UNIVERSIDAD AUTNOMA CHAPINGO

Sacred Fir reconnoitering transect from Llano de los Aserraderos up to the west logged sites of Cerro Pelon in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve

Edgardo Hernandez-Vazquez Autonomous University of Chapingo Division of Forest Science Chapingo, Mexico 56230 Email: edgardohv9@yahoo.com

Habitat Assessment and Species Monitoring

Executive Summary Reconnoitering Overview Edgardo Hernandez-Vazquez, Maria Susana Najera-Rosas and Gredi Guadalupe Morales-Flores, professor and senior students from the Autonomous University of Chapingo (UACh) (Chapingo, Mexico 56230) carried out a reconnoitering transect on June 1st, 2012, from Llanos de los Aserraderos up to the west logged sites of Cerro Pelon in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve (MBBR). This reconnoitering transect was proposed to Monarch Butterfly Fund (MBF) as part of a survey for the west side of Cerro Pelon to check the areas general conditions and to clear doubts about some unidentified trees growing in logged sites formerly occupied by Sacred Fir. A first objective of the reconnoitering transect was to identify trees that appeared to be pines attacked by bark beetles and whose site occupancy is detrimental to the Sacred Fir forest. A second objective was to assess the areas general conditions including the presence and abundance of overstory and understory species, evidence of erosion, overgrazing, burned soil, illegal logging, fauna, forest health status, and forest regeneration. The UACh group reached Zitacuaro, Michoacan, and then drove up to the community of Macheros located just across the border with the State of Mexico, hired horses from a local family, and set out to Llano de los Aserraderos with Rogelio MorenoRojas as a guide. Rogelio also served as a guide for Lincoln Brower in March of 2012. Llano de los Aserraderos was reached after one hour and half of horse riding. The semi flat area might have been a superior Sacred Fir site but now it is highly degraded showing acute sheet and rill erosion with soil spoils covered with a nonnative grass and Baccharis and Senecio shrubs. The area might have been downgraded since some 50 or 60 years ago and its degradation still persists as it is currently used as a grazing field for cattle and sheep. Signs of intense bonfires were evident in spots located near a fading spring. The toe-slope between Llano de los Aserraderos and the sloped west side of Cerro Pelon contains pine and Sacred Fir saplings; the former most likely being planted as seedlings and the latter being natural seedlings that grew up in spite of harsh and unprotected ground conditions. However, many Sacred Fir saplings were damaged or cut with machete or axe. Also few Sacred Fir poles were logged only to take the mid portion between the crown and the stump. These downed Sacred Fir poles did not have left purple-like female cones in high contrast with poles still standing by their side thus suggesting cones were also collected for unknown purposes.

Later, the UACh group headed toward the sites where the unidentified trees were located. Along the climbing paths we observed that the Sacred Fir forest was irrationally and heavily logged leaving only few trees, mostly saplings and poles. The drastic opening of the Sacred Fir canopy allowed for invasion of alien oaks and other hardwoods, pines, and their associated shrub species. Again, the sight of Sacred Fir saplings cut or damaged with machete or axe was frequent as well as poles and young trees cut whose upper crowns showed no traces of their numerous purple female cones. Overgrazing was also evident along with signs of land burning consisting mainly of ash traces and ensuing multi stem growth of shrubs and a few Sacred Fir seedlings. Recent reforestation was undertaken using a series of rectangular ditches dug across the slope whose four corners were planted with pine seedlings that failed shortly after. Remaining Sacred Fir forest understory was composed of two or three species of Senecio, Baccharis, Buddleja and Symphoricarpus but other key Sacred Fir-related shrubs like Ribes (Sacred Fir defense mechanism against pine invasion), Solanum and Caestrum (shrub food sources for birds and mammals), and Monotropa (understory indicator of Sacred Fir ecosystem health) were totally absent due to overgrazing and ground burning. Sustained heavy Sacred Fir logging has favored overstory invasion by Quercus, Arbutus, and Clethra species which would normally grow at least 300 meters below the average logged sites elevation of 2,800 m a.s.l. Finally, the unidentified trees that motivated the reconnoitering transect were in fact Quercus trees of the species Quercus laurina Humb. &Bonpl. Field Observations 1. The unidentified trees that at first appeared to be pines attacked by bark beetles were oaks of the species Quercus laurina Humb. & Bonpl. These oaks are between 50 or 60 years old and are located in dispersed stands along the west side of Cerro Pelon. These oaks are normally found at elevations between 2000 and 2500 m a.s.l. although they have been reported growing up to 3200 m a.s.l. This oak distributes along streams or humid, protected sites with deep to moderately deep soils. Probably, the oak dispersing agents (squirrels, rodents and birds) may have taken the acorns to open sites that were abruptly opened in the Sacred Fir overstory about a half a century ago. If the Sacred Fir overstory was subsequently devoid of large Sacred Firs then ideal conditions were provided for oaks to grow unchecked as they stand now. 2. The dispersed open oak stands also included another frequent hardwood of the species Clethra mexicana D. C. This hardwood usually distributes at elevations between 50 and 2500 m a.s.l., mainly along the protected drains of lowlands and roughed highlands. It also requires from deep to moderately deep soils for an ideal habitat. Its fruits are capsules arranged along axes united at their base and located at outer branch tips. The seeds represent a food source for rodents and birds.

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3. Another hardwood commonly found elsewhere in the tree canopy is Arbutus possibly of the species A. xalapensis H. B. K. This hardwood is a typical component of the pine forest found at elevations between 2000 and 2700 m a.s.l. but it has also been reported as growing at 3000 m a.s.l. Its fruit is a berry that is consumed by small mammals and birds. It reaches a height of up to 15 m when in its natural habitat but the hardwood is far shorter than normal on the west side of Cerro Pelon. 4. Only two shrubs characteristic of Sacred Fir ecosystems were found: Symphoricarpos microphyllus H. B. K. and Senecio roldana D. C. The former shrub commonly invades gaps created by the falling of large Sacred Firs. Its fruit is a berry that is consumed by small mammals and birds. The latter shrub is the most dominant in the degraded Sacred Fir remnants of Cerro Pelon and it is also an invading species to canopy gaps opened by the falling of large trees. However, it can also thrive without a problem below closed Sacred Fir canopies. Its fruit is an achene consumed by rodents, squirrels and birds. 5. Other common shrubs observed on the west side of Cerro Pelon are typical of downgraded temperate conifer forests and their prevalence will be limited to the time Sacred Fir takes to recover from irrational and illegal widespread logging. One shrub is Buddleja microphylla H. B. K. which invades open sites of degraded pine forests with eroded soils. It produces quite a bit of organic matter and its fruit is a capsule that is retained for some time after dehiscence. Its seeds are food for rodents and birds. Another shrub is Senecio cinerarioides H. B. K. with an ecological role similar to the first shrub just mentioned but its distribution occurs in Pine-Sacred Fir ecotones. Its fruit is an achene and is a food source for rodents and birds. The third major shrub is Baccharis conferta H. B. K. whose ecological role and importance in defense of downgraded Mexican pine forests has been consistently ignored by professionals and laymen. It invades opened and degraded pine forest sites with a high degree of erosion such as the one ensued after frequent or intensive ground fires. It is poisonous to cattle, sheep and goats and quite sadly it is the reason why Spaniards started to burn the forest when they introduced grazing to Mexican conifer ecosystems. Its fruit is an achene consumed by rodents, birds and squirrels mainly when no other sources of food are available. Its presence also reminds us of a long gone great ungulate (hunted to extinction by Spaniards) that prevailed in the pineSacred Fir ecotones: the mule deer.

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6. Ground vegetation was scarce possibly because it was wiped out by grazing and ground fires and consisted mainly of shrub seedlings with numerous stems due to continuous browsing. A species stands out due to its peculiar deeply serrate silvered leaves: Senecio sanguisorbae D. C. This herb is commonly found in Sacred Fir openings or along Sacred Fir stands edges but it also withstands open conditions as long as there are taller shrubs or Sacred Fir saplings shading it partially. Its fruit is an achene consumed by rodents, birds and squirrels. There were other herbs that did not have flowers or other typical features that would expedite their identification but that need to be further collected to interpret their role in the currently degraded Sacred Fir ecosystem. 7. Recent reforestation on the west side of Cerro Pelon was evident by a series of rectangular ditches dug across the slope. Pinus pseudostrobus Lindl. seedlings were planted at each ditch corner and at ground level but most of them failed to grow and the ones still alive are visibly stressed with scant possibilities of further survival. This plantation system is most harmful to degraded Sacred Fir remnants because the neatly vertical cuts of ditches expose deeper soil organic layers to the air thus causing a sucking-like effect of soil moisture towards the atmosphere. In time, this soil moisture loss affects large areas up slope and the effect is not offset by summer rains. Curiously, few remaining Sacred Fir defensive mechanisms are already acting against the ditches as most often Senecio roldana is abundantly growing around the trenches and their sizable organic matter production will likely compensate in time the heavy soil moisture loss induced by this irrational ditch plantation system. 8. The sloped west side of Cerro Pelon shows an extensive rill erosion network intermixed with small patches of sheet erosion. Rill erosion might have been facilitated by paths carved by cattle, sheep and goats while grazing the forest. The most impacting rill erosion has been caused by past and unplanned horse logging as seen from a pattern where rills converge in central spots presumably used as temporary landings. Precisely, these past landings show the deepest sheet erosion threatening to evolve to deep gullies. Deep organic soils created by Sacred Fir ecosystems over volcanic parent materials are eroded easily and actions must be taken immediately to stop the soil degrading process before gullies are formed with disastrous future consequences.

9. Sustained overgrazing effects are observed from current multiple stem growing appearance of most shrubs and some Sacred Fir seedlings as well. Man-induced ground fires have been practiced extensively in the area decreasing significantly the richness of understory plants in high contrast with healthy Sacred Fir ecosystems. Seeds, rhizomes, bulbs and corms of many understory species usually lay in the undisturbed interface of the A/B soil horizon for dozens of years waiting to germinate or sprout as soon as light and temperature conditions become favorable (i.e. when a gap is created by the falling of a large Sacred Fir). However, continuous ground burning gets rid of both the interface A/B soil horizon and the regeneration elements of understory vegetation thus creating the barren soil effect observed on the west side of Cerro Pelon. An extensive man-induced fire wiped out the Sacred Fir forest in a large patch just behind a former landing located between 2900 and 3000 m a.s.l. 10. Illegal and irrational logging has been carried out intensively in the past and it is still carried out nowadays. Past illegal logging signs are evident from large to medium stumps left protruding from the ground between 40 or 50 cm up to 1 or 1.30 m high. The lower stumps belong to trees cut with chainsaw but ignoring minimum tree felling techniques as felling direction, undercut, holding wood and backcut. In consequence high tree breakage might have been significant as there is still some timber left rotting away most likely belonging to trees that neighbored felled trees. High stumps left are of trees felled with axe. Current illegal logging is evidenced from downed poles to young trees cut either with chainsaw or axe. The poles cut with axe leave a high stump showing the hacking made at a 30 degree angle presumably to control felling direction. Current illegal logging leaves quite a bit of brush mainly tree tops with untouched branches and also semi elaborated boards or beams that lead to think that people cut Sacred Firs for furniture or building elements. However, Sacred Fir wood is not recommended for construction nor for furniture as it is fragile and easily attacked by fungi and insects. Thus, using Sacred Fir for building components or failing furniture may require frequent incursions to what is left of the forest on the west side of Cerro Pelon.

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11. No wildlife was sighted on Llano de los Aserraderos nor on the west logged side of Cerro Pelon. Also no fresh tracks, droppings or scats were observed nor collected. No birds were sighted nor singing neither calls of any kind were heard which is in itself highly preoccupying given the onset of the rainy season. The only bird activity signs observed were the pecking holes of a sapsucker on the lower portion of a Sacred Fir secondary stem. About 25 years ago this young Sacred Fir was broken by the falling over of a larger tree leaving it as a 1.68 m stump. Later a lateral bud grew up to become a secondary main stem thus requiring on its lower portion a most active phloem loaded with nutritious sap. This was the stem area selected by the sapsucker to feed upon the broken Sacred Fir but the actual bird was not seen although it might have been a yellow-bellied sapsucker given the pine and oak ecosystems still existing at lower elevations. If the Sacred Fir forest would have been in better state the pecking would have been attributed to Williamsons sapsucker, a rare sapsucker very appreciated by birdwatchers in North America. Sadly, the Sacred Fir forest is so deteriorated that its unique and endemic tree quail (very much appreciated by world bird-watchers), the long-tailed wood partridge, might have been already driven to extinction on the west side of Cerro Pelon. 12. Damage by pests and diseases on Sacred Fir seedlings, saplings, poles and young trees were at a minimum. There were few seedlings showing fungi attack signs mostly collar and lower stem swelling with abundant resin flow. The seedlings foliage showed a glowing light green color with stems covered with aphids of the species Cinara curvipes (Patch) feeding on both the stems and the resin flows. This aphid usually attacks seedlings and saplings under water stress. Most often, these seedlings also showed past machete damage by humans or broken twigs caused by earlier cattle and sheep browsing or simple mechanical breakage by cattle and sheep trampling. Some Sacred Fir saplings, poles and young trees showed a second and even a third leader growing vigorously after overcoming past attacks of Pityophthorus blackmanii. This tiny bark beetle attacks Sacred Fir top leading stems during periods of acute water stress or in years subsequent to low rainfall seasons. No young Sacred Fir trees or poles showed Dwarf Mistletoe parasites. Also, no young Sacred Fir trees and poles were attacked by Scolytus mundus Wood or Pseudohylesinus variegatus (Blandford). Young oaks showed medium infestations of gall insects evidenced by the yellowish brown round galls hanging from twigs found at any position in the crown. No adults were collected but it is possible that the insects may belong to the genus Amphibolips spp. Large infestations of these gall insects are related to unfit habitats for oaks so it is expected that in time oaks growing on the west side of Cerro Pelon will show an increasing trend for gall insects outbreaks.

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Typical conks of Heterobasidion annosum were found on old Sacred Fir logs left on the ground as well as on high stumps produced by past illegal logging. However, signs of brown root and butt rot on saplings and young trees were not quite visible at least for the time being. Nevertheless, heavy damage to seedlings, saplings, poles and young trees by humans, cattle and sheep most likely have already favored brown root and butt rot infections thus requiring precise and periodic monitoring of future Sacred Fir forest health conditions. 13. Sacred Fir regeneration is very poor at best and absent at worst. From a viewpoint of a size (or age) progression expected for a non-degraded Sacred Fir forest, the west side of Cerro Pelon suggests a period of 50 or 60 years of extremely deficient and abnormal recruitment or ingrowth. This is the effect of a sudden and drastic removal of mature and young Sacred Firs over a period of 50 or 60 years. This sudden or drastic seeders removal might be tracked down to illegal or irrational (or both) logging but whatever the reason might be the simple view of what is left of the Sacred Fir forest should be a warning sign frantically brandished by locals, local Federal and State officers, and above all, non-governmental organizations involved with the conservation of the Monarch Butterfly habitat type. The few Sacred Fir seedlings observed in the field are growing from under pebbles, rocks, abandoned logs and leftover pieces of large branches quite in contrast with seedlings observed in a non-degraded forest. The presence of these seedlings in totally unfavorable environmental conditions suggests the tremendous genetic variability of Sacred Fir to cope with disastrous site conditions brought up by infrequent but surely expected extreme environmental events. These events include wildfires, hurricanes, heavy snowstorms, periods of intense rainstorms, lapses of acute deficient rainfall, or total destruction caused by volcanism, being all these phenomena quite typical of Central Mexico. Sadly, most of the seedlings observed in the field also show machete, grazing and fire damages and it is very likely that whenever they reach a sapling, pole or young tree size they will be also cut with an axe or a chainsaw unless they start to be totally protected. Recommendations 1. The illegal and irrational logging carried out on the west side of Cerro Pelon must be fully investigated to ascertain its causes, factors, conditioning framework, and possible solutions including, among other things, local human needs of forest materials, local and regional social organization for forest production and protection, local forest-related income expectations; Municipal, State and Federal policies for the protection and restoration of the Sacred Fir forest; and local and regional technical expertise for problem analysis and solution (especially in the field of Forest Management and Economics).

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2. The presence of oaks in an only-Sacred Fir area is a serious problem that needs to be fully understood through research based on an integrated ecosystem management approach. Its multiple social, economic and technological dimensions and implications must be depicted to proceed with sensible, economically-appealing, and technologically viable solution alternatives. In particular it is necessary to dispel the myth that oaks and pines are normal components of the Sacred Fir ecosystem or that the Sacred Fir ecosystem is doomed due to global warming and therefore it must be substituted by pines or other forest species that offer maximum net financial benefits. 3. The hardwoods and pines invading the Sacred Fir forest are acting upon a tremendous pressure exerted by humans at lower elevations so that the recommendation 1 above is also stressed for finding out what is happening with pine and oak ecosystems, mainly why both forest management and mismanagement are failing to meet social and economic local needs, and above all, why actions taken so far are missing the target of sustainable development. 4. Hardwoods, oaks and pines invading the Sacred Fir forest remnants are greatly helped by their wildlife vectors but their interaction with trees and shrubs are poorly understood at the local and regional level. An integrated ecosystem research approach should be pursued to offer insights into vegetation-wildlife relations networks thus adding valuable information to appreciate, understand, respect and evaluate the Sacred Fir, pine and oak forests. 5. Sacred Fir remnants still covering the west side of Cerro Pelon are well beyond a degradation level and border on a disappearance threshold so immediate actions must be taken to avoid their total loss. One such action is to stop overgrazing and all its concomitant activities like annual or frequent ground burning. Grazing the conifer forest is an unsustainable activity introduced by Spaniards five hundred years ago and must be eliminated as its irrational practice becomes the origin of pests, diseases and man-induced catastrophic fires. Also, Municipal, State and Federal policies advised for controlling pests and diseases at the local level should be reviewed taking into consideration the multiple effects of forest overgrazing. Elimination of overgrazing will restore forest nutrition and will improve forest health in the short-term. Then, a healthy Sacred Fir forest will not need sanitation cuts which eliminate trees but do nothing to control pests and diseases.

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6. Although no extensive social interaction was possible due to time limitations there was some exchange of opinions with locals, laymen and non-governmental organizations about the Sacred Fir forest and it all conveyed to one crucial and preoccupying consensus: lack of understanding about the Sacred Fir forest. Therefore, there is a great need of well designed, hands-on, field-based, intensive, varied and serious educational programs targeting locals, schools, citizens, professionals, politicians, government and non-government decisionmakers, and public in general. These educational programs should train locals to become both forest information facilitators and field interpreters. In turn, well-trained community people might become the pioneers of non-wooden profitable and selffinancing activities. These Sacred Fir-based educational programs should also be designed from an integrated ecosystem management point of view. 7. The Sacred Fir remnants covering the west side of Cerro Pelon require an integrated and ecologically sound approach for restoring the forest as a whole. Each key component of the forest must be reconstructed considering the particular conditions of habitats to be restored and those habitats from where the components are to be brought from. This approach will be more effective than traditional, simple and inadequate reforestation efforts as those observed in the field. However, if no attention is paid to habitat pairing for Sacred Fir restoring components then the danger of introducing exotic or unfit species will greatly increase even if the seeds or seedlings are of Sacred Fir but from unknown origin and location. 8. It is necessary to carry out an exhaustive search of past logging data for the Cerro Pelons Sacred Fir forest so that its before degradation picture comes up in support of a better understanding and effective counteracting of degrading processes observed. This data search should not disregard any other valid method or procedure that may help to gain insights into the Sacred Fir forest that once existed on the west side of Cerro Pelon.

The extensive, irrational and illegal downgrading of the Cerro Pelon Sacred Fir forest might have started by improper practices prescribed in the past by foresters who interpreted freely a classical uneven-aged forest management model (Selection) widely applied in Mexico from the early twenties to the mid-sixties. In this model tree size classes (and therefore tree age spans) are plotted against their frequencies generating an inverted J trend where ingowth and maximum tree size are at opposite ends. A minimum allowable cutting diameter (MACD) is established to maintain the forest structure (and therefore the forest recruitment magnitude) and commercial trees are harvested every period of years (cutting cycle or CC) when they reach or surpass the MACD. Now, if cubic meters harvested are judged insufficient then MACD is decreased along with a simultaneous adjustment of CC with no theoretical effect on the residual forest structure. In reality, if MACD is decreased sufficiently (regardless of how CC is adjusted) Sacred Fir recruitment is heavily impaired and the forest will approach to an even-aged structure in the mid run. Furthermore, if continuous MACD and CC adjustments are made every few years without research support, the forest will be genetically impoverished on favor of trees that as seedlings can withstand more open conditions but whose future traits as mature trees may prove unfit to maintain the original uneven-aged forest structure. This effect not only impairs the forests long term survival but also impacts its integrity as an ecosystem. If additional free-will tree cutting and overgrazing are allowed even after years of closing timber operations, the forest will quickly degenerate down to what is left on the west side of Cerro Pelon. 9. Local and regional social sectors along with Municipal, State and Federal office representatives must get together to discuss and understand the downgrading causes and processes of the Sacred Fir remnants of Cerro Pelon. Then, a crucial decision must be taken in regard to whether or not to restore the Sacred Fir forest. If restoration is decided by consensus then an integrated ecosystem management approach must be taken to determine the sequence of impending actions and their proper time schedules. Prompt actions will preclude the vanishing of such a fine forest that is also a keystone ecosystem for local and regional sustainable development. These actions must include high tech and novel procedures to assure minimum time and certainty for the integrated restoration of the Sacred Fir forest.

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10. The hardwoods mixed with Sacred Fir remnants on the west side of Cerro Pelon also suggest an acute degradation or even destruction of nearby riparian or gallery ecosystems. These gallery or riparian ecosystems are found along the draining networks of highlands and lowlands being key biodiversity corridors across forests at different elevations. The integrity of riparian and gallery ecosystems provide invaluable services to wildlife and humans mainly high quality freshwater and a formidable protection against sudden flooding triggered by heavy rainfall. Degradation and destruction of riparian ecosystems in Mexican conifer forests are mainly caused by overgrazing, firewood and handicrafts materials gathering, sewage discharges, piping of spring waters, and check dams building. Therefore, the state, health and viability of nearby riparian ecosystems should be thoroughly assessed to decide if they need to be restored or if their simple protection would suffice to safeguard their multiple and key functions on behalf of the biodiversity that may still exist on the west side of Cerro Pelon. 11. Extensive overgrazing on the west side of Cerro Pelon should be stopped at once being substituted by other activities that may offer equal levels of local income or comparable protein intake. Thorough economic studies must be done to demonstrate how costly is to produce meat, wool or milk units to the expense of destroying a keystone ecosystem whose environmental services would be impossible to duplicate given our state of poorly developed regional and national economy plus the absence of needed environmental technology. Elimination or substitution of forest overgrazing should be considered as an immediate objective to serve as both a breaking point with inappropriate Spaniard technology transferred five hundred years ago and an innovative avenue to search for scientifically well-developed and appropriate technology that meets regional meat, wool and milk needs in a sustainable way. 12. Illegal and irrational logging of the Sacred Fir forest must be thoroughly investigated in reference to wooden products obtained. The Sacred Fir forest offers no durable materials for rural or urban household structural use or wood with physical and mechanical properties desirable for long-lasting furniture. The Sacred Fir forest started to be logged by the turning of the twentieth century when foreign paper mills were established with rudimentary industrial processes which made possible to produce pulp very cheaply from sizable logs. Fortunately, this is no longer the case as Mexico has embraced sustainability as a basis for its local and regional development. This in turn leads to recycling and appropriate technological advancement to cope with pressing paper needs and new materials challenges.

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13. Nowadays, the Sacred Fir forests environmental services are far greater valuable especially in view of erratic summer atmospheric phenomena that climatic change will bring about in the near future. Central Mexico is a region deprived of rainfall except for summer rains that provide most of water needed by forest ecosystems to survive the year round. The Sacred Fir forests incredible water holding capacity is a major source of long-lasting streams that contribute significantly to rivers being the Lerma Santiago River (the longest Mexican river) a prime example as it originates from wetlands created and maintained by a Sacred Fir ecosystem. Therefore, research must be conducted to rediscover and economically evaluate its water-related services not only to sensitize people about it but also to determine fair environmental services payments that should accrue to forest owners thus guaranteeing the protection, restoration, and sound non-wooden management of this unique keystone ecosystem. 14. Wildlife surviving in the Sacred Fir remnants of Cerro Pelon must be intensively and extensively investigated. Major emphasis must be placed on mammals and birds that are natural restoration vectors of the Sacred Fir forest. Particularly, the abundance and distribution of ground and arboreal squirrels should be ascertained. Also, the presence of long-tailed wood partridge populations should be assessed in connection to its habitat destruction and restoration. The objective is to identify wildlife specimens that could be used not only as flag or keystone species but also as a means to develop technically well-supported educational programs aimed at creating income options for forest owners. These educational programs could develop into important economic activities that would not only complement those monies earned during the Monarch Butterfly season but could also become major sources of local and regional income the year around. 15. Pests and diseases of Sacred Fir, pines and hardwoods should be a subject for formal training offered to forest owners, professionals, municipal authorities, and public in general. This training should not only emphasize their identification but also their ecology, and most importantly, the role that each major pest or disease plays in the dynamic balance and perpetuation of forest ecosystems. In particular, this training must also include situations where a combination of human activities (i.e. irrational logging, overgrazing, sanitation logging, tree salvage, etc.) trigger the workings of each pest and disease in an attempt to reach a general balance needed to preserve the very same trees and their communities. This training should change the negative vision that fungi and insects act detrimentally against trees to one where those organisms can be accepted as inherent components of the forest which also serve as handy indicators of human mismanagement. This kind of training is also urgently needed to raise public awareness about senseless, retrograde, destructive and ineffective sanitation logging actions that only subsidize marginal, technologically outdated and inefficient sawmills or wood-processing plants in great detriment of Mexican societys wellbeing.

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16. The poor and practically absent Sacred Fir natural regeneration observed on the west logged side of Cerro Pelon should be researched thoroughly before the implementation of intensive and extensive reforestation efforts. Research results will guide on the sound restoration of the Sacred Fir forest minimizing risks for both the introduction of the wrong species and the use of destructive or highly impacting plantation procedures. On the one hand it is obvious that the few Sacred Fir seedlings detected in the field have been selected by human mismanagement to grow in abnormally open forest conditions. On the other hand, if those seedlings are effectively protected they could grow to a point where they may end up crossbreeding thus producing seeds and seedlings with a genetic variability very close to the original pool naturally well-suited to Cerro Pelon habitats conditions. 17. Sacred Fir seedlings already growing on the west logged side of Cerro Pelon should be fully protected including the banning of overgrazing and ground burning. Elimination of overgrazing and ground burning will also speed up a successful soil re-colonization by mycorrhizae whose current absence or insufficiency may be limiting Sacred Firs natural regeneration. In fact, the absence or insufficiency of mycorrhhizae in Sacred Fir habitats of Cerro Pelon should be evaluated before the current rainy season is over or as soon as possible. 18. The absence of cones in Sacred Fir poles crowns that were illegally and irrationally cut on the west logged side of Cerro Pelon should be investigated for the possibility that those cones were sold to local or regional nurseries that produce tree seedlings. People concerned should be shown less destructive and sustainable means of gathering Sacred Fir seeds. 19. The restoration of the Sacred Fir ecosystem on the west logged side of Cerro Pelon represents a complex problem and a major challenge whose scope, breath and understanding demand multiple and varied skills, abilities, disciplines, facilities, and specialized personnel not available at both the local and regional levels. Therefore, it is necessary to organize a national and international network of interested researchers and specialized professionals willing to work collaboratively in a multidisciplinary fashion to reconstruct every Sacred Fir ecosystems component and niche already lost or heavily impaired. A promising venue is international cooperation between national and international universities or research institutions on specific subjects or programs whose development and accomplishment may offer mutual and unabridged benefits of scientific and academic nature.

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Photographs

Photo 1: The field crew at Llano de los Aserraderos with Cerro Pelon on the background. The site is where Lincoln Brower took a picture of Estela on horse.

Photo 2: A couple of Quercus laurina behind a Sacred Fir sapling on the west logged side of Cerro Pelon. This is the typical canopy observed at the sites where unidentified trees were detected by Lincoln Brower in the early spring of 2012.

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Photo 3: Clethra mexicana to the right of an oak tree. This tree was frequently found in the open oak stands dispersed on the west logged side of Cerro Pelon.

Photo 4: Arbutus xalapensis is another common tree of open oak stands.

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Photo 5: Senecio roldana (left) and Symphoricarpos microphyllus (center) are common shrubs still present in the Sacred Fir remnants of Cerro Pelon.

Photo 6: Baccharis conferta (short light-green shrub) and Senecio cinerarioides (taller grayish green shrub) as indicators of overgrazed and eroded Sacred Fir-pine ecotones.

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Photo 7: A reforestation procedure implemented on the west logged side of Cerro Pelon. Notice the rectangular ditch dug across the slope with P. pseudostrobus seedlings planted at each ditch corner.

Photo 8: Extensive rill erosion originated from unplanned horse logging trails. Notice the old log on the left with Heterobasidion annosum conks.

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Photo 9: A sheet erosion site where reforestation ditches exacerbate soil moisture loss up slope.

Photo 10: A Sacred Fir seedling damaged by frequent cattle and sheep browsing. Notice a Sacred Fir sapling irrationally cut with machete, a frequent human damage observed. xix

Photo 11: Irrational and illegal cutting of a fine Sacred Fir pole by a horse logging trail. Notice the crown devoid of cones. Past illegal logging left the stumps behind the crown.

Photo 12: The pecking holes of a sapsucker on the lower portion of a Sacred Fir secondary main stem.

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Photo 13: Cinara curvipes aphids feeding on a water-stressed Sacred Fir seedling.

Photo 14: Galls hanging from oak twigs caused by attacks of Amphibolips insects.

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Photo 15: Sacred Fir seedlings emerging from under debris of a sapling irrationally cut with machete.

Photo 16: A Sacred Fir pole showing past attacks of Pityophthorus blackmanii. The tree overcame the attacks and grew a new leader. Early cone production, however, is forced by sustained water stress.

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