Bahía de Jobos or Reserva Natural de Investigación Estuarina de Bahía de Jobos is a federally protected estuary in Aguirre, Salinas, Puerto Rico. The bay is an intertidal tropical ecosystem dominated by seagrass beds, coral reefs, and mangroves. In an area of 1,140 hectares, the reserve contains five distinct habitat types and provides sanctuary to several endangered species. Bahía de Jobos is one of 28 reserves that comprise the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Estuarine Research Reserve System. The reserve is operated in conjunction with the Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (DRNA).
The Conservation Trust of Puerto Rico is a private, nonprofit organization protecting natural areas; constituting conservation easements; restoring, rehabilitating and preserving historical structures; developing educational programs that foster the protection of natural areas; and directing a tree nursery program for native and endemic species, among others. The Conservation Trust of Puerto Rico has been accredited by The Land Trust Accreditation Commission. The Conservation Trust is also a member of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, a global environmental organization with more than 1,200 public and private members from 160 countries.
The Arrecifes de Cozumel National Park is off the coast of the island of Cozumel in the state of Quintana Roo, Mexico. The Cozumel reef system is part of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System, the second largest coral reef system in the world. Even though almost the entire island of Cozumel is surrounded by coral reefs, the park only encompasses the reefs on the south side of the island. It begins just south of the International Pier and continues down and around Punta Sur and up just a small portion of the east side of the island. The park contains both shallow and mesophotic coral reefs and extends to the 100 m depth isobar.
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.
The Islas MaríasBiosphere Reserve is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve located in the Islas Marías in the municipality (municipio) of San Blas, Nayarit, Mexico. The 641,284.73 hectares (2,476.0142 sq mi) reserve includes ecosystems with a great wealth of species of biological, economic, scientific and cultural relevance. Its biological wealth is to be found in the dry forests of its landscape, in the mangroves, the succulent rosette scrubland, the reefs, coasts and pelagic environments it harbors.
Bahía de Ponce is a bay in Barrio Playa, Ponce, Puerto Rico. The Bay is home to the most important commercial harbor on the Puerto Rico south coast and the second largest in Puerto Rico. The Cardona Island Light is located on the Bay to mark the way into the Bay from the nearby Caja de Muertos Light.
Hacienda Azucarera La Esperanza is a former 2265-acre sugarcane plantation located in the Manatí river valley in the municipality of Manatí, Puerto Rico which was founded in the 1830s and, by the 1860s, was one of the largest in the island. It remained operational from 1830 to 1880.
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.
The Cordillera Reef Nature Reserve, also known as the Reserva Natural Cayos de la Cordillera, is a nature reserve perpendicularly located 1.5 nautical miles off the coast of Cabezas, Fajardo in northeastern Puerto Rico, consisting of a small chain of cays, reefs, and islets, collectively known as Cayos de la Cordillera or simply La Cordillera. From west to east, the archipelago consists of Las Cucarachas islets, Los Farallones islets, Icacos cay, Ratones cay, Lobos cay, Palominos island, Palominitos island, La Blanquilla cay and islets, Diablo cay, Hermanos reefs, and Barriles reefs. The nature reserve covers about 18 nautical miles and almost 30,000 acres between Las Cabezas de San Juan in Cabezas, Fajardo and the Spanish virgin island of Culebra.
Caja de Muertos Nature Reserve is a nature reserve in southern Puerto Rico consisting of the islands of Caja de Muertos, Cayo Morrillito, Cayo Berbería, and their surrounding reefs and waters in the Caribbean Sea. This nature reserve was founded on January 2, 1980, by the Puerto Rico Planning Board as recommended by the Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources with the purpose of preserving the subtropical dry forest ecosystems found within these islands, some important sea turtle nesting sites, and the marine habitats found on their surrounding reefs and waters.
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.
La Robleda Natural Protected Area is a 254-acre protected natural area and conservation easement in Cayey, Puerto Rico. La Robleda, meaning 'the oak grove', gets its name from the high concentration of pink manjack trees, locally known as roble blanco, in the area. The pink manjack trees in this nature reserve bloom for a few weeks every year, creating a natural scenic spectacle of pink and white colors in the Sierra de Cayey.
Punta Yeguas is a headland and nature reserve located in the Camino Nuevo barrio of Yabucoa, Puerto Rico. Geographically, the headland corresponds to the orographic kneeling of the Sierra Pandura, a mountain range which extends eastward from the Sierra de Cayey.
Punta Petrona is a cape and protected area located in southern Puerto Rico, in the Felicia 1 district of the municipality of Santa Isabel. Located in the Caribbean Sea coast, it is bordered by the Rincón Bay to the east, and the bight of Caja de Muertos to the west. Punta Petrona contains a mangrove forest and it is surrounded by small keys that serve as a habitat for the West Indian manatee. It is also an important coral reef area frequented by sea turtles. The area is protected as the Punta Petrona Natural Reserve, part of the wider Aguirre State Forest; however, the Puerto Rican Planning Society revealed in 2018 that this nature reserve did not have the proper state management and classification regulations.
Tourmaline Reef is a shelf-edge reef located in the Mona Passage off Mayagüez Bay in western Puerto Rico. The reef is one of the best-preserved reefs of its type in Puerto Rico as it is found far away enough from the coast and was selected as one of the first coral reef protection zones under the Puerto Rico Coastal Zone Management Program. Tourmaline Reef is located close to Punta Guanajibo, at 7.5 nautical miles from Mayagüez, at depths of up to 10 meters under the ocean surface bordering in waters of moderate to high visibility due to minimal terrigenous or sedimentary deposits.
Nature Reserve of Puerto Rico is a title and special designation given by the upper house of the Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico to specific natural areas or features throughout the territory. All nature reserves in Puerto Rico are protected by Puerto Rico Law #150, first approved on August 8, 1988, better known as the Puerto Rico Natural Heritage Program Act that seeks to protect the natural resources of the island for the purpose of natural preservation and tourism. These are managed by different agencies within the Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources, public-private partnerships such as the Conservation Trust of Puerto Rico and its management unit Para la naturaleza, and other grassroots and community institutions and programs.
Punta Guaniquilla is a headland or small peninsula located immediately to the south of Buyé Beach and north of Boquerón Bay in the municipality of Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico. The entirety of the headland is protected as the Punta Guaniquilla Nature Reserva by the Conservation Trust of Puerto Rico and the Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources since 1977, making it one of the oldest nature reserves officially protected by Puerto Rico Law #150.
La Parguera Nature Reserve is a protected area located in the southwestern Puerto Rico, primarily in the municipality of Lajas but also covering cays and islets under the municipal jurisdictions of Guánica and Cabo Rojo. The nature reserve is itself a unit of the Boquerón State Forest and it protects the Bahía Montalva mangrove forest in addition to mangrove bays, salt marshes and lagoons located along the coast of the Parguera barrio of Lajas, including its numerous cays and coral reefs. The reserve is mostly famous for its bioluminescent bay, locally called Bahía Fosforecente,, one of the three of its kind in Puerto Rico and one of the seven year-round places where bioluminescent can be seen in the Caribbean.
