Field Museum plays vital role in creation of huge new park

CHICAGO – The Peruvian government yesterday created a 5,225-square-mile national park, thereby protecting a pristine area of Andean rainforest that is slightly bigger than Connecticut, or 150% the size of Yellowstone National Park.

Last year, the Field Museum, the Asociación Peruana para la Conservación de la Naturaleza (APECO) and other scientists conducted a rapid biological inventory (RBI) that led to creation of the park. The RBI documented the extraordinary biodiversity of the northern Cordillera Azul mountain range, where the new park is located.

The Parque Nacional Cordillera Azul sits in one of the last large tracts of virgin rainforest still undeveloped and largely uninhabited. As such, its creation represents a great victory for conservation and the natural environment.

"This mountain range on the east side of the Peruvian Andes is huge, wild and breathtaking," says Debra Moskovits, PhD, director of The Field Museum’s Environmental and Conservation Programs. "With our Peruvian partner, APECO, our rapid biological inventory determined that the Cordillera Azul still offers the rare opportunity to act before habitat fragmentation and degradation forever transform the landscape."

In 1999, APECO spearheaded an initiative to establish a national park in the Cordillera Azul mountains. To support that effort, Field Museum scientists and colleagues launched this RBI with funding from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The RBI team drew together U.S. and Peruvian experts from: The Field Museum; APECO; the Museum of Natural History at the University of San Marcos in Lima; and the Museum of Natural Sciences at Louisiana State University.

The scientists surveyed vascular plants, fishes, reptiles, amphibians, birds and large mammals. What they found was spectacular, including the identification of at least 28 new plant and animal species.

The park is rich in flora and fauna because the elevation of the area varies so much – from about 650 feet to 7,870 feet above sea level. Such a range of elevations creates a great number of environmental niches to which local plants and animals have adapted in a remarkable number and variety of ways.

The scientists recorded about 1,600 plant species and estimated that there are up to 6,000 plant species in the region. In addition, they recorded 71 mammal species (13 of which are endangered); 500 bird species; and 82 amphibian and reptilian species.

RBI – quick and accurate study

The purpose of an RBI is to quickly assess the flora and fauna of a threatened environmental area. Local and international policymakers use the results to set conservation priorities and guide environmental policy. The Cordillera Azul RBI represents the ninth rapid inventory and field training on which Field Museum scientists have collaborated.

Especially important is the speed with which an RBI team of scientists can accurately survey an area. For Cordillera Azul, the scientists conducted their fieldwork in just 21 days. Afterwards, they took only a few months to compile their findings and publish an authoritative, richly illustrated 230-page bilingual report.

The report – presented in person to government and non-government agencies in Peru in mid-March – caught the attention of many influential people, including the ministry of agriculture, who oversees forestry law. As such, the report generated substantial interest in the creation of a national park. The outcome of accelerated negotiations – shepherded by APECO, The Field Museum and others – came this week, when President Valentín Paniagua and Peru’s council of ministers signed the park into law. Conservation International is investing in long-term management of the park.

"The people of Peru, through their government, have made a generous gift to future generations by establishing this park," says Jonathan F. Fanton, president of the MacArthur Foundation. "People from both nearby and around the world will benefit from the conservation of this unique resource. As with most such efforts, non-governmental organizations played an important role in this achievement. The MacArthur Foundation is pleased to fund The Field Museum and other groups working to conserve biodiversity and ensure sustainable human development."

Dr. Moskovits adds, "With accelerating losses of natural diversity worldwide, our mission is to direct the museum’s unique resources – worldwide collections, scientific expertise and innovative educational programs – to the immediate needs of conservation at local, national and international levels."

In order to continue such efforts, The Field Museum plans to build a new research and storage facility under the terrace at the southeastern corner of its building.

"This $60 million facility will enable the museum to further its work in environmental conservation," says John W. McCarter Jr., President and CEO of the Field Museum. "In recognition of the critical impact of the Field Museum’s scientific activities, Gov. George Ryan included a $40 million appropriation in his budget currently under consideration in Springfield."

"The Field Museum is proud to be a part of this unprecedented preservation effort," he continued. "We look forward to dedicating a portion of our new collections and research center to Peruvian study and to our many other conservation efforts around the globe."

The Field Museum is a collections-based research and educational institution devoted to studying and preserving natural and cultural diversity. Environmental and Conservation Programs is the branch of the museum dedicated to translating science into action that creates and sustains lasting conservation.

Editors note: images of the new park are available.