“La Corcova: Valle del Cauca’s First Protected Recreation Area”

There are 11 recreation areas throughout Colombia and this is the first for Valle del Cauca. For years it was a garbage dump and now it will be an area for the protection of wild fauna and flora, at the same time that it will become a space for delight, recreation, education and nature tourism. Quite an achievement in environmental matters.

B-099 Bramble, April 26, 2023

The municipality of Zarzal has a new protected area. It is the La Corcova Recreation Area, with 46.56 hectares, thus becoming the first area declared under this conservation figure in Valle del Cauca.

“In our municipality, La Corcova was the site designated as a garbage dump. A long time ago, absolutely no type of waste was thrown again. Since the municipal administration at that time, an agreement was carried out with a cleaning company and it was allocated that all the garbage in the municipality was taken to a landfill. From that moment the entire municipality, the mayors who have passed through here, have worked to recover the place that is of great environmental relevance for all the people of Zarzale”, said María Teresa Giraldo, municipal mayor.

After overcoming the problem of waste, more or less since the year 2000, a process of natural regeneration has been taking place, turning the place into a site of great ecosystemic importance within the municipality. From the air you can see a forested and thick green spot bordered by the Cauca River.

“This is one of the last protected areas declared by the Board of Directors of the CVC. It represents a site with a lot of history, since its restoration process has been going on for more than two decades and it is what has motivated both the entities and the organization itself. community, to declare it a protected area. The fact that it is a recreation area is very significant because it is the first we have in the Valley,” said Sandra Giraldo, director of the Ecofuturo corporation.

The recovery process has been possible thanks to the interest and participation of the different entities, especially the community, a key factor for environmental management in any territory.

“This property is part of the National System of Protected Areas and, in turn, of the departmental system. For us, as CVC, it is a very important achievement and it would not have been possible without the support of the municipal administration, the private company that The Ecofuturo corporation is located in the area of ​​influence, which led the entire process that had to be supplied in order to obtain the declaration and, of course, the communities, who are the most interested,” said Leonardo Fabio Pérez, an official from the regional BRUT of the CVC.

The predominant ecosystem in the area is the alluvial plain dry warm forest. The purpose of its declaration is to preserve the forest cover and the species of fauna and flora that are found there, at the same time that it intends to promote a space for delight, recreation, education and nature tourism.

“It is very significant because during the characterization process the biologists found an infinite number of ecosystem benefits, among them, we can highlight the discovery of 79 species of birds, many of them with threat categories, others endemic, as well as the flora resource, so We can conclude that these results show that there is still hope,” added the Ecofuturo board.

Important data

Valle del Cauca has 646,432 protected hectares and is positioned as the department with the most protected areas in Colombia.

In total, there are 11 zones within the Recreation Area category in the country and now La Corcova is part of this important group. Without a doubt, a great achievement in environmental matters, not only for Zarzal, but for the entire department.

Projected: Jéssica Henao Carvajal – CVC Communications
Reviewed: Wilson García and Mauricio Guzmán Ferraro – CVC Communications