Cuba: Camagüey, Sierra de Cubitas - The Field Museum

Conservation of the Sierra de Cubitas
CURRENT STATUS
70 RAPID BIOLOGICAL INVENTORIES INFORME/REPORT NO. 08
The Sierra de Cubitas is an important refuge for plants and animals, and harbors
relictual vegetation. It is the largest and best-conserved of the two large forested
areas that remain in Camagüey Province. (The other is the Sierra de Najasa, to
the south.) In the past, the Sierra and adjacent plains experienced a deterioration
of some of their natural elements because of human activities. Agriculture and
livestock in some areas caused soil compaction, erosion, and loss of nutrients from
soils and vegetation. Certain forestry practices, employed since the beginning of
the twentieth century, involved extensive cutting and extraction of marketable
timber species and large areas in which the forest was heavily cut or removed for
the establishment of agriculture or pasturelands. All these practices destabilized
the forest ecosystems or impeded them from recovering from disturbances.
In 1998, the Consejo de la Administración del Poder Popular Provincial
proposed the designation of 22.8 km2 of the Sierra as the Reserva Ecológica
Limones-Tuabaquey (Fig. 2A) because of the types of vegetation present and its
scenic, floristic, faunistic, and historical-archeological values. At present, Reserva
Ecológica Limones-Tuabaquey is under review for approval at the national level
by the Comité Ejecutivo del Consejo de Ministros (CECM) de la República de Cuba.
The Reserva Natural Hoyo de Bonet, with an area of 0.02 km2 , is surrounded
by Reserva Ecológica Limones-Tuabaquey. A proposed reserve occurs to the
southwest (Fig. 2A), the Área Protegida de Recursos Manejados Escarpa y
Humedales de San Felipe (27.8 km2 in size), but it has not been approved as
of the writing of this report. The Paisaje Natural Protegido Sierra de Cubitas
(of 358.1 km2 according to Primelles et al. 2002) is under discussion but has
not been presented or approved by the CECM.