Yesterday our news team went with the BDF Demolition team into the Shipstern area in northwestern Belize.
The BDF took us to a clandestine airstrip in the Corozal district, which is used for landing drug planes.
They told us it was within the Shipstern Reserve and indeed we saw the Shipstern signs coming into the area. But, turns out that the airstrip was outside the 27 thousand acre reserve.
The managers of the park - who are based in Sarteneja came to the city today to explain:..
Jules Vasquez Reporting
Yesterday when the BDF blasted the airstrip they told us was within the Shipstern Reserve, turns out though,
it was adjacent to, just below really. Manager of Shipstern Heron Moreno explained
Heron Moreno, Manager of Shipstern
"What they are saying is that it is directly within the reserve and we know for a fact that it's not. That's the work that we do, we manage the protected area and so we are intimately involve with our protected area. So when we get that kind of feedback, it shocks us."
Jules Vasquez
"So for the record and for the avoidance of doubt. That clandestine airstrip that we destroyed yesterday is not within the reserve."
Heron Moreno, Manager of Shipstern
"Not at all it is completely outside the boundaries of Shipstern Nature Reserve. It's not within any of the boundaries."
Jules Vasquez
"It's adjacent to Shipstern."
Heron Moreno, Manager of Shipstern
"It is adjacent to Shipstern."
So the airstrip wasn't in Shipstern reserve but we did encounter this sign just as we were leaving, but that's because we drove in and out of Shipstern.
Heron Moreno, Manager of Shipstern
"When you got into the path, you just went into a small corner of one of our tracts of land. You immediately enter and almost immediately went outside."
So the logs that we encountered were also not within the reserve.
Heron Moreno, Manager of Shipstern
"The logs that you observe were also outside of Shipstern Nature Reserve. Right before you get into the southern boundary of Shipstern Nature Reserve, those of course did not carry a stamp because by right and the procedure is that they are not stamp until almost taken out."
Moreno says however that they do have to contend with illegal logging.
Heron Moreno, Manager of Shipstern
"Our number issue and it's a very serious issue is logging. That's definitely the number one pressure that we are face with. I am really glad that you guys went in, you know we've always wanted you guys to go into our area to see the kind of work that we do. Of course we didn't want it under these circumstances, but we've always wanted you guys to come in. Because we wanted to have people understand our world, that is our world, that is our life, that us what we do. Now you guys understand, Belize understands now the kind of risks that we take when the rangers are out there."
The Shipstern Reserve Team comprises only 8 rangers but they make regular patrols of all 27 thousand acres of the park.
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