Much of the land around La Cumbre is communally managed by the local people, who are all of Zapotec origin. There are extensive forests which were logged from 1956 to 1982 before the community regained control of their land. The forests have recovered remarkably well thanks to active restoration efforts (e. g., seed trees, tree planting) by the community [1]. Scattered farms, often growing corn, are interspersed with the forests. Some areas are still logged selectively, with native pines being the only timber of commercial importance. Oak and other trees are only harvested for local use, mainly as firewood. In many years, the annual quota (12 900 cu. m. of pine and 3 080 cu. m. of oak) imposed by federal agencies is not even met—the locals don’t view that as a loss of potential revenue because the trees remain standing [1]. Few locally managed integrated conservation and resource extraction plans have been as impressive as the one in Ixtepeji.
Part of our purpose in being there was to try to trap a puma (Puma concolor) that had been preying upon livestock, most recently a calf, at a farm close to La Cumbre, on the other side of Highway 175. A three-kilometer hike from the restaurant brought us there. We went over a moderately steep ridge, fairly tough going after an inappropriately heavy breakfast. (Good food doesn’t contribute well to good natural history.) As is typical for this area, mixed oak and pine forest gave way to pure pine at the top, almost entirely Pinus oaxacana. It was wet, with Spanish moss and a bewildering variety of epiphytes adorning the trees. There were mushrooms everywhere of a variety of colors and sizes, and Victor duly noted that Mexico’s mushrooms remained poorly studied. (Wild mushrooms are harvested in Ixtepeji for export to Japan [1], and many varieties are locally consumed but it takes some experience to distinguish the edible ones from the poisonous. It is more than likely that there are mushroom species here that have yet to be scientifically described.) We continued to enjoy the remarkable—and remarkably little-studied—biodiversity of Oaxaca.
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