Contemporary Landscape Change in the Huascarán National Park and Buffer Zone, Cordillera Blanca, Peru Author(S): Alton C
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Contemporary Landscape Change in the Huascarán National Park and Buffer Zone, Cordillera Blanca, Peru Author(s): Alton C. Byers Source: Mountain Research and Development, 20(1):52-63. Published By: International Mountain Society DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1659/0276-4741(2000)020[0052:CLCITH]2.0.CO;2 URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/full/10.1659/0276-4741%282000%29020%5B0052%3ACLCITH %5D2.0.CO%3B2 BioOne (www.bioone.org) is a nonprofit, online aggregation of core research in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences. BioOne provides a sustainable online platform for over 170 journals and books published by nonprofit societies, associations, museums, institutions, and presses. Your use of this PDF, the BioOne Web site, and all posted and associated content indicates your acceptance of BioOne’s Terms of Use, available at www.bioone.org/page/terms_of_use. Usage of BioOne content is strictly limited to personal, educational, and non-commercial use. Commercial inquiries or rights and permissions requests should be directed to the individual publisher as copyright holder. BioOne sees sustainable scholarly publishing as an inherently collaborative enterprise connecting authors, nonprofit publishers, academic institutions, research libraries, and research funders in the common goal of maximizing access to critical research. Mountain Research and Development Vol 20 No 1 Feb 2000: 52–63 Alton C. Byers Contemporary Landscape Change in the Huascarán 52 National Park and Buffer Zone, Cordillera Blanca, Peru As part of The Moun- Veblen and Lorenz 1986; Bahre 1991), to a lesser tain Institute’s moni- extent in the Nepal Himalaya (Byers 1987a,b, 1996, toring and evaluation 1997a,b; Ives 1987; Fisher 1990:144–145), and rarely, program, historic land- with the exception of glacial recession studies (eg, scape photographs Ames and Francou 1995; Ames 1998), in the Peruvian from 10 photopoints Andes (Byers and Kolff 1997). When supplemented by of the 1936 and 1939 ground truth disturbance analyses, interviews with German/Austrian local people and scientists, and literature reviews, climbing and carto- insights regarding resource management issues can be graphic expeditions to obtained within a relatively short period of time. the Cordillera Blanca Examples include clarifications concerning a region’s (Huascarán National Park) were replicated in 1997 and historical and contemporary forest cover; changes in 1998. Comparisons revealed contemporary changes in high altitude pasture conditions; glacial recession and native forest cover, nonnative forest cover, glacial reces- formation of new glacial lakes; village growth or sion, grazing impacts, and urban expansion. Results decline; impacts of catastrophic events, mining, and indicated an apparent stability and/or increase in logging; and the effectiveness of management inter- native Polylepis forest cover, significant regional ventions over a prolonged period. Results, in the char- increases in nonnative Eucalyptus and Pinus forest cov- acteristic absence of a reliable data base, will often er, improved pasture conditions in some areas, wide- provide some of the first clarifications to the scientific spread glacial recession, and increases in regional and management communities regarding contempo- urbanization. Important management-related questions rary landscape change processes, human versus natu- in need of further study are identified, such as the ral impacts, and future management and restoration impacts of cattle on Polylepis regeneration, correlations options for a particular mountain setting. between road construction and forest loss, long-term Today, considerable uncertainty characterizes impacts of nonnative forests, and strategies for the much of the understanding in the Peruvian Andes reintroduction of native forest species. Increasing the concerning the historical reduction of native Polylepis photographic, quantitative, and oral databases for the forests (Hensen 1991; Fjeldså and Kessler 1996; Huascarán National Park and buffer zone will continue Oxford University 1996); the more recent introduc- to provide important insights regarding contemporary tion and spread of exotic Eucalyptus and Pinus sp; landscape change processes, human versus natural impacts of grazing, mining, and road construction impacts, and future management and restoration within the park (Lozada 1991; Valencia, personal com- options. munication; Instituto de Montaña 1996); and the effectiveness of protected area and buffer zone man- Keywords: landscape change; natural resource manage- agement interventions (eg, afforestation, erosion con- ment; Huascarán National Park; Peru; photo monitoring. trol, and range/pasture projects). As demonstrated in previous studies in the Sagarmatha (Mt. Everest) Peer reviewed: January 1999. Accepted: August 1999. National Park, Nepal (eg, Byers 1987b, 1997a), an integrated photographic analysis of landscape change processes in Peru contains the potential to provide Introduction clarifications. Following in the footsteps of Austrian geographer Hans Kinzl (1898–1979) and cartograph- Protected area managers in mountain environments are er/mountaineer Erwin Schneider (1906–1987), this often faced with a lack of reliable information regard- paper discusses the results of a preliminary investiga- ing contemporary landscape and land use change tion within the Huascarán National Park region, processes, patterns, and prospective causes. The Cordillera Blanca, northwestern Peru, between 8–11 expense, remoteness, and logistical challenges of con- September 1997 and 1–15 July 1998. ducting long-term research in mountains further exac- erbates the problem. The Huascarán National Park Repeat photography is an analytical tool capable of broadly and rapidly providing preliminary clarifica- The 3400 km2 Huascarán National Park is in the tions related to landscape/land use changes within a Department of Ancash in north-central Peru and given region. As a research tool, it has experienced includes most of the Cordillera Blanca, the highest some utility in the United States during the past 30 range of the Peruvian Andes and the highest within the years (Walker 1968; Heady and Zinke 1978; Gruell world’s tropical zone (Figure 1). The national park was 1980; Rogers 1982; Vale 1982; Rogers et al 1984; established in 1975, declared a UNESCO Biosphere Research FIGURE 1 Photopoint locations, Huascaran National Park and vicinity, Peru. Photopoints 1, 2, 3, 8, and 9 53 are illustrated and described in detail in this paper. Alton C. Byers 54 FIGURE 2 1932 German and Austrian Alpine Club expedition members. (Photo courtesy of Austrian Alpine Club Archives, Innsbruck, Austria) Reserve in 1977, and a World Natural Heritage Site in although most of the people living on the slopes direct- 1985. The park contains 60 peaks with altitudes surpass- ly below the park continue to live under traditional ing 5700 m, the highest being Huascarán at 6768 m. Andean subsistence conditions. Quechua is generally Forty-four deep glacial valleys transect the range from spoken, with Spanish as a second language. The popula- both west and east and, when combined with the exten- tion of the 5710 km2 buffer zone is approximately sive Peruvian mountain road system, provide relatively 226,500 (The Mountain Institute 1996), an estimated easy access for hikers, climbers, and the livestock of tra- 10% of which directly use the national park’s natural ditional cattle herders. Most of the terrain below 4800 resources (eg, water, pastures, forests, the harvesting of m is characterized by high altitude grassland (puna) medicinal and edible plants) (Walter 1994, unpub- with remnant quenual (Polylepis sp) forests located with- lished manuscript, personal communication; The in the upper, inner valley slopes. Although thought to Mountain Institute 1996). The area east of the have been greatly reduced during the past century Cordillera consists of a group of valleys—headwaters of (Fjeldså and Kessler 1996), the Polylepis forests contain the Marañon River, a major tributary of the Amazon— a diversity of flora and fauna within the park while pro- known collectively as the Callejón de Conchucos. This viding habitat for many species of endemic Andean area is much more isolated and less developed than the birds. Approximately 779 plant, 112 bird, and 10 mam- western slope region. Access is more difficult, and peo- mal species have been recorded for the region (Smith ple are generally poorer. 1988; Brako and Zarucchi 1993; The Mountain Institute Incomes are based primarily on agriculture and live- 1996; Kolff and Kolff 1997). stock. Tourism, particularly along the western slope, has West of the park lies the agricultural valley of the grown substantially since the demise of Sendero Luminoso Santa River, a densely populated region containing (Shining Path) guerrilla activity in the early 1990s, with cities such as Huaraz (90,000 inhabitants), Caraz more than 100,000 Peruvian and foreign tourists now (15,000 inhabitants), and hundreds of rural villages. visiting the park per year. The city of Huaraz serves as a The cities are relatively modern and prosperous, tourism hub and a gateway to numerous trekking cir- Mountain Research and Development Vol 20 No 1 Feb 2000 Research 55 cuits, mountain climbing, and popular holiday and erage, pasture conditions, glacial recession, the impact weekend destinations (eg, Llanganuco Lakes and the of catastrophic events, and other relevant features. Pastoruri glacier/ski resort) (Bartle 1993). Key environmental