| Henri
Pittier National Park |
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| Aragua State, Venezuela |
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| Earth's Natural Wonders
in South America |
| Area of park:
350 square miles (1,078 sq. km) |
| Highest
peak: Pico Cenizo |
| Rock
type: Igneous, 60 million years |
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| Henri Pittier National
Park is the oldest of Venezuela's
national parks and is famous for
its birdlife. Its eco-systems
vary with altitude. The park was
re-named Henri Pittier in recognition
of the Swiss biologist who was
instrumental in its foundation.
Henri Pittier arrived in Venezuela
in 1917, and classified more than
30 thousand species of plants
in the country and he decided
to dedicate some years in studying
the flora and fauna in the area
of the current park. Henri Pittier
was the one who started Venezuelan
National Park history. |
|
Henri
Pittier National Park is the park's
oldest Venezuela, originally created
in 1937 under the name Rancho
Grande by decree of President
Eleazar López Contreras.
The park was renamed in 1953 with
the name of Henri Pittier, a distinguished
geographer, botanist and ethnologist
Swiss, who arrived in Venezuela
in 1917, ranked more than 30 thousand
plants in the country and spent
many years studying the flora
and fauna in the park. [3] |
Henri
Pittier National Park[2] |
Henry Pittier Park has the honor
of having started the history of National
Parks in Venezuela. It has an area
of 107,800 hectares, located in the
northern state of Aragua, covers much
of the coast aragüeñas
and the mountainous area of the state
of Carabobo, also borders the Parque
Nacional San Esteban. Henri Pittier
National Park is the largest among
the national parks of the Cordillera
de la Costa.
The park consists
of two geographic systems: a
rugged mountainous home to over
500 species of birds and 22
endemic species. . The second
system is the coastline with
bays, beaches and resorts of
a huge tourism potential.
Besides its ecological importance,
is also an important source
of water for cities and towns
that surround it and is also
the land where he cultivates
one of the best cocoa in the
world, especially in the village
of Chuao. [3] |
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Henri
Pittier Park shoreline |
Ordered the National
Park February 13 in 1937 and originally
christened with the name of Rancho
Grande, under the chairmanship of
General Eleazar López Contreras,
became the first national park status
in the country.
. Subsequently, the
May 24th of 1953 was renamed Henri
Pittier, distinguished engineer, naturalist,
botanist and founder of the Swiss
national park system of Venezuela,
which achieved the consolidation of
the park and spent most of his life
in the study of forest ecosystem tropical
and the thousands of species of plants
and wildlife in the park.
Although its beginnings
were in 90,000 has the park, later
in 1974 in the government of Carlos
Andrés Pérez was appended
another 17,800 ha, resulting in a
total area of 107,800 ha, current
geographic area of the park.
It was created with
the aim of preserving the rain forest
ecosystems and marine and estuarine
environments of the coastal Cordillera
de la Costa, threatened by the fires
and farming activities and to protect
its biodiversity and the preservation
of endemic species, rare vulnerable
or endangered. It also protects important
water resources that supply water
to nearby towns and is a space for
research, recreation and environmental
education. Por ello los esfuerzos
del científico Henri Pittier
para la creación del Parque.
Therefore the efforts of Henri Pittier
science for the creation of the Park.
For years the park
has been protected by the National
Parks of Venezuela (INPARQUES), which
assumes a systematic policy of conservation
and preservation of natural resources
in the park. [3]
This steepingly sloping
area on Venezuela's moutainous north
coast became the first national park
in Venezuela in 1937, largely due
to efforts of Swiss biologist Henri
Pittier who identified more than 30,000
Venezuelan plants in the area. The
park's 60 to 80 million-year-old rocks
support a moist, rich forest. The
great variety of altitudes and habitats
include coastal mangroves, coastal
dry scrub, tropical grassland, palm-rich
lowland forest, cloud forest, and
elfin forest. The park also hosts
over 580 bird species. One day's birding
may reveal glories such as rufous-crowned
peppershrike, blue-hooded euphonia,
russet-backed oropendula, as well
as endemic species such as golden-breasted
fruiteater, blood-eared parakeet,
and guttulated foliage-gleaner. A
five to six day visit can yield sightings
of 400 bird species, as well as armadillos,
puma, tapir, ocelot, and monkeys.
The Portachuelo Pass at 3,700 feet
above sea level is a major route for
birds and insects migrating down the
Atlantic coast to South America.[4]
