SIERRA SAN PEDRO MARTIR NATIONAL PARK

 

This mountain range was the final stronghold of the California condor in Mexico, where the last specimen was killed in El llano de la Grulla in the 1970’s. It was not until the beginning of this century that the condors made their way back. They thrive in this land because of its remoteness and its characteristically abrupt topography.

 

The Sierra San Pedro Martyr is a beautiful and unique habitat. On the top of these mountains lies a dense coniferous forest of pines and cedars. To the west, a series off hills and ravines are covered by oaks and shrubs. To the east, the high peaks rise almost 10 thousand feet above sea level, and collapse 9 thousand feet to a flat and dry lagoon where the desert blooms with every rainfall. On this ridge several breathtaking, steep canyons run from north to south. These are perfect habitats for the California Condor.

 

This mountain range is part of a high priority conservation ecoregion or Hotspot, the California Floristic Province, which runs along the Pacific Coast from northern California in the United States all the way south to the coastal hills and mountains of northern Baja California, in Mexico. This Hotspot is one of the 35 top-priority ecoregions in the world in terms of conservation. Each of these houses a high number of species of flora and fauna that are found nowhere else in the planet—and all 35 are endangered by human development.
 

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