Posted April 20, 2022, by Nicholas Hellmuth
Posted April 20, 2022, by Nicholas Hellmuth
Posted March 16, 2022
We are pleased to share with you our invitation to deliver the results of our project: "Livingston Biodiversity Documentation" where you can learn a little more about the project and the achievements obtained by our team.
This presentation will be in Spanish starting 6 PM on Thursday, 17 March.
Posted October 8, 2021
Parque Nacional Yaxha, Nakum and Naranjo (PNYNN) is best known for the nicely protected monumental Classic Maya architecture of Yaxha, Nakum, Naranjo and Topoxte Island. This national park is also known for the sun setting over Lake Yaxha.
Our focus in the August 2018-July 2019 project in PNYNN was flora, fauna, and interesting ecosystems that had not often been published: pital areas (hundreds of Aechmea magdalenae terrestrial bromeliads surrounding a natural aguada); cibal areas (sawgrass savannas); and traditional open grassland savannas with their iconic tasiste palms, nance fruit trees, and jicara calabash trees.
Based on the results of that project we were asked to return to undertake a 5-year project of cooperation and coordination with CONAP for PNYNN and adjacent areas plus the rest of the Reserva de la Biosfera Maya (RBM). We are now in our 9th month of this new research project. Our focus is on wetlands since we have learned a lot about swamps, marshes, riverside and lakeside habitats from our separate 15-month flora-fauna-ecosystems research project in the Municipio de Livingston (east part of Izabal).
I am especially interested in studying savannas since they are well studied in adjacent Belize. But other than the pine savannas of Poptun karst area of southern Peten and the karst savannas of La Libertad area of Peten (all south, outside the RBM), the savannas of PNYNN within the RBM have not previously been published. The Savanna East of Nakum was known but not published with photographs; the savanna to the west of Naranjo has been studied but its flora and fauna were not yet published. Our goal in 2021 is to accomplish improved digital photographic documentation starting with the Savanna of 3 Fern Species. This is so remote that it has not previously been published (that we know of).
One reason these savannas are not previously studied is because there is no base camp adjacent to them. To reach them is comparable to an Olympic long distance trek. We overcome the difficulties of climbing steep hills and sliding down the other side with inspiration, dedication, combined with initiative. This facilitates hiking up to 18 kilometers in a single day (about 10 miles).
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Our five year project in RBM is inspired to dedicate our experience with digital photography, with biodiverse ecosystems, and with documentation of flora and fauna. Our reports are intended to assist scientists plus students plus the interested public to have more information about the remarkable national parks and nature reserves of the RBM area of Peten, Guatemala, Central America.
The 200 page report at the left is mostly full page photographs to show the remarkable Neotropical flowers, trees, howler monkeys and bio-diverse ecosystems of Parque Nacional Yaxha, Nakum and Naranjo (which is part of the RBM). This first edition lists the equipment needed for the coming four years (2022-2025).
Posted October 06, 2021
As our new 5-year project with CONAP started earlier this year, since this is a project of cooperation and coordination, we share our goals: when they ask that we do field work in a particular area we do this. When we find an interesting ecosystem that has not been studied or published, we register that area as where we would like to accomplish research.
Biotopo Cerro Cahui is part of a group of nearby nature reserves and national parks that are working together to protect the local flora and fauna. Having a corridor so that monkeys of Tikal and Yaxha can move south to interact with monkeys along the north side of Lake Peten Itza is one aspect. Same for jaguars: you don’t want the jaguars to be limited to interbreeding in one small area. This corridor also includes the work of Sebastian de la Hoz Moretti and Juan Carlo de la Hoz Moretti and their helpful conservation project Green Balam Forests.
So far, we have visited five of the areas of this group of nature reserves and parks. We are working on paperwork to register for the Tikal area.
Biotopo Cerro Cahui is easy to get to (see map in the report, page 4). The view from the top is worth the climb.
Posted October 4, 2021
We have lots of new projects in flora, fauna, and ecosystems that we will be announcing in October. We have been so busy out in remote areas of Izabal and deeper into the rain forests of Peten that we have not had time to post much recently. But all 33 employees of FLAAR Mesoamerica are working on the diverse projects of FLAAR.
Today we wish to post the emotional video of “Dr Nicholas” (Hellmuth) as he sees for the first time a remote grassland savanna surrounded by rain forests in the Reserva de la Biosfera Maya. We were awarded a 5-year project permit for this area earlier this year.
We have also made advances in our flora, fauna, and wetlands ecology research in Parque Nacional Yaxha, Nakum and Naranjo. All these projects are occupying our full team, so we are phasing out our 20+ years of wide-format inkjet printer research and publications so that all the teams can focus on biodiverse wetlands surrounded by the rain forests, and all the remarkable endangered plants and creatures that roam around or fly around these areas that need conservation.
Posted September 22, 2021
We have been deep in the swamps, marshes, rivers and lakes of the Municipio de Livingston, Izabal, Guatemala one week every month. Plus we are accomplishing field work on ecology, ethnobotany, and zoology in the Reserva de la Biosfera Maya also one week every month. So we have not posted news since April because we are so focused on our field work.
During recent months we have dedicated our time and resources for field work in remote rain forest areas of Guatemala to find savannas via satellite photos and then figuring out how to hike to these far-away never-before-studied biodiverse ecosystems. But when you work in remote areas you see why no intelligent professor tries to study these far away locations. We have added a new page to show one aspect of the hardships faced.
Posted April 20, 2021
This presentation will be in Spanish starting 10 am this Saturday, 24 April.
Though obviously nothing is there until Saturday morning. If you wish to be on our mailing list, please write us FrontDesk at FLAAR.org