Marañon – Alto Mayo Conservation Corridor

Long-whiskered Owlet. Photo: ECOAN

Northern Peru is a geographically diverse region, home to a remarkable range of natural habitats, from cloud forest to dry forest, desert to scrub. This variation leads to an astonishing diversity of bird and other animal species, many of which are found nowhere else on earth (endemic).

One area in particular, the beautiful Marañon Valley, which delineates the boundary between the Northern and Southern Andes, contains a fascinating array of bird species, many of which, such as the Long-whiskered Owlet pictured hee and the remarkable Marvelous Spatuletail, are poorly known. The Valley lies in a rain shadow created by the complex of regional mountain chains; the resultant vegetation varies from decidu scrub to deciduous dry forest to more humid vegetation. Because of its isolation and unique habitats, rates of endemism among species are high. Throughout the valley there is a severe and ongoing threat of habitat loss, making it a particularly high priority for bird conservation.

In 2008, American Bird Conservancy helped lead a study analyzing the distribution of endangered and endemic bird species in an area within and around the Marañon Valley known as the Marañon-Alto Mayo Conservation Corridor, which constitutes more than six million acres of diverse habitats. This work was aimed at contributing to the detailed knowledge and conservation of the bird species that are restricted to this region, particularly those that are not well protected. It is important to highlight here that even though the Marañon is considered to be a high conservation priority, barely 0.1% of it is currently protected; the lowest amount for any region in Peru (INRENA 2006). The outcome of the study was the proposal to create a number of conservation areas or areas for special conservation and sustainable development programs.

Map showing the location of the Marañon – Alto Mayo Bird Conservation Corridor in red.

The spectacular Marañon River Valley delineates the boundary between the Northern and Southern Andes, and contains a fascinating array of bird species, many of which are poorly known. . Photo: Hugo Arnal

The study analyzed threat levels and bird distributions in the area to identify 64 bird species of conservation importance. Subsequently, an analysis of these species’ representation within Peru’s system of natural protected areas (SINANPE), determined 28 of them to be of the highest conservation priority.

Among these 28 species, 26 are endemic to Peru, and of those, 13 are restricted to the Marañon-Alto Mayo Corridor. One species has a broader distributional range in the Andes, but is poorly represented in the system of protected areas. The global populations of three of these species are each restricted to just one very small area, the conservation of which has been identified by the Alliance for Zero Extinction as crucial for the species’ survival.

Using information on the known locations for these highest conservation priority species and the most recent vegetation maps, the potential range for each species was projected. Based on these ranges, from one to seven potential conservation areas were identified for each species. The potential conservation areas for all species were then overlain using GIS mapping software. By identifying common areas for multiple species, the ten most representative areas were selected and proposed for a wide array of conservation strategies, from strict protected area status to sustainable conservation and community owned nature reserves.

The full results of the study and associated maps are available for download below (please note, some of these files are very large):

Marañon – Alto Mayo Bird Conservation Corridor: An Analysis of the distribution of high priority conservation bird species and Identification of Areas for Conservation Management” (16MB)

Large-scale map showing location of the Marañon – Alto Mayo Bird Conservation Corridor

Range maps of species found in the Marañon (6MB)

Vegetation types within the projected range of the species studied (95 MB)

Species Potential range plotted on Landsat Imagery (79MB)

Proposed areas for conservation management, some of which include the creation of public protected areas (70MB)