Saving Wildlands in Central Belize
The Maya Forest Corridor (MFC) is an amazing landscape comprising approximately 90,000 acres of broadleaf forest, lowland savanna and riparian forest in the Belize District. It provides important biological connectivity between two critical protected area blocks in Belize. This, in turn, becomes a key “puzzle piece” in the larger Mesoamerican Biological Corridor, ensuring free movement of tropical species, gene flow between wild populations, and reduction of human-wildlife conflict.
Mixed into this landscape are over 15 rural communities, private lands, as well as agricultural farms and cattle ranches. This makes the MFC an area of key social, cultural, economic and biological significance.
The original footprint of the MFC has shrunk by 65% in a 10 year span largely due to clear-cutting of forest for commercial agriculture and real estate development.
Today, the MFC is only 5 miles wide, and is bisected by the George Price Highway. Wildlife often have to cross the highway to reach parts of their home range, and are often killed by vehicles as a result.
Wildlife displacement, wildfires, freshwater pollution, soil erosion, and human-wildlife conflict are among the adverse impacts of unsustainable development in the area.
The Belize Zoo & Tropical Education Center (TBZTEC) is nestled in the heart of the MFC, and currently owns and manages nearly 3,000 acres of lowland savanna, pine and oak forest, broadleaf forest, and a host of creeks and ponds. These lands exist on both sides of the George Price Highway, which bisects the MFC, and is the only location along the entire highway with protected lands on both sides.
These acres provide safe passage for a multitude of wildlife moving through the area in search of food, habitat, and mates. They also provide important habitat for a variety of resident rare and endangered wildlife, including jaguars, tapirs (Belize’s National animal), yellow-headed parrots, as well as a host of migratory birds!
TBZTEC is also part of the Maya Forest Corridor Trust, a dynamic board of local and international partners working to acquire and safeguard additional lands for conservation in the MFC.
Preserving these “wildlands” will greatly empower the Maya Forest Corridor, and enhance Belize’s vital network of protected areas. It has enabled TBZTEC to engage in exciting opportunities for biodiversity monitoring and research, wildlife rehab and release, protected area management, eco-tourism, and environmental education.