Northeast Ecological Corridor
The Northeast Ecological Corridor is a man-established set of ecosystems to preserve the species that reside in the area. This area consists how many different types of ecosystems within a 13 mile stretch of land. The purpose of the Northeast Ecological Corridor is to have this stretch of land free from human impact and any negative human interactions with the wildlife. The reason this corridor was set up to protect these ecosystems was because over 54 different species are endangered, endemic, critical or rare to this region and around the world. These ecosystems are considered endangered because of the endangered species residing in the areas, which fits with one of our criteria. Throughout the research, our group has decided on certain criteria that make an ecosystem endangered. This criteria includes: extreme climate change, the movement of loss of producers, an endangered species that resides in the ecosystem, an extreme negative human impact, lack of water or too much water, limiting access to homes or certain areas. Extreme climate change includes global warming and where the climate has changed so drastically that the species cannot survive in the area. The movement or loss of producers means that the producers of the environment have died out or moved which alters the food chain drastically, making surviving much harder. Having an endangered species in the ecosystem makes the food chain unstable because food would be limited therefore making the ecosystem unstable. An extreme, negative human impact would include pollution or actions that lead to a drastic reduction of a species, making the species in that ecosystem endangered or not as common and making the ecosystem stumble. Lack of water or too much water like drought or flooding would cause species to die from dehydration from drought or they would have to move because they lost their homes from flooding. Finally, by limiting access to certain areas of an ecosystem or destroying parts of the ecosystem would kill species and either force them to move or have them die which destroys the ecosystem. So far, the land around the Northeast Ecological Corridor has been transformed into golf courses, places for private owners or tourist attractions. The land in the Northeast Ecological Corridor was being planned to be used for more golf courses and for private owners. This would destroy every single species in this area, lost forever, never to be seen again... unless we do something about it.
Plan of Action
Many plans of action are often complicated and well thought-out, but the action plan the many organizations of Puerto Rico want to take into action is simple; to attract eco-tourism, enough to ward off the developers who want the land and to help sustain the endangered species. So, what can we do? The answer is simple, visit the ecological corridor and you have already contributed! If you go through the right channels, the money you spend to visit the Northeast Ecological Corridor will go to the supporting organizations to help sustain the endangered species, be able to pay for the land so developers can't get their hands on it. If visiting is not plausible for you, another simple plan if action is to take part in an organization to help raise awareness for the endangered species in the region or even donate some money to help them out and save over 50 endangered species! Get up and join the effort now!