Puerto Rico Critical Wildlife Areas - Puerto DRNA - Gobierno de ...

34- Humacao Natural Reserve, Humacao, Puerto Rico
Area Description:
The Humacao Natural Reserve (HNR) is located in eastern Puerto Rico (18 0 10’N,
65 0 46’W); 56 km southeast San Juan, in the municipalities of Naguabo and Humacao. The HNR
is within a historic coastal plain estuary formed by 3 interconnected valleys and drainages. It
had an area of 1,026 ha with an altitude at sea level of 0-2 m. The HNR consist of 3 distinct
units: Santa Teresa, Mandri, and Pterocarpus. It is located in the Subtropical Moist Life Zone
(Ewel and Whitmore 1973).
Six habitats types occur at HNR: 1) coastal Lagoon (248.6 ha), 2) herbaceous marsh
(363.9 ha), 3) mangrove Forest (25.2 ha), 4) Pterocarpus forest (256.6 ha, largest remaining
stand of Pterocarpus officinalis in Puerto Rico), 5) secondary coastal forest (50.9 ha), and 6)
beach scrub (9.6 ha, nesting site for marine turtles). This habitat supports a whole variety of
waterfowl including native and migratory. The lagoons that formed this system are shallow with
a maximum depth of 2 m (Negrón González 1986). For a complete description of the HNR, see
Vilella and Gray 1997.
Waterfowl hunting is currently allowed. Hunting is only permitted in Mandri unit,
because Santa Teresa unit is designated as Sanctuary. In the Humacao coast, marine turtles nest
in approximately 9 km of sandy beach. During the 2003 breeding season, a total of 42 and 121
active nests of Leatherback and Hawksbill sea turtle respectively were found (Montero 2004).
Ownership/Protection:
Puerto Rico Land Authority and Land Administration own Santa Teresa and Mandri
units, respectively. DNER leases the government land, and has management jurisdiction. The
Pterocarpus unit is owned by several entities including DNER, Puerto Rico Conservation Trust,
and private landowners. Recently, the DNER acquire approximately 113 ha to be incorporated
to the HNR (Manuel Corbet, HNR Manager, pers. comm.).
Special Recognition:
The HNR was officially designated in 1986 as a wetland and waterfowl reserve (DNER
1995). The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recognize this wetland as priority under the federal
Emergency Wetlands Resources Act of 1986: Humacao Pterocarpus Forest. Both forests
(Mangroves and Pterocarpus) are old growth, and collectively represent one of Puerto Rico’s
largest pristine wetland systems. In 2004, BirdLife International and SOPI recognized Humacao
Wildlife Refuge as an Important Bird Area. We still classified the HNR as a primary CWA.
Wildlife:
Birds
A total of one hundred and five bird species are reported in the HNR. About eight bird
species classified as threatened or endangered use this refuge, some of them are Caribbean Coot
Fulica caribaea, Least Tern Sterna antillarum, Mangrove Cuckoo Coccyzus minor, Puerto
Rican Screech Owl Megascops nudipes, Least grebe Tachybaptus dominicus, Brown pelican
Pelecanus occidentalis, Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus, West Indian Whistling duck
Dendrocygna arborea, White cheeked pintail Anas bahamensis, American wigeon A.
americana, Northern pintail A, acuta, Northern Shoveler A. clypeata, Blue-winged teal A.
discors, Green-winged teal A. crecca, Lesser scaup Aythya affinis, Ring-necked duck A.
collaris, Hooded merganser Lophodytes cucullatus, Masked duck Nomonyx dominicus, Ruddy
duck Oxyura jamaicensis, Snow goose Chen caerulescens, Trumpeter swamp Cygnus
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