Forest Primeval has been working in Quiché Department to protect Guatemalan cloud forest since 2008. This is a forest so pristine that you can watch clouds form directly from the emerald canopy. This haven for endemic amphibians, highland birds, and diverse mammals and plants is called Cerro Amay. Dr. Philip Tanimoto identified Cerro Amay using satellite imagery as the largest tract of intact yet unprotected tropical cloud forest in northern Central America and proceeded to direct the resources of Forest Primeval (previously Conservation Imaging) to its protection. After several years of grant writing and implementing agroforestry projects among the indigenous villages surrounding Cerro Amay, he attracted other conservationists to support the program.

Today, more than 11,000 acres of Cerro Amay’s virgin cloud forest have legal protection and 30,000 additional acres have de facto protection. In 2016, Guatemala’s premier conservation organization, FUNDAECO, assumed oversight of land management, but recently the limited budget has resulted in steep staff cuts, so we need your help to support forest protection, community liaisons, and sustainable agroforestry projects that curtail deforestation around Cerro Amay.

The Jewels of Quiché is a system of six strategically planned reserves that maximize protection for virgin montane cloud forests, and what we plan to establish as Guatemala’s first wild and scenic (protected) river system, the Putúl-Copón. Combined, these reserves will protect the headwaters of two river systems that capture billions of cubic meters of fresh rainwater annually while sequestering millions of tons of organic carbon in the ancient forest. The Putúl-Copón river system is Guatemala’s most-pristine, but is unprotected. It contains unparalleled opportunities for river-based recreation including wilderness whitewater. The plan also includes the 125-kilometer Las Joyas Trail, a through-hike concept in spectacular, indigenous-led wilderness and semi-wilderness at elevations ranging from 1,800 to 3,280 meters (6,000 to 10,700 feet) above sea level. By working with the indigenous-led municipios, the Las Joyas system will protect approximately 39,600 hectares (98,100 acres) of biodiverse forests along with some high-elevation grass-shrub steppe habitat.

Las Joyas is a collaboration between us, a Guatemala-based nonprofit, and the indigenous leaders of five municipalities in Quiché. It represents a new paradigm for conservation in Guatemala. In our meetings with indigenous mayors, we received sound endorsement of our protection model. This program requires sustained commitment to legal processes that empower local indigenous leaders to protect their communal forests. Please donate to support this vision of sustainability in the Mayan highlands.