As you may recall, one of the landowners within the habitat of Abronia campbelli came to a conservation agreement with Zootropic. He has turned his farm into an ecological park called Parque Ecologico Forestal Cerro Alto (PEFCA), which is now starting to produce charcoal from pine instead of oak trees so the natural habitat of A. campbelli can be preserved. Every bag of charcoal includes information on A. campbelli. The product is called “Carbonazo,” which derives from the Spanish word “Carbon,” which translates as charcoal.

We have been training the staff of PEFCA. They know general information about the Abronia, their importance, conservation status, and the work that has been done at the farm. They also know how to take care of the lizards in case we are not there.

We have also begun the reforestation in PEFCA with oak trees. Seedlings for the project are grown in a little nursery garden that we started with the support of a villager; he is being paid for this so that we can contribute to the development of the local community.

In the farms surrounding PEFCA, workers had been cutting down oak trees in spite of orders they had been given by the landowners. However, we have permission to relocate the Abronia from these farms to the protected area.

The first cages for the in situ reproduction of A. campbelli had been arranged for the first breeding group. We also did the radiotelemetry study for A.campbelli so now we have information on summer and winter habitat ranges.

In other news, we have a new specimen of Abronia lythrochila that the local people found and donated to us. Right now we are trying to determine the habitat range of this species.

In recent weeks we have been giving environmental talks to students of an undergraduate degree in Zootechny and a group from an international organization against hunger.