Propousals for a restauration programme in the forest of Santa Maria Yavesia, Oaxaca, Mexico

Santa Maria Yavesia (SMY) is located at the river head of the Papaloapan basin in the Juarez Mountains Range of Oaxaca, Mexico. SMY comprises 6,000 ha of temperate forest with an altitudinal gradient between 1,900 to 3,280 m above sea level. In this area eleven pine and thirteen oak species have been found. The bark beetle (Dendroctonus adjunctus) has affected this forest; the chosen methods to fight this plague have been to cut, chip, or burn infested trees. These methods create artificial clearings of the canopy that can increase the soil erosion rate. In order to model the erosion potential for a successful soil conservation program, this work integrates the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) with a Geographic Information System (GIS). We identified and established the clearing and generated a polygon map using GIS. To quantify the magnitude of the canopy opening hemispheric photographs were taken. This data set was used to generate the RUSLE variables. The results of this research show that without soil conservation practices the average could reach 10.6 ton ha^-1 yr^-1. On the contrary, with the implementation of conservation strategies, like the use of terraces and bioengineering techniques, the average erosion rate will remain under 6.5 ton ha^-1 yr^-1. The outcome of this work has been proved useful for identifying areas with high erosion rates. At the time, we are designing a restoration plan seeking the regeneration of the structure and composition of the vegetal community and the conservation of the environmental services that this forest provides.