The National Reserve Allpahuayo – Mishana: A Paradise in Peril
By Jose Alvarez Alonso (Researcher at the Investigaciones de la Amazonía Peruana – IIAP – Institude for Investigation of the Peruvian Amazon)
Allpahuayo – Mishana was created as an officially recognized Reserved Zone on the 4 of March 1999. It is located 23 km south of
Eurypyga helias - Heinz Plengue
Iquitos. In 2004 it was classified as a National Reserve (RNAM) with an area of 58,069 ha. The reserve protects, for the first time in Peru, an area of these rare white sand forests and black water flooded forests of the Rio Nanay. The lowland rain forests around Iquitos are famous for the heterogeneity of their habitat. A combination of historical and geological events has created a mosaic of diverse soil types, from nearly pure quartz sands to red clay, in the area. Each of these soil types supports a characteristic and unique flora and fauna, and as a result Allpahuayo-Mishana supports one of the highest biodiversities of the entire Amazon basin. Many of the species are specialists of white sand forests and as such are very rare, due to the scarcity of this forest type in Peru. For example, 21 species of bird in the area are associated with white sand forests, and for several of these species, the forests near Iquitos form the only area of their distribution in Peru. At least five new species have been found and described during the last five years from the white sand forests of Allpahuayo-Mishana. The reserve is also area where two primates, the Lucifer Titi Monkey Callicebus lucifer and Equatorial Saki Monkey Pithecia aequatorialis, are officially protected in Peru.
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