MEXICO: Huichol people take responsibility to protect ancient pilgrimage route

Every year members of the indigenous Huichol people of San Luis Potosi state in Mexico make an annual pilgrimage of 400 miles to the Huiricuta (Wirikuta) sacred mountain or “field of flowers”.

In 2000 the Huichol pledged to join with the San Luis Potosi state government, ARC and the Mexican NGO Conservacion Humana to enlarge the Huiricuta Ecological and Cultural Protected Area by 50 per cent. The area is the most sacred site for the Huichol – they regard it as a huge natural temple - and includes key parts of the Chihuahuan Desert, identified by the WWF as one of the “most biologically diverse and important natural sites in the world”.

	A Huichol family in traditional dress

The Sacred Gift extends the protected area from 74,000 to 110,000 hectares; and to show its support the state government has pledged to produce and implement a new management plan for the enlarged area.

As a basis for this plan, in 2002-03 ARC funded a full geographical survey of the area tracing the entire 400-mile pilgrimage route which is walked each year by Huichol people. The Huiricuta area is the eastern end of this pilgrimage route.

The desert is home to a vast array of wildlife and plants. The protected area supports brown bear, royal eagle, relict forest and 42 species of cacti, 14 of which are found nowhere else in the world. The area has been used for millennia as a setting for shamanistic rituals.

The designation of the area brings the Huichol into direct involvement with the protection of the area.

This project has also received support from WWF Mexico and ARC.

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