Our region’s flora and fauna are worth protecting. While the real estate boom in Puerto Vallarta and the Riviera Nayarit may be a blessing to our region’s economy, aspects of its current development are of great concern for those who love and appreciate nature. Many places that were inaccessible refuges for wildlife just a few years ago are now crisscrossed with freshly bulldozed dirt roads or have been clearcut for building or agriculture.

Without an effective comprehensive government plan in place to protect some of the most vulnerable yet important conservation priorities of our region, we at the Vallarta Botanical Garden are expanding our own nature preserve to secure a future for some of the richest local habitat zones while they are still nearly pristine.

Conservation areas not only benefit the plants and animals that inhabit them, but people as well. Wild lands deliver essential ecosystem services including providing us with clean air and clean water. These lands can also be managed to include access by hiking trails—popular sustainable tourist infrastructure that is currently quite limited here in the region.

Communities that protect large green spaces, provide great recreational opportunities, and protect natural biodiversity around them rise in popularity as places to visit or move to. This can drive a virtuous cycle of further conservation activities and increased property values… for great benefits to both people and nature!

Let’s conserve together.
https://www.vbgardens.org/land-acquisition-program/

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