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Project Description
Laguna Figueroa is the most important wintering and breeding habitat for several priority bird species in the Baja California peninsula, including the threatened Snowy Plover and the endangered California Least Tern. Despite being a critical area for bird conservation, it has no legal protection. Landowners are planning to modify the area to use the lagoon as a water reservoir and for shrimp aquaculture, which will cause habitat loss for wintering and breeding waterbirds and shorebirds. The objectives of this project are: (1) promote the protection of this wetland through the designation of Laguna Figueroa as Critical Habitat under new legislation “Ley General de Vida Silvestre” that focuses on aquatic habitats; (2) generate baseline ecological information that will be essential to obtain such designation, as well as for the management plan of the proposed Natural Protected Area of Bahía San Quintín, and for private land conservation initiatives; and (3) determine the current status of breeding and wintering Snowy Plovers in Laguna Figueroa, in coordination with the monitoring program of the threatened Distinct Population Segment breeding in the U.S. Pacific coast.