Conservation at Boden Creek Ecological Preserve
The Boden Creek Ecological Preserve is a NFP private preserve made up of 13,600 acres of lowland tropical broadleaf forest operated by BLE. BLE is committed to sustainable land use through ecotourism and sound conservation management practices of wildlife and forest resources. Through the establishment of the BCEP, BLE has contributed to the overall preservation of tropical rainforest ecosystems by protecting a highly endangered and threatened habitat containing many vulnerable plant and animal species. BLE provides sustainable economic alternatives to biodiversity destruction and acts as responsible stewards of wildlife, forest, river, coastal, and other natural resources.
The Boden Creek Ecological Preserve is located within the Golden Stream Watershed an area of nearly flat coastal lowland tropical broad leaf forest situated between the karstic foothills of the Maya Mountains, and the coastal mangrove forests and marine island habitat of the Port Honduras Marine Reserve. Lowland tropical broad leaf forests historically covered an area along the Caribbean coast of Central America stretching from southern Belize to Panama. Today however, it is one of the most threatened tropical forests in Central America with only two remnant patches still somewhat intact.
Belize Lodge & Excursions Limited operates the 13,600 areas BCEP as a private reserve and supports its operation through a variety of sustainable land use practices such as ecotourism, reforestation and agro forestry programs. Through a comprehensive natural resource management plan the BCEP preserves valuable habitat while providing an economic rate of return to the local communities through direct employment, as well as, to BLE's investors.
Mesoamerican Biological Corridor
The definition of a biological corridor is "avenues along which wide-ranging species can travel, plants can propagate, genetic interchange can occur, populations can move in response to environmental changes and natural disasters, and threatened species can be replenished from other areas." The establishment of the Belize Biological Corridor will facilitate links for the free movement of species of plants and animals, a natural requirement for their survival. These links may be between protected areas and private properties or any combination thereof. These corridors are also established for the sake of connectivity and representation of the resident species of plant and animals.
Within the Mesoamerican region, Belize is regarded as having one of the healthiest ecosystems in all of the central America with up to 79% of its land under some form of forest cover and marine areas that are for the most part pristine and healthy, and include the World's second largest barrier reef which, parallels the countries entire coastline. Belize has over 40% of its national lands under some form of protection and these areas are still heavily forested. The most distinguishing environmental feature of Belize is its extensive area of vegetation cover and for the most part these forests support a healthy biodiversity even though some portions have been exploited for timber extraction.
The country maintains healthy populations of many species, which are either extinct or experiencing pressure on their traditional habitats elsewhere in Central America. Of great importance is that many of these species are contained within fully functional habitats, although this situation is changing, as the pace of development quickens and habitats become increasingly fragmented.
Currently in Belize there are three main regions of existing protected areas in the south, central, and northern sections of the country. These areas are referred to as nodes, which is a largely intact habitat that is big enough to have a fully functional ecosystem with a full complement of organisms adapted to the particular habitat. These nodes are for the most part isolated in Belize by generally large private tracts of land situated between these nodes. Pathways between these nodes are referred to as primary corridor pathways.
A primary corridor is a strip of habitat linking node areas. Most corridors as originally designed in the corridor study would not have enough space to have a fully functional ecosystem with a full complement of organisms adapted to a particular habitat. This is particularly so for animals in need of large home ranges, such as jaguars, however movement from node to node is facilitated. A corridor is a primary corridor if, of the choices available, it provides the best options for this movement which is based not only on vegetation type, but also considering current and potential human land use.
Of the three main nodes the southern node contains the largest region of nationally protected areas (1.2 million acres) and is the most complete and least threatened. This southern node, comprised mostly of the Maya Mountains mastiff, is undoubtedly the most biologically diverse of the natural areas of Belize and represents the main target for the greater Mesoamerican Biological Corridor, but connectivity to the smaller northern reserves and the coastline is also highly important.
The Golden Stream Watershed
Belize Lodge & Excursions (BLE) in 1998 identified a major area (about 60,000 acres) under threat in the southern node corridor that linked the terrestrial environments with the marine through the Golden Stream watershed. This is an area that represented one of the last major links in Central America of lowland tropical broadleaf forest connecting the marine environment with the terrestrial, an area of nearly 1.2 million acres of nationally protected lands.
BLE was able to secure or help to secure these properties, which were being threatened with clear cutting for citrus and banana farms, and aquiculture development along the coast. BLE made the first purchase of 13,600 acres of a portion of the identified 60,000 acres for their ecotourism operation and established the NFP Boden Creek Ecological Preserve. BLE also founded an NGO (Golden Stream Corridor Preserve) that was able to purchase two other parcels (15,038 acres) through fundraising efforts of BLE. TIDE another NGO working in the Port Honduras Marine Reserve, an area south of the Golden Stream watershed and managing Payne's Creek National Park, was able to acquire a 12,500-acre block through a debt-for-nature swap with the Government of Belize and the United States with help from The Nature Conservancy and BLE. TIDE was also able to work out a management agreement with the owners of the remaining 18,300-acre block within the watershed.
