OUR MISSION: To preserve the natural and cultural heritage of El Charco del Ingenio, and maintain a botanical garden dedicated to the conservation and study of regional flora and ecosystems, with a primary focus on environmental education.
Human beings have lived with plants for about two hundred thousand years, that is, since their appearance on Earth. Two hundred thousand years. It seems long enough to get to know someone. And yet, for us it has not been enough: we still know very little about the plant world...
-- Stefano Mancuso, Sensitivity and Intelligence in the Plant World
We gladly present this recently produced document on the Botanical Garden. It is a concise video, with beautiful images, that clearly reflects the preservation, research and promotion activities of plant species -- our environmental conservation project’s core mission. On the eve of the 30th anniversary of its creation, the Botanical Garden reaffirms its commitment on the biocultural heritage of San Miguel de Allende and Mexico.
Enjoy the video and share it with your acquaintances!
https://www.facebook.com/elcharcodelingenio/videos/1561073460763176
As a Federal Protected Natural Area, El Charco has fully complied with the Health Security Protocol established by competent national authorities, which in recent days have approved the opening and operation of the site. A series of strict procedures and rules must be observed to guarantee the health of both users and staff working in the Garden:
- Reduction of daily visiting hours, which will be from 9 a.m to 5 p.m. (including members of the Botanical Garden).
- Limitation of the number of visitors, in order to prevent any type of crowding.
- Compulsory entry by sanitizing mat at the Garden’s doors.
- Mandatory use of masks during the visit.
- Application of antibacterial gel (available) in entrance, exit and toilets.
- Restriction of the cafeteria service.
- Restriction of guided tours.
We will appreciate cooperation from members, users and visitors to follow these necessary but temporary measures. And we will continue to report on the operation of the Botanical Garden during the successive phases of the health contingency.
Welcome back to El Charco del Ingenio!
Renovation of our reception area and the construction of El Charco’s Interpretative Center continues thanks to the generosity of friends and donors. This work, which marks a limestone in the the Botanical Garden’s history, has already made considerable progress and is gradually approaching its inauguration. The new visitor center will strengthen the commitment with the San Miguel community to conserve and study the regional flora, as well as the promotion of a culture of respect and love for nature. We will continue working to achieve this dream, for which we require the financial support of the community. Any help is important to continue!
elcharcocontabilidad@gmail.com
Dasylirion acrotrichum, locally known as cucharilla or chimal, is a plant species protected by the official Mexican standard (NOM-059) under the category of threatened. The native peoples from the center and south of the country have used this plant for ritual purposes to make bows (suchil) and other handcrafts, aimed to decorate ceremonial offerings. Much of the pre-Hispanic traditions were demonized or eradicated after the Conquest. However, some such as the day of the dead and the use of this plant evolved giving our country a great multicultural richness.
Native peoples have great respect for traditions linked to natural elements, generating ties between communities: those that have access to the cucharilla and preserve it with those that use it for their religious festivities. However in recent decades deforestation, fires, loss of territory and urban sprawl have placed the species’ permanence at serious risk, despite efforts of institutions and civil organizations to conserve and protect this plant. Illegal extraction does not allow the generation of seeds, causing a reduction in their populations.
Besides, it is quiet worrying to observe during the San Miguel de Allende patron saint festivities, how the cucharilla is being used for decoration purposes on the facades of private shops and businesses. In addition to local rejections of such misuse of a ceremonial plant, it should be noted that Mexican law only authorizes the use of protected plants by native peoples, so using for other purposes may become a federal crime. These plants take decades to reach the required sizes and there are very few environmental management units in the region that legally cultivate them for commercialization.
It is desirable that collective traditions remain in a sustainable way, guaranteeing an old tradition’s continuity of and the species’ survival. The handsome cucharilla must maintain its spiritual sense, so commercial or tourist misuses be sanctioned and prevented.
Anyone who has visited El Charco during this period of the year will hardly forget the profusion and diversity of the seasonal flowering which explodes with multicolored and aromatic flavors on the green meadows after the rainy season. Flowers that sprout from trees, shrubs and especially at ground level, sometimes spreading in lilac, white, yellow, red, orange carpets, both on the slopes of the canyon and the dam and in wetland areas. And along with the flowers appears a great diversity of insects and other fauna, among which butterflies stand out rmatching in colors with wild flowers. This year, in which the drought has lasted longer than usual, the appearance of the flowers has been slower. But we can still enjoy them in this early Mexican fall.
It is the small and old reservoir that we can see on the left side, a few miles from San Miguel on the road to Celaya. A dam that until a few years ago was kept clean, gathering the streams of Los Picachos range’s hillsides. But after the irregular housing in the area, one of the streams feeding the dam is receiving sewage from several developments: Parroquia, Atrio, Residencial San Angel and El Secreto. These drainages are dumped and cross the communities of Rincon de Canal, Estancia de Canal, Presa de la Cantera and Don Diego on a daily basis, running openly, endangering its inhabitants’ health and depriving them from an essential life resource. Faced with this unfortunate situation, representatives of these communities have officially requested the intervention both from SAPASMA and the State’s health authorities, without obtaining to date a solution to this problem –clearly jeopardized by the possible active presence of the sars-cov 2 virus in the referred sewage drainages.
Mexican Constitution, Article 4:
“Everyone has the right to a healthy environment for their development and well-being. The State will guarantee respect for this right. Any damage and environmental deterioration will generate responsibility for whoever causes it in terms of the provisions of the law…
Everyone has the right to access, disposal and sanitation of water for personal and domestic consumption in a sufficient, healthy, acceptable and affordable way ...".
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Unforgettable and endearing is this character for all interested on cacti in Mexico and the whole world... Born in 1901 and died about to turn 100, in 2001, this extraordinary woman dedicated her entire life to the knowledge of this great family of plants succulents that grow in arid and semi-arid areas of the American continent, and that characterize a good part of the Mexican landscape. Her love of cacti began at a very young age, and she was a pioneer in pursuing a new career in Biology in Mexico. After prolonged studies and expeditions throughout the the countrie’s geography, in 1937 she published her magnum opus: "Las Cactaceas de Mexico", an essential point of reference for all the studies on this family that have existed since then. She was the founder of the Botanical Garden of the National University and the Mexican Society of Cactology, and at least six botanical species bear her name. Even at an advanced age she continued to investigate the life of these wonderful plants and declared during an interview: "In my life I have done everything with love, passion and courage." A permanent tribute to Maestra Helia Bravo by El Charco del Ingenio Botanical Garden.
Despite the recent intermittent downpours that we have had in the region, this rainy season has not been very abundant. Rivers and streams don’t have the usual water levels and seasonal agriculture is suffering the effects of the drought. It is also surprising that the Presa Allende currently has, in early August, one of the lowest levels recorded since its construction in 1967 (as shown in the image). The underground mantles of the La Independencia’s watershed, which depend on annual rains, are also suffering. However, the excessive growing and widespread extraction of water continues throughout the semi-arid region of northern Guanajuato --San Miguel included-- to satisfy livestock needs and agro-export farms, without the federal and state authorities considering the undeniable desertification process of the region. Until where? Until when? Until the final collapse of the aquifer?
- Help protect more than 150 species of birds, 32 of mammals, 110 of butterflies and more than 500 species of native flora.
- Support environmental education programs to grow ecological awareness in relation to our geographic region.
- Free access to the natural area of the Botanical Garden any day of the year.
- Free access for two accompanying guests.
- To support a “peace zone” as designated by the Dalai Lama
Acquire your membership at the entrance of the Botanical Garden.
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