MEXICO, Guadalupe Island - December 2000
Construction of a goat exclosure fence
(Mexico, Guadalupe Island 2002 project page)
Click photo to enlarge
Guadalupe Island is a remote island 150 miles offshore of the Pacific coast of Baja California. The island has an exceptional concentration of endemic species, including 34 endemic plants. This 160 square kilometer island, one of Mexico's largest and most biologically important, is protected as a Special Biosphere Reserve. It is, however, a classic paper park with little actual management or protection. Unfortunately, Guadalupe's plant species have been devastated by goats which were introduced to the island 150 years ago. After a century and a half of constant grazing, there have been five global extinctions and 15 local extinctions of plant species on Guadalupe. Further degradation of the island and disappearance of more plant species are certain unless immediate action is taken. Seacology has provided funding to the Island Conservation & Ecology Group for the construction of ten fenced exclosures to keep goats out of the most sensitive areas of Guadalupe Island. While demarcating the exclosure areas, local farmers and biologists identified two endemic plant species thought to be extinct.*
For more information about this project, please see the Spring 2002 Seacology newsletter.
Project Updates can be found on the Guadalupe Island - November 2002 project page.
*Support for asterisked projects is provided fully or in part by: 
