Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve - History of The Area

History of The Area

In the pre-Hispanic period, this area was occupied by the Otomi. There was one major settlement near the Coatepec Mountain, which is now the archeological zone of San Felipe los Alzati. This settlement is considered to have been on the cultural frontier of the P'urhépecha Empire. Since then, the area has been important for mining and farming, but it has remained mostly rural, with significant communities of Otomi and Mazahua, especially on the Mexico State side.

In 1975, this area’s importance to the monarch butterflies of the eastern U.S. and Canada was discovered by zoologist Freut Urquhart. The area was decreed a protected zone in 1980 as a wildlife refuge by President José López Portillo. In the latter part of the decade, management of the area passed into the hands of Secretariat of Urban Development and Ecology, which assigned it the category of “special biosphere reserve.” In 1986, a federal decree exactly defined the area and boundaries of the zones protected. In 2000, its name of Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve (Reserva de la Biosfera Mariposa Monarca) was given by another federal decree. Initial conservation efforts in the 1980s focused only on the direct welfare of the monarch butterfly. Since then, research and other efforts have focused on preserving the ecosystems that the butterflies are part of.(mediaambiente) Other efforts have worked with local communities to help them participate in conservation efforts and find ways to make a living without harming the butterfly habitats. While the federal government proclaimed these areas as biosphere reserve, legal title has not changed. Most of it is divided among 38 ejidos, seven indigenous communities and 16 private holdings. UNESCO declared the biosphere a World Heritage site in 2008 as a Natural Asset. This declaration was added to that which made San Miguel de Allende a World Heritage Site.