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Current Threats to the Lake Texcoco Globally Important Bird Area1

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Current Threats to the Lake Texcoco Globally Important Bird Area1 José L. Alcántara2 and Patricia Escalante Pliego3 ________________________________________ Abstract Lake Texcoco was reported as almost dry in the late Key words: airport, IBA, Lake Texcoco, multi-species 1960s, and as a consequence the aquatic life has been conservation, restoration, waterfowl. considered gone since then. However, the government undertook a reclamation/restoration project in the area beginning in 1971 to help alleviate some of the envi- ronmental problems of Mexico City. Although Lake Texcoco was not completely dry in that period, the Introduction basin containing the lake had already lost the local forms of the Clapper Rail (Rallus longirostris), Ameri- Lake Texcoco is located in central Mexico, approxi- can Bittern (Botaurus lentiginosus) and Black-polled mately 23 km east of Mexico City, between 19° 25’ Yellowthroat (Geothlypis speciosa). With the restora- and 19° 35’ North latitude and 98° 55’ and 99° 03’ tion project an artificial lake was created (called Nabor West longitude, with an average altitude of 2,200 m. Carrillo) with an area of 1,000 ha. The wetlands in total This body of water is a remnant of an ancient lake that occupy approximately 8,000 ha in the wet season, and covered most of the Valley of Mexico, a large, elevated half that in the dry season. Both government agencies valley (a closed hydrologic basin) surrounded by high and students have studied the avifauna of this area for mountains in the Central Mexican Plateau. Because the decades but the results are not available. We compiled basin lies on the 19º parallel, it intersects with the data from theses and government agencies to establish Transversal Volcanic Axis, also called the Neo- the importance of the current avifauna of Lake Texco- Volcanic Axis (a line of volcanoes that extends across co and provide an accurate picture of the effect of res- Mexico in an east-west direction.) The basin has the toration to the bird populations. This information is of approximate form of an irregular rectangle inclined in prime importance to evaluate the consequences of con- NE-SW direction, with length over 120 km and less structing a new airport within the boundaries of this than 80 km in average, it has an approximate surface of area, both in terms of conservation and in terms of the 7,500 km² (Alvarez 1977). security concerns for the airport operations. With the data presented, we will show that Lake Texcoco de- Lake Texcoco is located in the central flyway for mi- serves to be considered as a Globally Important Bird gratory waterfowl. The myriad of small lakes spread Area because it maintains approximately 100,000 birds through the highlands of central Mexico were and still that occupy this area every year, among them signifi- are important stopover and wintering grounds for sev- cant populations of Wilson's Phalarope (Phalaropus eral species of waterfowl and wading birds, as well as tricolor), Northern Shoveler (Anas clypeata), Ruddy the breeding ground for several permanent residents. Duck (Oxyura jamaicensis), Snowy Plover (Charad- Pollution, desiccation, and urban sprawl are just some rius alexandrinus), Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus), of the factors that have caused severe habitat degradat- American Avocet (Recurvirostra americana), Black- ion, a process in practically all of the Mexican highland necked Stilt (Himantopus mexicanus), and Solitary lakes. Unfortunately, there is no assessment of how Sandpiper (Tringa solitaria). such habitat degradation has affected avian popula- tions, but there is strong evidence that a serious loss of avian diversity is still under way, at least in Lake Texcoco. Our objectives are to outline the main charac- teristics and the current condition of Lake Texcoco, as __________ the most important refuge left for migratory and resi- dent waterfowl in the Valley of Mexico, and to point 1A version of this paper was presented at the Third Interna- out current threats. tional Partners in Flight Conference, March 20-24, 2002, Asilomar Conference Grounds, California. Lake History and Current Situation 2Área de Fauna Silvestre, Especialidad de Ganadería-IREGEP, Colegio de Postgraduados, Km 36.5 Carr. México-Texcoco, During pre-Hispanic times, the Valley of Mexico was a Montecillo, Estado de México, 56230 Mexico. E-mail: [email protected]. huge marshy zone surrounded by extensive pine and 3Departamento de Zoología, Instituto de Biología, Universidad oak forests (Lorenzo and Mirambell 1986). Transfor- Nacional Autónoma de México, AP 70-153, 04511 México DF, mation of the ancient lake started with natural climatic Mexico USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-191. 2005 1143 Threats to Lake Texcoco IBA – Alcántara and Escalante changes (Espinosa 1996). On the other hand, human- quence, in 1971 the Mexican government started a made changes probably started with the first civiliza- restoration project for the Lake Texcoco zone in order tions in the area, around 100 B. C. In the late 1300s the to ameliorate the environmental problems of Mexico Aztec empire was the climax of the pre-Hispanic alter- City caused by the degraded area (Cruickshank 1994). ations of the lake through the building of a complex system of aqueducts, bridges and dams, and the prac- Plan Lake Texcoco was a set of programs to diminish tice of intensive wetland agriculture. Finally, the basin the effects of erosion, water pollution, etc. This pro- has suffered its most radical transformation since the gram represents the first successful environmental re- sixteenth century, after the fall of the Aztec empire, storation model in Mexico and, in the words of its main with the Spanish Colonial period and culminating in architect, Gerardo Cruikshank (1994); Lake Texcoco modern Mexico, with the construction of complex hy- has become again the most important refuge for winter- draulic structures (Alvarez 1977). The ultimate goal of ing migratory aquatic birds in the Valley of Mexico. those hydraulic constructions was flood control and drying out of the lakes in order to gain land for human The total area that currently encompasses the Lake habitation. Texcoco restoration plan is 11,600 ha. The project included the hydrologic management of the area and It has been assessed that the original lake of the Valley resulted in the building of a complex system that in- of Mexico had an area of approximately 1,575 km² cluded the creation or restoration of a dozen artificial (Alvarez 1977). The limits of Lake Texcoco never have or semi-natural lakes. The most important of those is been fixed. With the arrival of the Europeans, the larg- Nabor Carrillo, with an area of 1,000 ha and a maxi- est lake in the Valley of Mexico at that time (the so mum depth of 3.5 m. called Lake Mexico-Texcoco) was still more than 10 meters deep in some places and had a surface area greater than 700 km². By 1864, only 15 percent (ap- Avian Diversity in the Valley of Mexico proximately 230 km²) remained of the original surface, and by 1891 only 95 km² (6 percent) remained. Loss and Gain of Diversity Towards the end of the 1950s, the lake could reach a surface area of up to 100 km² when there were There are numerous historical accounts and archeolo- abundant rains; but in the dry season it was reduced to gical evidence of the importance of the birds of Lake a few ponds, although it is said that the lake covered Texcoco for the local cultures. In fact, the lake was a some 270 km² at that time (Rzedowski 1957). Recent- representative example of what some authors have ly, of the former extensive lacustrine zone, there are called an 'inextricable link' between biological and cul- just three vestiges. In order of importance they are: (1) tural diversity (Espinosa 1996, Posey 1998). Neverthe- Lake Texcoco, of very salty and alkaline water, whose less, scientific accounts of the avifauna of the Valley of Mexico did not start until the end of the 19th and begin- size varies largely according to the season and from th year to year, (2) Lake Zumpango, with a maximum ning of the 20 centuries. surface of approximately 15 km² of moderate salinity, One of the main consequences of the implementation and (3) a network of canals of fresh water in of the lake reclamation project was the remarkable in- Xochimilco, and a smaller one near Mixquic (both crease of diversity of both resident and migratory bird neighborhoods of Mexico City), that are kept artifi- species. The return of numerous bird species (previous- cially filled for tourism. ly common and widespread on the area) was, of course, Plan Lake Texcoco the direct consequence of changes in habitat availa- bility; that is, the re-establishment of permanent water By the end of the 1960s and beginning of the 1970s, bodies, temporary pools, cattail, marshes, and patches Lake Texcoco had practically disappeared. Because of of woods. the extreme salinity of the soil, for the most part no ter- restrial vegetation grew. Additionally, urban waste- More than 30 studies have been done on the avifauna waters were poured into the area. Thus, during the dry of Lake Texcoco, but most are unpublished, mainly as season winds carried out dust from the desolate old research theses or governmental reports (Villada 1883, dried lakebed all over Mexico City; such dust storms Herrera 1888, Villada 1897, Madrigal and Hernández caused serious gastrointestinal diseases among the 1968, Halfter and Reyes 1975, Leopold 1977, Babb et city’s population. On the other hand, attempts to con- al. 1982, Chávez and Huerta 1985, Chávez et al. 1986, trol flooding, changes in watershed land uses, and inc- Wilson and Ceballos-Lascurain 1993, González 1995, reased water use resulted in drastic changes in the Bojorges 1997, González et al.
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