[BACK]   2005 - The Sabalillo Forest Reserve expands to nearly 25,000 acres (9,800 ha)! The reserve now protects pristine rainforest on both banks of the Apayacu River an area of considerable biological diversity and interest. The original holdings of 1,260 ha (about 2,500 acres) were restricted to the left bank of the river, while the new expansion protects both riverbanks for a considerable distance between the communal lands of the Yagua Indian community of Sabalillo, and the Yagua community of Estiron de Cusco, further upriver.

Increased logging, hunting, and fishing pressure in the area had led the Yagua Indian residents of the region to push for the establishment of a very large communal reserve that would have extended to the Colombian and Brazilian border areas. That initiative was strongly opposed by logging and other commercial interests, however, and the communal reserve project is not currently moving forward. Meanwhile, however, the residents of the Apayacu River were seeing the daily resources they depend on being harvested and taken out of the river basin, with no benefit to themselves. In light of the situation, the local inhabitants were supportive of our move to expand the lands protected by the Sabalillo Forest Reserve. They understand that if commercial hunters and fishermen are kept out of the areas adjoining their lands, that game and fish stocks will remain healthy, and that those resources will be available for the Yagua residents and their families. Project Amazonas also has agreements with the local communities to serve as reserve caretakers and watchmen, and to permit the harvest of traditional building materials and other resources important to daily life in the communities.

The nearly 10-fold expansion of the reserve was made possible though the financial support of two German NGO's, and of course, we have to thank those who originally funded the establishment of the reserve - two anonymous private donors and the John G. Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, IL, USA. [BACK]

Satellite view of the Sabalillo Reserve and surrounding area - Rio Apayacu, Loreto, Peru

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