Currently The Toledo Institute for Development and Environment (TIDE) manages approximately 30,000 acres of private lands which are strategically located within the Maya Mountain Marine Corridor (MMMC). With the help of The Nature Conservancy, TIDE began purchasing key parcels of land in the MMMC to secure them from unsustainable development. The result has been the creation of an essential conservation corridor that links other protected areas in the Toledo District.

 The key goals of TIDE within the private lands are to:

 

     Protect the physical and biological resources

     Provide educational and interpretive programs

     Preserve the value of the area by patrolling and monitoring

     Develop sustainable recreation and tourism.

 

The majority of TIDE’s private lands are located on the banks of the Rio Grande River, 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 jaguarondi. Rangers patrol more than twenty miles of coastal forest land and over thirty miles of river front. 

Forests in the Toledo region of Belize are currently facing two major threats:

     1) The Southern Highway of Belize which hopes to provide access to once remote areas

     2) Massive bulldozers are clearing forests for agriculture, shrimp farms, and logging operations.

 

TIDE has taken the initiative to protect one of the world’s most diverse biological regions. By securing critical lands in the MMMC, a million-acre ridge to reef corridor identified as a high priority site for conservation has been created. Through preventing unsustainable activities TIDE is protecting some of the world’s most important watersheds. Activities on private lands include:

Reforestation

Hardwoods nursery

Trail maintenance

Biodiversity monitoring

Surveillance and patrols

Water Quality monitoring

 

The protected areas co-managed by TIDE (Port Honduras Marine Reserve with the Fisheries Department, Payne’s Creek National Park with the Forestry Department and the TIDE Private Protected Lands) offer natural and cultural amenities unparalleled in the region. TIDE provides researchers and eco-tourists with a unique opportunity to visit protected areas.

 

Infrastructure plans include ranger stations, education centers, seaside campgrounds, and interpretive signs to increase the understanding and enjoyment of the area's irreplaceable flora and fauna. These plans, which also include livelihood opportunities for buffer communities, are in line with existing management plans and studies on carrying capacity.