Update on the Cuatrociénegas Research Station

Authors: Dean A. Hendrickson

Year: 2009 (xli)

Abstract

Since the DFC meeting in Cuatrociénegas in November of 2008, where a report on the Research Station (Centro de Investigación Científica de Cuatrociénegas - CICC) was provided by Cristina Vélez, former manager of the station, the CICC has continued to operate. The station, local community and DFC all benefitted from the 2008 meeting. The event injected an estimated $40,000 US dollars into the local economy (= 20 average annual salaries), generated $11,786 dollars for DFC’s coffers, and indirect costs contributed by WWF for CICC’s role in organizing the meeting in general and its Mexican trout symposium added about $1,900 dollars to the CICC operating account. Since then, as agreed during the business meeting in 2008, DFC has continued to support the CICC, however, income from room rental continues to increase and thus DFC’s contribution continues to decrease. In the time following the 2008 meeting to October 15, 2009, DFC paid for about 41% of the total CICC operating cost while DESUVALLE A.C., our local non-profit partner, contributed about 27%. Since the DFC meeting in November 2008, CICC income covered the remaining 32% of the operating expenses. This despite the fact that the CICC has by far the lowest accommodation rates of any other available option in town, and in some cases lowered rates even more last spring for some Mexican research groups severely impacted by devaluation of the Mexican peso (CICC room rates are in dollars). CICC income since the 2008 DFC meeting (to October 15, 2009) has come from stays by 88 people for periods ranging from 1 - 30 days and totaling 368 person days, or on average 1.26 persons/day. Some groups overlapped, but the station was occupied by at least one person about 35% of the time. Mexican researchers comprised the vast majority in this period, coming from 6 Mexican universities (3 divisions of UNAM, 4 other Mexico City universities, and one regional university class field trip visit). Other visitors were from two US universities (University of Texas at Austin (UT) and University of New Orleans (UNO)), and two Mexican government agencies (National Institute of Ecology and National Institute of Archaeology and History). Eight occupants did not specify affiliations (students and 2 ecotourists). Though not all visitors provided descriptions, research conducted by those using the station included work on fishes, snails, other aquatic invertebrates, as well as botanical, archeological, and hydrogeological surveys. The partnership with DESUVALLE A.C. has long been critical to the CICC and remains more important than ever, particularly following the unfortunate loss of the Peace Corps volunteers as explained at last year’s meeting. Desuvalle’s contribution to the CICC continues to increase as it staff have largely filled the shoes of the departed volunteers, thus allowing the CICC to remain open. DESUVALLE also this year began to pick up more of the CICC’s direct costs, such as the full salary of the housekeeper, which we formerly split with them. Alma Zertuche, the manager of DESUVALLE’s office, estimates that about 20% of her full-time position is now dedicated exclusively to the CICC, and about 10% of the four primary DESUVALLE full-time staff’s time goes to CICC maintenance, cleaning/laundry, minor repairs, and helping guests. The CICC continues to help users coordinate their research and required permits with the Reserve office, provides landowner contacts to all researchers, and generally facilitates visits in all ways possible. The CICC/Cuatrociénegas website (http://desertfishes.org/cuatroc/estacion/CICCC.php) is being remodeled and re-organized into a much-improved and more attractive system. This new site has been developed with extensive support from both the College of Natural Sciences (CNS) and Jackson School of Geosciences (JSG) at University of Texas at Austin (UT) and will be hosted within the UT Research website. Among many other improvements, the online bibliography of literature will most likely surpass 1,000 citations when the new site is finished sometime early next year, with pdfs available for about 1/3 of those. Support for the website came in response to results of a small grant from the UT Institute of Latin American Studies to publicize UT-based research in Cuatrociénegas and the sustainability issues confronting the area. UT CNS provided videographers, photographers and science reporters for a site visit and subsequent production of a multimedia UT web feature story (http://www.utexas.edu/features/2009/02/23/cuatrocienegas/) that ran for one week in February 2009. Feature stories also appeared in hard copy in the UT Alumni magazine and the CNS’s quarterly newsletter magazine. In September 2009 the CICC applied for non-profit status in México. It is anticipated that the application will soon be approved and, if so, in January 2010 we will file the final paperwork naming the initial advisory board. The founding board will consist initially of Mexican citizens only, however, once official, the board may invite foreign members with appropriate (FM3) visas to join. Dean Hendrickson plans to offer to continue his unpaid position as Director if the board desires, and the board may invite an independent DFC representative or consultant. Last summer when the owner inquired regarding CICC’s interest in exercising the option to buy that is in the lease, CICC arranged for a lawyer to research the owner’s deed and appraise the building. The appraisal was exactly the owner’s original asking price when we signed the lease 3 years earlier ($1 million pesos = $76,623 dollars), however, the owner told the lawyer he was now seeking $1.5 million pesos. Funds are not in place to purchase the facility at any price at this time, however, we will continue seeking donors, especially once incorporated as an NGO. Hopefully the owner will renew the CICC’s lease for the facility in January when it expires without a huge increase in the rent (currently $536 dollars/month).