IMBA Goes to Work on Monte Alto Project in Mexico

For Immediate Release
03-29-01
Contact: Dan Vardamis

303-545-9011

IMBA is assisting with the development of a third trail project in the Sierra Madre Mountains of Mexico. In February, Judd de Vall, IMBA's international coordinator, and Kim Frederick of Chinook Trail Consultants traveled to the town of Valle de Bravo, which is located 100 miles west of Mexico City. IMBA's trail experts worked with Balam S.C. and local trail crews to design, build and plan the recreational management plan for the Monte Alto Park. Upon completion in April, the 1,500-acre park will have about 20 miles of trail open to mountain biking, hiking and equestrian use.

What sets Monte Alto apart from past projects is the key role played by the Mexican government. Leading the project for the State of Mexico is Jorge Pérez, secretary of ecology for the state of Mexico. Appointed to his current position in October of 2000, Jorge is committed to opening similar parks in the State of Mexico and beyond. The Monte Alto effort is the first of what will hopefully be a network of recreation projects funded and implemented by the State of Mexico to support outdoor recreation and conservation.

Since the early nineties, mountain biking, along with other outdoor adventure sports, has grown quickly in Mexico and all of Latin America. At the same time, no more than five percent of Mexico's 100 million residents can even afford to purchase a mountain bike. Through the development of new riding areas, IMBA is able to promote the sport and the growing number of riders while protecting the environment. "This work goes way beyond building trails for mountain bikers" said de Vall. "Through these projects, we are able to use mountain biking as a tool to improve the economic situation for individual families and communities while protecting our natural resources and promoting ecological protection. Hopefully, IMBA's work will ensure that there is a backcountry for riders to explore for generations to come.

Like other outdoor conservation areas in Mexico, Monte Alto Park faces considerably different challenges than many parks in the USA, Canada or Europe. On rides through the park, Juan Carlos Ibarra of Balam S.C. pointed out some of the challenges they face. "Frequently, people just moved onto the land, build homes and begin farming," says Juan. "This is both a problem of very poor people, who have nowhere else to go, and very rich people, who are able to pay off the government and build elegant homes illegally." The result is a park that is patchworked with shanties, illegally raised fences and grazing livestock, in addition to large illegal estates.

The radical distribution of wealth in Mexico also creates other challenges. Historically, peasants have entered the park to cut down trees for firewood. For generations this wood has been used to cook food and feed the community. Now, with the influx of tourism in this lakeside paradise, tree cutting has increased in order to fill the fireplaces of wealthy weekenders from Mexico City. The result is a plodding, hand-hewn deforestation of the park.

This tree cutting creates secondary problems as well. In some areas of the park, wood beetles have infested the pine forests. As trees are felled and left to dry for firewood, they become a perfect home for beetles, which in turn mature and spread to other, still living trees. Kim Frederick comments, "Any infected tree needs to be felled and stripped of its bark to kill the beetles or else the beetles will end up killing another ten or twenty trees in the surrounding area. What we see here are trees that are felled and left for a year to dry. While this makes them a much better fuel, it also creates a perfect habitat for the beetles to mature and spread. If these trees aren't cleared, the plague will kill the entire forest within the park."

By bringing recreation into the park, IMBA and Balam have been able to change things for the better. One of the first steps was hiring a trail crew to improve and expand the network of mountain paths. The best solution was to bring the tree cutters in to the system by hiring them to do trailwork. Now instead of harvesting trees, the trail crews are working to build and maintain the trails within the park.

In April, when the park opens, Balam S.C. will turn the management of the park over to a local group. One of this group's primary goals will be to create income from entry fees, races, camping and events in order to employ the trail crew and other park employees. "That is a very important stage in the park's development" says Juan Carlos. "We have built the trails and created a resource, but if we don't find the right people to put in charge, and if they aren't able to promote the park and attract visitors, the park will not be a success."

Keep checking the international page of www.imba.com for updates on the status of Monte Alto, as well as other projects in Mexico and around the globe.

Since 1999, IMBA has worked extensively with Balam S.C to develop recreational mountain biking opportunities in Mexico. Our first two projects, located in Ajusco and San Nicolas Totolapan, presented mountain biking parks as a way to provide a healthy, economic alternative to resource extraction, stop illegal urban sprawl and give people a safe place to enjoy nature. For more information on IMBA's work in Mexico, please see the International News Archive. For more information on Monte Alto, email . For more information on Chinook Trail Consultants contact Kim Frederick at For more information about Balam S.C. contact Juan Carlos Ibarra via