Nevado de Toluca National Park

The Nevado de Toluca National Park is located southwest of the city of Toluca, Mexico State. It was decreed a park in 1936, primarily to protect the Nevado de Toluca volcano, which forms nearly the park’s entire surface and is the fourth highest peak in Mexico. It is 45 km from Toluca and 135 from Mexico City. The park was established with the aim of conservation, but the park is under increasing pressure from the growth of the Toluca metropolitan area as well as from illegal logging done by local communities who need the income. The volcano has been long extinct and has a large crater in which are two shallow lakes. The crater and lakes are popular with visitors from Mexico State and Mexico City, especially when there is snow. There are a number of archeological sites in the park, including the lakes themselves, which contain numerous offerings of copal and other items that were deposited during the pre-Hispanic period. The park offers activities such as hiking, mountain biking and horseback riding as well as limited skiing facilities. Due to its altitude, the summit of the Nevado is significantly colder than the surrounding area.

The Nevado de Toluca National Park (NTNP) was established in 1936, with the aim of preserving a 51,000-ha area surrounding the Xinantécatl, or Nevado de Toluca volcano.

This park is one of the most important protected areas in Mexico. When the park was created, the lands were not expropriated by the federal government and they continued to be used as ejido, communal and private lands with restrictions. The decree contained provisions to encourage those with lands here to plant with trees. In the 1930s, the park covered an area of 54,000 hectares, but now it covers only 17,000. Much of the lost land was forested which has diminished the area’s ability to replenish local aquifers.

In the remaining park lands, more than half of the original tree biomass has been lost. The rural population which lives in and around the park has been involved with agriculture, illegal logging, mineral and soil extraction here. From 1972 to 2000, the forest cover of the park was analyzed. Although the total forest area has remained more or less the same, the density of the forest has changed significantly. Density in fir and broadleaved forests have remained stable but large areas of the forest dominated by pine trees have lost density so that most are now rated as being semi-dense or fragmented forests. The reason for this is that pine trees can fetch up to $90 USD on the market. Many rural communities can no longer make a living with agriculture due to declining soil quality.

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Wikipedia