A new photographic exhibit in Guadalajara showcases the struggle of activists, biologists, botanists, anthropologists – and especially ordinary people in the community – to defend and conserve the remains of a great forest which once stretched from Tesistan to the Huentitan Canyon.
The “ethnographic” photographs of the Nixticuil Forest attempt to “sensitize people to distinct practices of exploitation in the biocultural corridor running from El Salto all the way to the Tequila Volcano, as well as practices of sustainability realized by a variety of organizations in the area,” note exhibit organizers, Jose de Jesus Hernsndez and Susan Street.
Says Street: “Many city folks are unaware of the degree of ‘environmental degradation’ affecting our woods and rivers, and likewise, these people feel unaffected by the tremendous efforts inhabitants and social activists put forth to stop encroachments, for example to put out fires intentionally started to clear land for suburban development, and to denounce and keep records of these things.”
“Nixticuil-Santiago-Barranca Forests and Community: Exploitation or Conviviality?” features more than 40 photographs taken by Zapopan photographer Victor Ibarra. The exhibit will be mounted at the Social Anthropology Research Center (CIESAS) office (España 1359, between Federalismo and Rayon, Colonia Moderna) until August 22.
The Nixticuil Forest was designated a Federal Protected Area in 2006, after much pressure by concerned community groups. Nevertheless, conflicts continue between conservationists and developers who would like to expand suburban Guadalajara’s urban sprawl northwards.
The photographs in the exhibit were taken during recorridos pedagogicos (pedagogical excursions), organized to create intensely interactive dynamics among interested people, explains Street, a Milwaukee, Wisconsin native who has been directing or working at CIESAS for nearly 25 years.
“Since we humans are part of nature, the interesting things to record, ethnographically, are the relationships and connections between us living beings,” she says.
“The three hikes featured in these photos took place because the project team members made contact with specific groups of people whose livelihoods depend on the health of the trees and the neighboring woods, in this case the Bosque de Nixticuil.
“We worked with collectives that have organized to protect these wooded territories precisely because they care about their living space, having learned that urban expansion threatens their habitat and engenders enclosure processes that privatize what to them is considered a public good. 
“We brought specialists – biologists, agronomists, sociologists, etcetera – and university students to witness this environmental stress. They ‘walked the territory’ with people who could narrate their relationship to every curve of the terrain and could talk about the how the stench coming from the rivers directly affects their families, or how the garbage cluttering the streams denies their children the recreational space they need. The reference to conviviality in the exhibit’s title refers to this type of social action.
Street and her team feel that the 40 photographs on display at CIESAS highlight this growing concern and social action are on the increase and that more and more groups are doing something to make a difference.
One such group is Guadalajara’s Colegio Huellas. Twice a year the Huellas schoolchildren work with members of Comite Salvabosque to clear and plant trees in the Bosque de Nixticuil. The next Huellas Reforestation Project will take place on Sunday, July 5, 9 a.m., and organizers say everyone is invited.
If you would like to help, bring your pick and shovel to the meeting point: Avenida Angel Leaño at the corner of Calle D16 in Zapopan’s Colonia Nuevo Mexico. Participants should also bring comfortable clothes, good walking shoes, water and “a healthy snack” to share with others at the end of the day.