The Nature Conservancy in Ohio - Freshwater Monitoring in Belize

Freshwater Monitoring in Belize

Ohio Chapter Staff Travel to Central American Partner

The scene is, at first, all bright light and shadow. The light from the direct tropical sun streams through the clear water of Ramgoat Creek, a tributary of the New River in northern Belize. The shadows are cast by waterlilies floating on the surface, anchored by long stems to the sediment of the riverbed below.

As a snorkeler progresses, some of the shadows begin to move, and the moving shapes took on colors– tropical freshwater fish, darting just beyond our reach, teasing us with glimpses of shimmering orange, blue, green and yellow.

Ramgoat Creek has subtler beauty than the schools of saltwater fish that draw divers and snorkelers to the Meso-American reef off the coast of Belize. Not many visitors snorkel here– perhaps it’s the crocodiles in the area. But the clear water and the profusion of plant and animal life are stunning reminders of the importance of the freshwater systems in Belize – and why a team of Nature Conservancy scientists traveled in January to the Hill Bank field research center in the Rio Bravo Conservation and Management Area.

Located in northern Belize, Rio Bravo is made up of extensive tropical forests.
© August Froehlich

Ecological Importance:
The biological diversity of Belize goes well beyond the migratory birds from Ohio’s breeding bird list. We saw dozens of other bird species during our short trip, from the tiny Jacobin hummingbird warming itself on a branch one chilly morning, to a jabiru stork winging its way over the lagoon as we paddled our canoes on the New River.

Tropical forests still cover nearly 80 percent of this small country, and are home to more than 4,000 species of native flowering plant. The Rio Bravo hosts 240 species of trees and 70 species of mammals, including jaguar, puma, and tapir.

And the aquatic systems of Belize – our focus for this trip – provide habitat for at least 30 species of freshwater fishes, including the tarpon.

Freshwater Stream Conservation:
Over the past two years, the Ohio Chapter’s efforts have evolved to include freshwater stream conservation – a growing area of concern in Belize. These watersheds are conservation priorities for freshwater biodiversity and are increasingly threatened by pressure from unsustainable forestry and agriculture practices.

Conservation organizations in Belize have been working hard to protect these rivers, but they haven’t always had the tools they need to develop conservation strategies or measure success.

"We’ve been monitoring the water in the Port of Honduras, and we know we’re getting a lot more sediment in the patch coral areas and the sea grasses. It’s coming from the banana and citrus farming along the Monkey River," explains Joe Villafranco from the Toledo Institute for Development and Environment (TIDE). "We’ve been working to maintain watersheds, but it is hard to measure our success," he said.

Science staff from the Ohio Chapter recently joined staff from the Belize country program and partner organizations – PfB and TIDE – to develop a freshwater monitoring program. The team is working to adapt water quality assessment methods used in the U.S. to provide baseline scientific information to guide conservation activities.

The scientists developed a program that included setting up artificial substrate (Hester-Dendy devices) in the stream to collect macroinvertebrates, including aquatic insects. These organisms, if sampled regularly over time, can be used to detect subtle changes in water quality because some insects are more tolerant to pollution than others.

"Hopefully, I can adapt the protocols we learn here and use them monitoring the effects of our riparian buffer zone restoration project on the Rio Grande," Villafranco said. "I want to do a survey now, while the forest cover is thin, and then do the reforestations, then survey again to see if the mayflies become more abundant – the mayflies being one of the more sensitive species," he said.

Ohio and Belizean scientists look for macroinvertebrates in Ramgoat Creek.
© Carol Foster

Rio Bravo Conservation & Management Area Facts

Size: 260,000 acres - largest preserve in Belize
Location: Northern Belize
Natural Features: Tropical rainforests and numerous streams, including New River Lagoon - Belize's largest inland water body.
Animals: 70 species of mammals, including jaguar, puma, and tapir. 30 species of freshwater fish, including tarpon.
Plants: The tropical forests contain over 4,000 species of native flowering plants and 240 species of trees.
Partners: The Nature Conservancy has worked in Belize since 1987 and the Ohio Chapter has had a partnership with Programme for Belize (PfB) – owners and managers of the Rio Bravo – since the late 1990s. This relationship originally focused on protecting habitat for the many migratory birds that breed in Ohio and overwinter in Belize..

Find out how else we work with local partners for conservation action in Belize.

Learning Opportunity:
The Ohio Chapter staff learned a lot on the trip, said Deni Porej, the Agnes S. Andreae Director of Conservation Science for the Ohio Chapter.

"We found out that the freshwater resource is in fairly good shape, but is far more diverse than we expected it to be," he said. "Based on what we read, the streams that drain into the New River Lagoon should have been very similar. There was nothing of the sort.

One was slow-flowing, wide, mud-covered, running through a heavy forest cover. Another drained a large marsh. Another was a travertine system with very little cover, some mangroves, and clear water."

The chapter staff learned as much as they could from books about Belize, but learned far more from the staffs of the partner organizations, said Jason Taylor, the chapter’s aquatic ecologist.

"These guys are big picture thinkers. They’re interested in the geology, they’re interested in the landscape and in keeping track of what is going on. These guys know the lagoon is in good shape, but they have witnessed a decline in fishing, and they are worried about the agriculture that is coming in. They want to get a good idea of what is there – and develop strategies to monitor changes over time."

Conservation Commitment:
Belize – a country the size of Massachusetts with only about a quarter million residents – has protected more than 40 percent of its land base.

"The people of Belize seem to have a built-in conservation ethic," said Maya Gorrez, a conservation specialist for the Conservancy’s Belize Country Program. But conservation work has to go beyond protecting land, she said. Poverty is a serious problem in Belize, and the government’s resources are stretched to capacity.

Edilberto Romero, executive director of PfB, agrees. "The government of Belize has a tremendous responsibility to its people. And while there is a strong conservation ethic, it is difficult for us to get conservation dollars from the government."

Nature Conservancy donors in Ohio have been very supportive of the cross-boundary work to help protect this amazing biological diversity. The Cleveland-based Smith Foundation alone has donated more than $775,000 to support the chapter’s work in Belize or protect "Ohio Belize linkage" habitat at the Edge of Appalachia in Ohio.