Private Lands Initiative (PLI)

As improvements to the Southern Highway of Belize continue, easy access to once remote areas is causing stress to the Toledo District.  With massive bulldozers, prime forests are being cleared for agriculture, shrimp farms and logging operations.  Toledo is has the highest rainfall in Belize (~300 inches) and seven major rivers, subjecting us to massive runoff once forests are destroyed.  By securing critical lands in the Maya Mountain Marine Corridor (MMMC), a million acre ridges to reef corridor identified as a high priority site for conservation, and preventing unsustainable activities, TIDE is protecting some of the world’s most important watersheds. 

With the help of The Nature Conservancy TIDE began to purchase private lands in 1998 to secure them from unsustainable development.  To date TIDE manages more than 30,000 acres of private lands strategically located within the MMMC.  By purchasing key parcels of land in the MMMC, TIDE has created an essential conservation corridor that links other protected areas in the District.

The majority of TIDE’s private lands are located on the banks of Golden Stream, a riparian corridor where visitors can spot the endangered West Indian manatee and the endangered hicatee turtle.  The lands are part of a block of large, unfragmented, moist tropical forest that serves as a biological corridor for important species such as jaguar, puma, margay, ocelot and jaguarundi, which require large units of forest for their mobility and survival.

TIDE’s rangers conserve and protect this section of the MMMC by patrolling rivers for illegal fishing and logging, patrolling forests for illegal hunting and poaching, collecting data on biodiversity, and conducting community outreach and educational programs to families around the buffer zones. 

Rangers patrol more than twenty miles of coastal forest land and over thirty miles of

river front.  One of our most recent projects is a demonstration reforestation program wherein more than 1,000 mahogany seedlings have been planted to restore a riparian zone to halt erosion.  The zone has been named, “Pritzlaff Woods” in memory of one of our most dedicated supporters who passed away in 2005.  His enthusiasm and passion were an inspiration to all of us at TIDE.

In the coming years, TIDE intends to complete a baseline study of the biodiversity, land-use, geology & socio-economics, etc., develop a management plan, demarcate and post signs at all boundaries and develop recreational trails & infrastructure to attract & accommodate tourists.

This program is generously funded by a Debt-for-Nature Swap (GOB & USA), The Nature Conservancy,

Mr. John Pritzlaff, Sr., and the Rainforest Alliance.

HOW YOU CAN HELP: To support TIDE, please send your donation to the address below, or visit us at http://www.tidebelize.org

We appreciate your contribution to conservation.