**It is important to learn the
history of this wetland to understand
its current issues. Please
visit the history of
land use page**
Currently La Conejera Marsh is faced with environmental degradation from different human activities, namely:
Currently La Conejera Marsh is faced with environmental degradation from different human activities, namely:
1. Water pollution from drainage of agricultural (potato crops in the Fontanar del Rio Hacienda; flower plantations in surrounding fields), domestic (black waters from over 22 neighborhoods), and hospital (water draining from the Juan Nepomuseno Clinic- Corpas University) activitites.
Potato field near la Conejera. Intensive
agriculture discharges petrochemicals and nutrients onto the marsh,
accelerating eutrophication. photo credit: Redepapa,
Colombia
|
The Compartir neighborhood, draining its untreated residential waters onto the marsh.  photo credit:Depatment of Environment (DAMA), Bogotá |
Corpas
Clinic, doing its share in the pollution of La Conejera's water bodies.
Waste coming from this building is loaded with radioactive materials. photo credit: Corpas University |
2. Pressures on its
wildlife, specifically:
a. Illegal hunting: Individuals
visit the marsh exclusively to "loot" its rich fauna with the
purpose of selling the animals as pets in the city or in the international
wildlife black market, consumption of meat and eggs, or to fulfill school requirements
in natural sciences classes to bring examples of local animal life;
b. Introduction of exotic species: Invasive mammals and birds not only have no natural predators to control their
population, but compete with natives for food and habitat. this is particularly harmful to endemic species,
driving them to extinction. Exotic species include the common rat, shiny cowbird
(which often parasitizes the nests of larger birds), great-crested flycatcher, and common pigeon;
purpose of selling the animals as pets in the city or in the international
wildlife black market, consumption of meat and eggs, or to fulfill school requirements
in natural sciences classes to bring examples of local animal life;
b. Introduction of exotic species: Invasive mammals and birds not only have no natural predators to control their
population, but compete with natives for food and habitat. this is particularly harmful to endemic species,
driving them to extinction. Exotic species include the common rat, shiny cowbird
(which often parasitizes the nests of larger birds), great-crested flycatcher, and common pigeon;
Common Rat photo credit: London Hotel Reserve. |
Shiny
Cowbird photo credit: Pere Sugranyes |
Great-crested
flycatcher photo credit: Matrix Graphics Corp |
Common Pigeon photo credit: Endeavor technologies |
c. Predation on rails, pacas, and
others from stray cats and dogs: As urbanization increases in and
around the marsh area,
domesticated abandoned
animals also increase their presence in the wetland, feeding upon local
wildlife.
| 3. Dumping: Disorganized urban growth is
the major enemy this marsh faces. It starts with mostly low-income houses built
illegally in the city outskirts. These homes have no sewage or trash disposal system, so their wastes end up directly on the La Salitrosa and other streams. A neighborhood is formed as more housing is built, eventually becoming legalized and officially adding to the city. |
|
photo
credit: Al Verde Vivo
Foundation |
4.Desiccation of some of its stream inputs: Urban developers benefit from the dumping and filling of
countless anonymous brooks, because their depletion creates land for more housing. But the impacts
of these illegal landfills on the groundwater quality are later felt by the area residents and farmers.
| 5. Air Pollution: Being next to a metropolis of 7 million people, Bogota's wind brings to La Conejera smog, soot, and other particulates that pollute the wetland's air. Its effects on plant and wildlife are unknown. |
Max. concentration of 10 micron-particulates. the Corpas measuring station is near La Conejera.  photo credit: Department of Environment, Bogota |
Future threats include:
|
 photo credit: Bogota's Office of the Mayor |
- Project to build a city park
without use regulation or restriction: Although it is not the city authority's
purpose to create another threat for the marsh, this project has not been
thoroughly planned, lacking an environmental impact study. This means potential
impacts, such as: more human-animal encounters that stress the
animals; permanent lighting that may interrupt the natural daily cycle of
some species; and deforestation
to open space for biking and hiking trails.
Management
The water and sewage company of Bogotá (EAAB in spanish) and Bogotá's Department of Environment (DAMA in Spanish)
are the institution responsible for managing the mash. Due to their negligence throughout the 80s, a group
of residents of the surrounding neighborhoods decided to be protagonists of La Conejera's recovery, creating the
La Conejera Foundation in 1993. Some of their successes include:
- Assisting Bogotá's city council in declaring La Conejera a Natural Reserve, and mandating its protection;
- Closure of illegal landfills and monitoring trash disposal;
- Demarcation of the area, closing it with mesh and barbed wire;
- Reforestation projects that reintroduced 30 acres of more than 100 species of native trees and shrubs;
- Inventory of fauna and flora and ecological zoning.
DAMA and EAAB have been working with La Conejera Foundation in more recent years, resulting in environmental education programsin which surrounding grade schools adopt a section of the wetland and promess to plant trees and clean up trash.
High school students can fulfill their community service requirements by helping restore La Conejera. The
"environmental police" program is also being piloted in this marsh, in which high school graduates fulfill their
mandatory one-year police service by guarding enviromentally sensible areas.
In 2000, EAAB and DAMA developed a detailed proposal to decontaminate La Conejera. It includes the construction of a channel to capture rainwater and redirect it down the La Salitrosa brook, implementation of a grey and black water collectors and locks to run parallel to the La Salitrosa and deposit its load in the Juan Amarillo River; siting of three water treatment plants; and recommendations on how to build the highway to minimize its impact on the wetland. However, the costs of implementing this proposal are not in the present budget of the EAAB, making it contingent to external funding.
Natural History
Human Interactions
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