nature reserve two-thirds of its lands, after intense lobbying and public pressure. Later, in 2013, Governor Alejandro García-Padilla signed a law declaring all lands within the NEC a nature reserve. The area comprises 2,969.64 acres, which include such diverse habitats as forest, wetlands, beaches, coral communities, and a sporadically bioluminescent lagoon. The Corridor is also home to 866 species of flora and fauna, of which 54 are considered critical elements, meaning rare, threatened, endangered and endemic species classified by the Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (DNER), some even designated as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN). These include, among others, federally endangered species such as the plain pigeon, the snowy plover, the Puerto Rican boa, the hawksbill sea turtle and the West Indian manatee. The beaches along the NEC, which are 8.74 kilometers long are important nesting grounds for the leatherback sea turtle, which starts its nesting season around April each year.
Rio Abajo State Forest is a forest preserve in Puerto Rico owned by the Department of Natural Resources and one of the 20 state forests in the island. It was designated a National Natural Landmark in 1980 and constitutes an area of 3,590 acres. It consists mostly of subtropical wet and moist karst forest. Mogotes and sinkholes fill the landscape. The forest preserve is located in the municipalities of Arecibo and Utuado. In addition to its ecological value the forest also contains a number of archaeological sites.
Enrique "Quique" Questell Alvarado is a Puerto Rican politician and the former mayor of Santa Isabel. Questell is affiliated with the New Progressive Party (PNP) and served as mayor from 2005 until 2020. Has a Associate Degree in Civil Engineering from the Ponce Institute of Technology.
Reserva Natural Punta Cucharas is a nature reserve in Barrio Canas, Ponce, Puerto Rico. It consists of both a land area component as well as an offshore marine area. The land component has an area of 698 cuerdas while the marine component has an expanse of 3,516 cuerdas, for a total area of 4,214 cuerdas. The Reserve consists of mangrove ecosystems, coastal sand dunes, a saline lagoon known as Laguna Las Salinas, open water, and a century-old local community. The lagoon occupies and area of 347,898 m2 Ecological protection is managed and enforced by the Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources. Eight activities are allowed at the Reserve: scuba diving, boating, fishing, hiking, sun bathing, photography, bird watching and canoeing. Activities prohibited are: Camping, crabbing/trapping, horseback riding, water crafting, and hunting. Pets, ATVs, and fireplaces are also prohibited.
Cuevas Las Cabachuelas is a large cave system in Puerto Rico, located between the municipalities of Morovis and Ciales in the Cabachuelas Natural Reserve, which was established in 2012. It is of natural, cultural, archaeological, hydrological and geomorphological importance to Puerto Rico. Guided tours are offered by the Diógenes Colón Gómez Cultural Center in Morovis.
Ceiba State Forest, also referred to as the Ceiba State Reserve, is a mangrove forest and nature reserve located in the eastern coast of Puerto Rico, in the municipalities of Ceiba and Fajardo. The forest extends over 350 acres and is mostly made of mangrove forests which are habitat to a large number of bird species. Although named Ceiba State Forest, the forest is not home to the large ceiba tree, and it is actually named after the municipality it is located in. In addition to the mangrove forests, the reserve also includes coastal zones that comprise sandy beaches and coral reefs found in both the Ceiba and Fajardo sections.
Guajataca State Forest is one of the 20 forests that make up the public forest system of Puerto Rico. The Guajataca Forest is located in the northwestern part of Puerto Rico, along the Northern Karst zone in the municipality of Isabela and municipality of Quebradillas, and is near Camuy and San Sebastián. The forest is renowned for its ecological diversity, the mogotes and karstic formations, and its numerous caves and canyons. It also has the largest trail system of any Puerto Rican state forest.
Cueva del Indio is a seaside cave located along limestone cliffs in Islote, Arecibo along Puerto Rico's Atlantic coast. The cave and its surroundings are protected by the Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (DRNA) as the Cueva del Indio Nature Reserve. The cave gets its name after the numerous petroglyphs created by the Taínos.
Humacao Nature Reserve, or the Punta Santiago Nature Reserve, is a nature reserve located in the southeastern coast of Puerto Rico, between the municipalities of Humacao and Naguabo (Río). The 3,000-acre nature reserve was established in 1986 to protect and preserve the remaining Pterocarpus forest ecosystem in the area, along with its surrounding wetlands and mangrove forests.
The Planadas-Yeyesa Nature Reserve is a protected nature reserve located in the Sierra de Cayey, in the municipality of Salinas in central Puerto Rico. The reserve is located close to the famous Cerro Las Tetas. Two of the most prominent features of the reserve are Cerro Planada, a 2,480 feet high mountain peak, and La Yeyesa, a heavily forested canyon formed by the Lapa River and other streams which feed into the Nigua River. La Yeyesa can be accessed through a lightly trafficked yet moderate trail.
Mona and Monito Islands Nature Reserve consists of two islands, Mona and Monito, in the Mona Passage off western Puerto Rico in the Caribbean. Mona and Monito Islands Nature Reserve encompasses both land and marine area, and with an area of 38,893 acres it is the largest protected natural area in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Much like the Galapagos Islands in the Pacific Ocean, the Mona and Monito Islands reserve represents a living laboratory for archaeological, biological, geological, oceanographical and wildlife management research.
Hacienda Belvedere, also known as Finca Belvedere, is a former 1,649-acre plantation located in Miradero, in the municipality of Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico. It was the second largest plantation in the region. There are debating theories as to the foundation and development of Hacienda Belvedere: one proposed by writer Ferreras Pagán states that the plantation was founded by the Cabassa brothers in the late 19th century, while local sources claim that it was founded in the early 19th century by the Monagas family. There is however no conflicting history regarding the hacienda's development during the early 20th century, when the plantation was owned and operated by the Vidal family until 1922, when it was leased to Manuel de Santiago of Hacienda Borinquen.
References
- ↑ "Leyes de Puerto Rico de 2002 en LexJuris". www.lexjuris.com. Retrieved 2021-12-18.
- ↑ "Ley de Bosques — Puerto DRNA "Navega por el ambiente"". www.drna.pr.gov. Retrieved 2021-12-18.
- 1 2 3 4 5 "Sistema de Cuevas de Aguas Buenas". www.relcomlatinoamerica.net (in European Spanish). Retrieved 2021-12-18.
- ↑ "Defienden terrenos protegidos de reserva natural". Primera Hora (in Spanish). 2017-04-26. Retrieved 2021-12-18.
- 1 2 3 "Defienden terrenos protegidos de reserva natural". Primera Hora (in Spanish). 2017-04-26. Retrieved 2021-12-18.