Four young people came to one of our “Magic Circle” slide shows and afterwards came up to tell us about the project they’re working on every Saturday in an urban woods in Zapopan, curiously named Bosque Pedagógico del Agua.
They explained that the “Agua” in the park’s name refers to the fact that it’s an important site for recharging the local aquifer, but how a forest could be “pedagogical” I didn’t quite understand until yesterday, when Susy and I went to visit the woods and to meet the extraordinary people who are trying to transform it into their dream.
This huge, but for a long time forgotten, baldío (empty lot) lies adjacent to Plaza Acueducto, literally on the other side of the wall from Chedraui, Home Depot and Kentucky Fried Chicken. We drove up to the “entrance” to the Bosque and saw not a soul, nor any sign confirming we were in the right place, just a big, unfinished building which looked new but abandoned. While the building had about as much charm as a prison, the group of students and teachers who immediately appeared to welcome us—carrying shovels, picks and large maps—were all smiles.
They were members of “Colectivo Ciudadano Pro Bosque Pedagógico del Agua,” a small organization dedicated to rejuvenating the sad remains of a grand old forest and turning it into a sort of outdoor school where people could learn about plants, insects, animals, birds and ecosystems by coming directly into contact with them. The group has 25 members, we learned, including not only ecologists, but psychologists, economists and architects as well.
The Bosque Pedagógico (also known as Colomos III) is public land 36 hectares in size, although eight of these hectares are fenced off and claimed by certain private individuals. Sixteen years ago, Professor Jaime Eloy Ruiz started fighting to turn the land into a “Bosque Pedagógico,” and a certain amount of reforestation began. Then, in 2013, Zapopan politicians got interested and decided they’d turn it into a park featuring kiddie rides, ziplines, Gotcha, etc. Ecologists, however, fought back, pointing out that the land has three different environments, ideal for teaching the public about trees, plants and the fauna that inhabit them. The politicians went ahead and appropriated 38 million pesos for the Bosque, which were used to produce the still unfinished visitors’ center. Ricardo López of the Colectivo, comments, “Where most of the money went, I don’t know. So far none of this money is helping us reforest and transform the land into an outdoor learning center.”
We soon discovered that all the materials, plants, tools and work done on the land over the last 16 years has been paid for by the volunteers themselves. It was a situation we have seen again and again: enthusiastic Mexicans carrying out worthwhile projects, but receiving no financial assistance from those who should be supplying it.
I asked López, who is an engineer, what his group is trying to accomplish.
“We want to turn this piece of land into a ‘Bosque-Escuela’,” he said, “where everyone from kids to seniors can come to learn how to live with nature. This was an oak and pine forest, but almost all the trees were cut down and poor farming techniques were applied, impoverishing the land. After that, it was used as a garbage dump until, to top everything else, they turned it into a quarry, carting away the underlying jal (volcanic ash and rocks) for construction projects. So, we want to rescue this land (which has officially been declared a Protected Area) and transform it into something good, a place where people could discover how marvelous nature is.”
Our guides first led us through a veritable forest of castor-oil plants. “The seeds are actually poisonous,” they told us, “and the plant originated in South Africa. This is the most typical thing you’ll find growing in Mexico’s empty lots.”
Then we walked into a kind of green jungle, an area with humid soil. “This kind of bosque is called galería (Gallery Forest),” said López. Thirty minutes later we walked into a totally different environment, a beautiful forest of Michoacana Pine trees, planted 16 years ago. During the following two hours we wandered in and out of deep arroyos, alongside a slow-moving stream and up to a high lookout where we could gaze upon...what else, but Home Depot and Cinemex, in the plaza below us.
The Colectivo hopes to produce at least three different kinds of forest inside this former empty lot. As for what visitors might learn here, let me just mention a few things I picked up as we wandered about.
“Have you ever thought what one hectare of forest means?” asked Ricardo López. “Typically, 300 trees could grow that one hectare. They would absorb 52 tons of carbon dioxide and would hold 11 or 12 tons of topsoil in place, so it won’t be eroded. And those 300 trees would also provide enough oxygen for 3000 people to breathe.”
We walked past an anthill. “It may look like just a place where ants live,” said López, “but did you know that every day these ants eat one kilo of bugs which are harmful to the plants and trees around us? Not only that, their holes and tunnels act as conduits to the aquifer for rainwater—and everything those ants produce beneath the surface is good for the soil.”
Another surprising fact I learned at the Bosque Pedagógico del Agua, or BPA, is that all of West Mexico is under an intense mistletoe attack which is going to be hard to survive. Says Ingeniero López: “Muérdago or mistletoe seeds are very sticky and attach themselves to the wings of birds which transport them great distances. This is not European mistletoe but a Mexican variety which grows near the coast. It was first reported around here in 1988 and is now spread all around Guadalajara. It’s a dangerous parasite which kills the host tree. The other day we removed two kilos of muérdago seeds from the young trees we have planted in this park.” And during our short walk around the park we found new mistletoe seeds growing on every young tree we passed.
The volunteers at BPA raise money for their project by holding dinners, sponsoring plays and raffling off “souvenir rocks” and plants in flowerpots carved from pumice. You can keep up with their work at FaceBook page Colectivo Ciudadano Pro Bosque Pedagógico del Agua and, if you are interested, you can give them a hand, as they are always looking for volunteers to help them with their work. If you’d rather not deal with FaceBook, just show up at the Bosque (directions below) on a Saturday between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. with a shovel in your hand and good will in your heart.
How to get there
From the Periférico: Take the Periférico northeast toward Acueducto. Go 550 meters past Acueducto and turn right onto Avenida Sta. Esther. Take the first right onto De Las Torres. Go south. At the end of De Las Torres, turn left onto Santa Laura. After 485 meters, turn right (south) onto Santa Cecilia. Park where the street ends (N20 43.269 W103 24.466) and walk southwest into the Bosque. You’ll find this route on Wikiloc.com under Periferico to BPA.
From Chedraui in Plaza Acueducto: Go northeast through the plaza parking lot until you can go no further. Turn right, go 77 meters and turn left. Go 115 meters and turn left again. Now take Santa Ana north 417 meters to Santa Laura. Turn right and go to Santa Cecilia. Turn right again and drive south to where the street ends (N20 43.269 W103 24.466) and walk southwest into the Bosque. You’ll find this route on Wikiloc.com under Chedraui to BPA.