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 Editorials | Environmental | March 2008 
Mazatlán's Estero Del Yugo
 Steve Ginsberg - Planeta
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As a pair of roseate spoonbills swept over the brackish lagoon their elongated red- pink flanks and coverts cast a surreal radiance. Unfortunately my peripheral vision ruined the moment jolting me back to the new reality of Mazatlán.
Above the low forest I could see a dozen workers resuming work on a condominium building rising above Estero Del Yugo. At just 11 hectares, Estero Del Yugo is one of the most important wildlife preserves on Mexico's rapidly changing Sinaloa coast.
Real estate development is transforming Mazatlán and environs into an updated version of Cancún.
Mazatlán is awakening from a 30 year development siesta, but instead of new hotels it's several thousand high rise condo apartments aimed at American and Canadian snowbird investors.
This development is replacing tracts of the flat coastal dry tropical deciduous forest. Amidst the hastening sprawl sits Estero Del Yugo where over 200 species of aquatic and terrestrial birds call home.
Mexico boasts the second most wetland sites in the world with 112 listed on the International Wetlands Registry, which promotes conservation and sustainable development. Several Mexican wetlands have gained international biosphere stature such as Sian Ka'an (652,193 hectares) in Quintana Roo and have protection but most do not. Estero Del Yugo is a vest pocket preserve lost in the swirl of Mazatlán's wheeling and real estate dealing. Yet Estero del Yugo's founder has big ambitions. She wants a sustainable future for the Sinaloa coast.
SMALL IS BEAUTIUL
"This is conservation by the square meter, but we desperately need this type of setting. We are becoming more and more urbanized and we can approach nature less and less,"said Sandra Guido, the 47 year-old driving force behind Estero Del Yugo. "If you are not able to conserve what is in your backyard we lose hope and the ability for people to connect with nature. Where will our troubled kids go for peace and solitude?"
For a decade the University of Guadalajara trained biologist has built Estero Del Yugo's infrastructure with a lot of workaholic grit and not a lot of money. Despite not having a budget, she has been able to build classrooms that host 2,500 school children annually. A well-defined trail winds around the lagoons and forest where a bird blind and tower offer intimate views of the estuary's feathered flotilla. Mexico's federal agency, CIAD, provided the land but didn't provide ongoing funding. Ecotourists are encouraged to contribute 50 pesos upon entry and this is Guido's primary financial support.
"The NGOs and large conservation groups won't contribute because we don't fit their criteria, we are too small and we're in an urban setting," Guido said. Her short term achievable goals seem modest, putting up interpretative signs, building a handicap trail and getting funding for infrastructure maintenance. Hurricanes and termites have taken their tool on the shaky tower and the bird blind.
Guido is among the loudest voices trying to stem the tide of the real estate pipeline. Increasing development has led to myriad battles over land claims making ejido leaders and residents feeling threatened. She worries that proper sewage will not accompany the new buildings. Much of the new development is occurring north and south of Mazatlán's city limits.
The estuary is located 10 miles north of the Zona Dorado, the major tourist area. The high rise condos are rising in Zona Dorado but also spilling north to Cerritos and Playa Delfin where the estuary is located. These areas have trailer parks but were considered too far north for major tourist development in the past, but that is changing and the coast is being reshaped but 10 and 20-story towers. South of Mazatlan a golf course has gone in adjacent to new condo project on a peninsula called Stone Island.
SOLAR ENERGY
There is also sustainable redevelopment occurring in Mazatlan's historic center. Older buildings are being rehabbed by eco-conscious builders such as Bill McGrady, a Nevada- based developer who has opened a new boutique hotel there Olas Altas. He installed the city's first roof top solar panels to heat the project's pool. McGrady has bought two other properties downtown and says it's now Mazatlan's time. Nothing will stop rampant development, sustainable or otherwise.
"Mexico is a bottle of beer, it's full and when the foam spills over it settles in Mazatlán. The rest of the country is built out and Mazatlán is cheap," McGrady explains. "For years the local hotel owners kept the international chains from coming to Mazatlán and resort development went elsewhere, but nothing is going to stop the real estate development happening now. We're just seeing the start."
Guido takes a dim view of the development calling it a bubble fueled by American and Canadian developers. Investors who were able to cash in on the bull real estate market before it crashed in 2006 redeployed their profits to Mexico. The strong Canadian dollar is fueling investment by Vancouver developers. Guido is also head of the Alliance for the Sustainability of the Northeast Mexican Coast, a group trying to keep developers at bay.
"She has worked in those communities trying to bring sustainable projects to them such as beekeeping to keep them from selling the land to real estate developers,"said Alwin van der Heiden, a Mazatlán-based wildlife photographer whose work is starting to be recognized globally. Van der Heiden's wrote an article about the first Christmas bird count in Sinaloa's history at Estero Del Yugo. It shed publicity about the preserve bringing more visitors to the sanctuary earlier this year. Van der Heiden has also worked as a guide in Mazatlán's ecotourism industry but quit after he saw raw sewage being dumped into the ocean by kayak operators working with cruise lines.
Still he encourages ecotourists to visit Sinaloa because it is among Northern Mexico's richest wildlife states. He has photographed jaguars 20 miles east of Mazatlán in the Sierra Madre foothills as well as riverine crocodiles 20 miles north of the city. His photos of the myriad birds that find sanctuary amid the rising condos adjacent to Estero Del Yugo are equally as dramatic.
Steve Ginsberg is a San Francisco-based writer whose novel 'The Gringo Always Pays' will be published this year by Infinity Publishing. His previous Planeta.com features include Eco Travels in Oaxaca, Costa Rica's Macaws and Report from Uxpanapa. SGins53535(at)aol.com |
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