Preservation
Piñero has many plans for the future and all are centered around the invaluable heritage of the past. The efforts for preservation carried out for years by the Branger family have resulted in the creation of the Hato Piñero Foundation, which counts nowadays with an extension of land where three important factors meet:
- A large area destined for the Biological Station devoted to scientific research purposes, such as:
- Ecological studies and preservation of flora, fauna and different habitats;
- Behavioral studies of some species whose biology is scarcely known;
- Recovery of species in danger of extinction, including felines like the jaguar or “American tiger” (Panthera onca), the puma or “American lion” (Felis concolor) and the ocelot (Felis pardalis), whose population, as that of the yellow-knobbed curassows (Crax daubentoni), among the cracidae, has increased considerably in Hato Piñero over the last few years. Currently, we are working to achieve the same results with the giant otter (Pteronura brasiliensis), the tapir (Tapirus terrestris) and the Orinoco crocodile (Crocodilus intermedius);
- Elaboration of an inventory and a reference collection of the flora (Herbarium) and the fauna existingin Hato Piñero;
- Studies on autochthonous gramineous and leguminous plants;
- Protection and/or improvements of the wetlands;
- Research on the importance of fire and its control in the savannas;
- Studies on the spreading of fruit trees in the region, in order to increase fauna as well as forest areas that are attractive and give shelter to animals
- A private property where the owners have maintained conservationist measures with admirable
determination, thus creating a beautiful, varied and abundant wildlife. - An accessible place where scientist as well as nature lovers can travel from Caracas and other places by paved roads (Hato Piñero is located ctose to the national road which connects El Baul with the highway to Caracas) or by plane, since the ranch has its own landing strip.
One of the most important projects is the creation of a biological research station, which is currently being expanded. Since 1982, a number of ecological studies have been developed with species such as the “baba”, the capybara, the jaguar, the capuchin monkey (Cebus nigrivittatus), and two species of peccaries (Tayassu tajacu and Tayasu pecari), among others. This research has been supported by national institutions such as the Universidad Central de Venezuela, the Fundacion La Salle, the Fundacion Phelps, and the Sociedad Conservacionista Audubon de Venezuela; and international institutions such as The Nature Conservancy, The World Wildlife Fund of the United States of America, and The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.
These studies as well as the numerous visits of researchers and highly qualified professors have resulted in the compilation of inventories of the fauna and flora existing in Hato Piñero, as a sign of the typical ecosystemof the Venezuelan llanos.
It is the hope of all those who work on the Hato Piñero project that the scientific research done at the ranch be important and valuable for Venezuela’s environmental preservation and becomes an example for the country itself, for other Latin American countries and even for the rest of the world.
Hato Piñero’s past has been fruitful, the future looks bright and promising, and we know that the present is filled with life and natural beauty for our visitors.
