The La Cruz
Habitat Protection Project is based at Hacienda La Cruz in Central Michoacan
near the town of Santa Clara del Cobre. Michoacan is the State that runs from
the transvolcanic mountains west of Mexico City to the Pacific Ocean. Jose
Alvarez Alcala bought Hacienda La Cruz, a 400 year old hacienda in 1983. After
living in the area for a number of years, he saw what was happening to the
monarch overwintering areas and two lakes near Hacienda La Cruz, Lake Patzcuaro
and Lake Ziruhuen. Lake Patzcuaro is the site of the world famous butterfly
fishing boats. It is now almost completely dead because of the effects of
deforestation. Lake Ziruhuen is still fairly pristine, but it is becoming badly
degraded. Jose Luis has been working withlocal landowners and helping them to
reforest their lands since 1987. In 1996 he created the La Cruz Habitat
Protection Project. The first lands in the monarch overwintering areas were
planted in the summer of 1997.