Sierra Gorda

Comprising the northeast third of Querétaro state in Mexico, the Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve covers 383,567 hectares (947,810 acres) of a rugged arm of the Sierra Madre Oriental. The Sierra Gorda is home to five Franciscan missions declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. The Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve was created by presidential decrete on may 19th, 1997. It's under management of the Comisión Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas CONANP... more

Comprising the northeast third of Querétaro state in Mexico, the Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve covers 383,567 hectares (947,810 acres) of a rugged arm of the Sierra Madre Oriental. The Sierra Gorda is home to five Franciscan missions declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. The Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve was created by presidential decrete on may 19th, 1997. It's under management of the Comisión Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas CONANP of Mexico's Secretariat of the Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT). The reserve begins in the dry Mexican Plateau before rising to 3,100 metres (10,000 ft) along the high ridges of Pinal de Amoles, where vistas across deep valleys allows one to see many of the 15 vegetative types that make it the most ecosystem diverse reserve in Mexico. The reserve encompasses extensive tracts of well-conserved wilderness including old growth moist montane forests covered in bromeliads and orchids, high elevation pine-oak forests with plunging... less