Cuba: Camagüey, Sierra de Cubitas - The Field Museum

Main threats The size of the proposed Reserva Ecológica Limones-Tuabaquey (22.8 km2 )
is very small in comparison to the area occupied by the Sierra de Cubitas
(approximately 400 km2 ). As a consequence, large areas in which live many rare,
endemic, and/or threatened species, are vulnerable to human activities not
compatible with conservation.
Principal
recommendations
for protection and
management
There is no comprehensive conservation plan for the extensive savanna immediately
south of the Sierra de Cubitas, which also shelters rare, endemic, and/or threatened
plants, invertebrates, amphibians, reptiles, and birds. Although an area has been
proposed with a degree of protection, the Área Protegida de Recursos Manejados
Escarpa y Humedales de San Felipe (Fig. 2A), it is not yet approved and it is not
a large area (27.8 km2 ).
Species of exotic, non-native plants and animal animals constitute serious
threats, e.g., the expansion of an extremely aggressive, leguminous shrub, marabu
(Dichrostachys cinerea), in the southern savanna. Populations of feral dogs and
pigs harm populations of native species, especially of birds and mammals.
Some furtive hunting of birds and mammals occurs. This results in population
reductions or movements to other areas (which are becoming less and less
available) that offer better shelter.
Grazing in poor soils of the savanna, and forestry practices that are incompatible
with conservation of native species, can severely reduce or eliminate populations of
rare plants and animals adapted to the types of vegetation present in the Sierra.
01 Officially approve Reserva Ecológica Limones-Tuabaquey, 22.8 km2 in size,
at the federal level (Fig. 2A).
02 Expand the area managed for native biodiversity. Federal ownership of the
land, combined with a sparse human population in the area, can facilitate
an expansion of the proposed limits of Reserva Ecológica Limones-Tuabaquey
and the Área Protegida de Recursos Manejados Escarpa y Humedales de
San Felipe (Fig. 2A). Other types of conservation management also can be
used outside of the boundaries of these two reserves, with the overall goal
of connecting the two reserves to make a larger conservation area that protects
a significant portion of the Sierra and the adjacent savanna. To accomplish
this, work through the normal legal processes governing protected areas,
together with all parties interested in the natural resources of the Sierra
and southern savanna.
CUBA: CUBITAS ABRIL/APRIL 2006 67