Fragile Lands of Latin America Strategies for ... - PART - USAID

An Economic Analysis oj- Huastec Forest Management
Research Setting
Huastec farmers manage lands in the foothill region of the Mexican
physiographic province of the Sierra Madre Oriental, in the southeast-
em part of the state of San Luis Potosi. The type of forest management
I describe is primarily found at altitudes from 700 feet to 1500 feet.
The area has Karst 1.opography formed from Cretaceous limestone
(Muir, 1936). The Rendzina type soils range from slighlly acidic (pH
6.6) to alkaline (pH 7-!))-the more acidic soils lie under forested areas,
and the more alkaline soils are those near the tops of exposed slopes.
A sample of soils from my study site were low in phosphorus and
nitrogen, but high in calcium, zinc, manganese, and extractable copper
(Alcom, 1984a). The potassium content was highest under forest areas
(284 ppm) and lowest on exposed slopes (108 ppm). Soils under forested
areas tend toward black clays, and those on exposed slopes are yellowish
silt loams. Soils under forest were more moisture retentive, richer in
nutrients, and more acidic than soils under other types of land use.
Because the Rendzina soils are relatively young soils, trees function to
enrich surface soils by bringing up nutrients from lower strata.
The region lies in the Sierra Madre Oriental floristic province. The
land use I describe is carried out within the Bosque Deciduo Templado
(cloud forest) and Bosque Tropical Perennifolio (rainforest) vegetational
types as described by lRzedowski (1963, 1966, 1978), Puig (1976), and
G6mez-Pompa (1973). Annual rainfall amounts vary widely (Alcorn,
1984a) but average around 2300 mm per year. Rainfall distribution is
one of the most variable in Mexico (Rzedowski, 1978), primarily
because of the effects of hurricanes. The wettest months are usually
June through September; the least rain falls December through March.
Rain waters drain from the sierra through many seasonal creeks into
the Phnuco-Tamesi River basin system which carries the second greatest
volume of water of any drainage system in Mesoamerica (Sanders,
1978). Climatically the region has been classified in the Koeppen system
as Cwag and Awg (Rzledowski, 1966), a hot humid region with little
extended dry periods. Average annual temperature is 23.5 degrees C,
but over the year, ternlperatures range from near 0 degrees C to 45
degrees C (Alcorn, 1984a).
The forest management strategy upon which I focus is an indigenous
practice of the Huastec Mayan Indians (population approximately 60,000)
who have probably occlupied this region for at least 3,000 years (Wilk-
erson, 1979). Like over three quarters of the Mexican rural population
(De Rouffignac, 1985), Huastec families operate farms on communally
owned lands (comunidades and ejidos), henceforth referred to as com-
munities. Most families live on their own landholdings which generally