On one of my visits to Mamoni Arriba, I met a woman named Siomara that is probably in her early 30’s. She asked me: “why is the volume of water in the Mamoni River less now then it was when I was a little girl?” Well, of course I did not know that the volume of the river was less now than before. This was only my second visit to Mamoni Arriba and I hadn’t learned much about the river. The first thing that occurred to me was the rain. I thought, “well, maybe it is raining less now than it did before”, but some of 能量醫學 the local people seemed to disagree. Most people I know haven’t perceived any changes in the rainfall pattern. They did however, agree that the water volume of the Mamoni River is less now than twenty years cheap football jerseys ago. Although the rain subject should be investigated a little bit further, I started thinking about other alternatives for why this must be.
fake oakleys The Mamoni River
It occurred to me cheap nba jerseys that I should focus of things that have changed in Mamoni Arriba. Well, it might be directly related to deforestation. As ecoReserve continues exploring the Mamoni Arriba area, it will be interesting to understand the historical and temporal patterns of deforestation and what drove them. Today, the most common land use practice in Mamoni Arriba is cattle ranching. Most ranchers from Mamoni Arriba that are my age (between 25-35 years old), belong to the second generation of immigrants that moved from the southern part of Panama into Mamoni Arriba. Once they arrived, they clear cut the land and burned it. Later, they planted exotic grass species to feed the cattle. I have to point out that this is an oversimplification of the immigration process but, in general terms this is what drove deforestation. One family in Mamoni Arriba today can have up to 140 cows. Each cow requires 1 hectare of land to graze. I don’t know how much the landscape has changed in the past twenty years, but my guess is that it has changed a lot.
Typical view outside the Mamoni Arriba reserve
The fact is that without trees, water can’t be storaged on the ground. Consequently, the water springs that typically form inside the forest are lost. I have been able to find many water springs during my hikes. I suspect we could find hundreds of them that eventually flow into streams that end up in the Mamoni River. One tree in the forest is so much more than a trunk with leaves. It is a living organism that storage water on the ground by providing space between its roots and the soil; its leaves provide shade that contains the humidity on the ground. In addition, when the ground water encounters a rock, it is forced out and filtered by the soil so that it is released unto the surface clean and sweet. When trees are lost, all of its effects go with them and the ground becomes dry.
I think Siomara’s question is ray ban outlet interesting and we cheap MLB Jerseys should look more into it. Either way, one of the most immediate impacts of ecoReserve in Mamoni Arriba is that we are protecting a significant number of water springs and streams that are used by the local people. To me, one of the most fascinating events during my visits was when I drank water directly from a stream. This simple act is something that I hope future generations will still be able to enjoy.
