(David) Jaguars and mountain lions are the great cats of the Americas.

They have mortal enemies ranchers who fear they will devour their cattle and hunters who lust after their pelts.

One way to ensure the survival of the cats is to set aside areas where they are protected from hunting and to work with ranchers, making protecting the cats worth their while in northwestern Mexico, this strategy is being tested.

(Announcer) Funding for In the Americas with David Yetman was provided by Robert and Carol Dorsey.

Additional funding for In the Americas with David Yetman was provided by Laura and Arch Brown and by the Guilford Fund.

(David) In the Americas, the mammals most important to ecosystems North and South America is the Jaguar.

It ranges from the southwestern United States through Mexico, through Central America, through northern South America, all the way down to Argentina.

Everywhere it is threatened by habitat destruction, hunting and simple loss of its range.

Ther are numerous attempts throughout the Americas to preserve the habitat to save the Jaguars from extermination.

One of the key areas where the jaguar is being protected lies only a couple of hundred miles south of my state of Arizona.

It's located in north central Sonora in Mexico.

It is a group of ranches that have been acquired to protect the habitat and the animals themselves and both the habitat, the animals and the ecosystem in which both exist are being protected by the protection of the Jaguar.

The Jaguar preserve eliminates hunting and grazing by cows, participating cattle ranches eliminate trophy hunting, and help monitor the Jaguars activity.

(Miguel) [in Spanish] The River Aros makes up the northern border of the Jaguar Reserve.

(David) A topographical map shows the northern limits of the Northern Jaguar project to be the Río Aros, a major river in a land of very, very few rivers.

It runs a horseshoe around the northern part of the Reserve and ultimately forms part of Yaqui river with another river the Bavispe.

And it is of enormous significance.

No one knows this better than my friend, Miguel.

(Miguel) [in Spanish] As soon as the cattle were taken from the reserve, we could see immediate changes in the herbaceous plants.

[In Spanish] They survive all year, even in the dry season, because the organic material remains.

[In Spanish] Vegetation is denser, much more closed off compared to the land grazed by cattle.

[In Spanish] Most of the walking paths have been taken over by plants because there is no livestock activity.

[In Spanish] Northern Jaguar project is a Binational Initiative to preserve the population of the northernmost jaguars in the continent.

Here we've reached the distribution limit for the species.

[In Spanish] Since being established in 2003, The project has protected an area that has grown to 23,000 hectares.

[In Spanish] Apart from a series of ranches who participate in Viviendo Con Felinos, a program that aims to encompass more protection area for the jaguars.

[In Spanish] This program gives financial incentives to ranchers who use cameras to monitor animals on the ranch.

And with the cameras, we know where the animals are moving.

(David) In the reserve, there are over 180 trip cameras, and jaguars have actually benefited by the digital revolution in photography when these cameras and here is one well camouflaged were originally set up, they were film cameras that operated very slowly and the film had to be developed.

Now, with digital cameras, this particular one can take a photo two times a second and so they can get thousands of images on one small card.

And the workers in the reserve check these at least once a month to see who has come by.

(Frederico) [In Spanish] The pictures of the jaguars are most interesting.

[In Spanish] We also see pictures of lions, pumas, ocelots, wildcats, deer, wild boar, raccoons and squirrels.

[In Spanish] The goal of this program Viviendo Con Felinos, is to incentivize cattle farmers to keep felines alive.

[In Spanish] I tell them, a feline is worth more because we want them to mate before they die.

So ranchers are rewarded for the photographs obtained with motion trip cameras.

[In Spanish] Five thousand pesos for each jaguar picture taken on their ranch, 1,000 pesos for each puma and 1,500 pesos for each ocelot and 500 pesos for each wildcat.

[In Spanish] Every time we come to look at the cameras.

We are so excited to see what came out in the pictures.

For example, if we said Jaguar, it is very interesting to know that they are passing through the same site where we work and to be able to walk and be in a place where I am now knowing there was recently a Jaguar in this same spot as seen in the photos, it is the biggest gift, the biggest surprise.

(Miguel) [In Spanish] Generally year after year there are about 13 or 14 individuals.

The pattern of the jaguar spots is unique for each individual, kind of like a fingerprint.

By comparing the spots, you can find certain patterns and differentiate the animals.

[In Spanish] Each side of the jaguar is also different, not symmetrical, so that's why it's important to get photos of each side of the same animal.

To be sure of which animals there are, we started giving names to each animal.

We have Libelula, Dragonfly.

[In Spanish] Corazón, heart.

Corazon because he had a heart shaped spot.

El Imenso, the immense one.

El Guapo, handsome.

Zapátos, shoes, and more.

(Frederico) [In Spanish] The cameras have to be in areas near streams and ravines with vegetation like this.

.

These are the sites that have more traffic of wild fauna looking for paths that may be really far but are near bodies of water.

The jaguar is in danger of extinction.

The ocelot is also in danger of extinction.

[In Spanish] We help conserve and provide a refuge where these animals can live freely.

(David) The Northern Jaguar Preserve includes some of Mexico's remotest land.

The ranches like ours, apart from each other, getting to some of them is only possible by four wheel drive.

Helping me understand the biology of the reserves is my long time friend from Mexico, Alberto Búrquez.

He is a professor of ecology at Mexico's National Autonomous University.

As we drive through the bottoms of the canyons, there's sort of lush vegetation, but we go up at thousands of feet.

It's really different.

What do you see?

(Alberto) We have different communities that are comprised of different species, that are assemblages of species, that vary with elevation, with dryness or wetness, with the different composition of the soils.

And in this jaguar reserve, the mosaic is amazing.

Broken topography creates many small micro environments that allow the presence of different types of soil at different aspects of the of the hillsides, different inclinations of the hillside that allow the establishment of many different species.

So the richness of the species in the in the reserve is outstanding.

(David) One thing I have seen here that I find very unusual is a mixture of huge tall palm trees with organ pipe cacti, which we have in Arizona, and Oaks, which I associate with higher elevations all growing together.

In July and August, this is awfully hot.

This is terribly hot.

So in spite of all that, you have this plant community, plus all the great cats that are in here that seem to think that's just fine.

(Alberto) Say from the point of view of the plants or the cats, this is the oasis.

This is paradise for them, particularly if you take out of the equations humans and cattle.

Humans feared for a long time animals of prey.

Peter And the Wolf is one of the examples.

There were extermination crusades to get rid of this extraordinary animals that kept the balance of the of the natural communities.

And of course, by getting rid of jaguars or other cats or wolves, we created a disequilibrium in the communities.

So cattle growers in the region and throughout the world are starting to recognize the value of having these animals of prey in their land because they are a bonus to to their properties.

(David) These are a record of deer killed by pumas, and pumas are excellent surgeons at killing dear.

They find them and the cowboys find them all the time.

If you live on a ranch like this, which is 3 hours at least to the nearest town, and supplies you make do with the materials at hand.

And here is a wonderful example.

This desert area abounds with palms, very tall palms, and they make a very good wall.

You have to be careful cutting them because they'll dull your saw.

But once they're in place, they give a very strong house.

Now, if you are able, you get galvanized roofing because it is easier to put on.

But if you're really authentic, if you really care about tradition, you make your roof out of palm fronds, they call them corollos.

And this particular roof took 3 to 4 days to make, but it makes for a warm room in the wintertime and a delightfully cool room in the summertime.

And it gets very hot here.

There are several ways of seeing what north central Sonora is like, you can do it from an airplane, you can do it from an automobile, four wheel drive, you can do it on foot or you can do it on horseback.

Or best of all, you can do it on mule-back.

The advantages of a mule, they are they are very smart.

This particular lady Prieta is her name, is 30 years old, so she's not going to be in a hurry to do anything.

She's not going to want to buck me off and I█m high enough off the ground that I can see things that I never I never would see otherwise.

So Prieta and I are going to get along real well.

If you look around where we're going, you can see there are a thousand places where a jaguar can conceal itself and wait for deer.

And this is excellent deer country.

So they this is ideal, but it is desert.

So the Jaguars do love water.

They love to swim, so they have to have water within a reasonable distance.

They can go drink and drink and then go off and hunt and sleep.

They do a lot of sleeping.

(Diego) [speaking Spanish] (David) Diego is telling me that we're right in the heart of the Jaguar country and we're going to go into this very rough area where if there's any one place you're likely to see a Jaguar, this is where it's going to be.

The Northern Jaguar Project owns this property.

(Diego) [speaking Spanish] (David) This ranch was for a long time in a different family when it was acquired at the time, it was acquired by the Northern Jaguar Project, they were running 1000 cows on this property and some of the cowboys that used to work on that ranch and they had to have cowboys this whole rough here.

They lived out here in Bavesal some of the cowboys are now cowboys working for the Northern Jaguar Project and have come with their knowledge.

They know where is the best place to see them.

(Laqui) [In Spanish] My father worked as a rancher before the conservation of this land.

Whenever we went on vacation, summer and spring, he would bring us here ever since we were little.

We all know this land because my father always brought us here on a horse or mule.

Through the paths So we all know everything about this land and about working on the Northern Jaguar Reserve.

[In Spanish] Right now?

As you guys can see, there's hardly any cattle here in the reserve, but before it was full of cattle.

[In Spanish] Cows would have been here and over there on those paths yonder.

Even though we can't see jaguars here now they are here.

Before, when there were cattle, the paths were clear.

[In Spanish].

But you can see now that the paths are full of trees, grass and branches and thorns.

More wild and natural looking.

(Diego) [speaking Spanish] (David) Jaguars need corridors where they can move.

They roam a lot and this we are in right now is is one of those corridors.

They are the king of the corridor.

The jaguars are the top species.

They like to say that a healthy Jaguar is a sign of a healthy ecosystem.

And that's why these corridors are so important.

(Diego) [In Spanish] (David) Diego has actually heard the roar of a Jaguar, and he says, When you hear that, you will be enchanted by it.

I have never heard it.

And I hope someday to hear it, but it is like the roar of a lion.

The Jaguars are considered to be one of the great cats, and one of the marks of a great cat is that they roar.

And it's the only cat that we have in the Americas that roars.

(Diego) [speaking Spanish] (David) Diego is a rancher.

He has a ranch himself here.

His observation is to be a rancher here, now, you have to have an ecological understanding of what's going on on your ranch as a part of a good ranch are going to be the native animals, including the cat, the the Jaguar, the ocelot, the mountain lion, the bobcat.

They are part of an ecosystem.

And if you have a good understanding of your land, your cows will actually do better living with the felines than trying to poison them off.

Kill them off.

When you kill off those predators, you also destroy part of the overall ecological integrity of your ranch.

And you do not do as well.

(Diego) [speaking Spanish] (David) The principal transportation in these ranches is horse.

Cows themselves are not, other than the vaccinations they require are very healthy in this ecosystem.

The important thing is for them to have water.

There is a track of a big cat.

It looks to me as though it was probably a mountain lion or puma, the Jaguars are a lot bigger than that, but we're finally getting up to the top after an arduous climb on my friend Prieta here is quite glad to be able to stop.

Hey!

Come on, baby, you and I have gotten well fine.

[singing] I got a mule.

Her name is Sal 15 miles on the eerie canal... [end singing] Come on baby!

We made it to the top.

It's 2000 foot gain.

And fortunately, I have a very secure, sure footed mule who will remind me tomorrow how much it hurt.

But it's a very steep gain.

One of the toughest I've seen.

And that's the way the countryside is here in the in the Jaguar preserve.

We're actually in the foothills of the Sierra Madre Occidental, one of the great ranges in Mexico.

The whole western end of the country is the Sierra Madre Occidental.

And the story here is one that geologists just love.

About 50 million years ago, this was a fairly flat country, but due to plate action and plate tectonics, all of a sudden it got rammed by another plate.

And one of the great volcanic areas of global history and the last hundred million years began right here.

And those mountains you see behind me are a result of that huge, immense volcanic period, unlike anything known in North America since then.

It was quiet for about 20 years, and then about 30 million years ago, it started all over again.

And the mountain I'm standing on here is a result.

This is volcano country.

It rained down fire and brimstone for millions of years and created these canyons.

And the Jaguar thinks that that was just dandy because these canyons make for catchments of water for places to hide and for places where prey like deer think they can get away.

The Jaguars know better.

This is the Jaguar preserve made for it by 200 million years of geological history.

The two worked together perfectly.

(Roberto) [In Spanish] Right now we are in the central western part of the Reserve, almost at the western limit of the Reserve.

But in terms of North-South distribution of the Reserve, we are practically in the center at the heart of the Northern Jaguar Reserve.

This area is where they initially registered the presence of the Jaguar in the state of Sonora for the first time, I consider this the heart of the reserve because we took the first picture of the first Jaguar right here.

[In Spanish] What you find when there is a documented population is a possibility for the reproduction of this species.

So these animals can continue occupying their natural territories.

It is not documented, for example, the reproduction further north.

[In Spanish] But if we have a healthy population with protected areas that allow it to establish itself, reproduce and maintain a population nucleus, it will also allow the jaguar to extend their range further north.

[In Spanish] On one hand, we must seek general community awareness that goes beyond the participating ranches so that the entire community embraces the conservation of the Jaguar as a community commitment, as a community good, which would be good for the entire area.

[In Spanish] Through this sentiment, the Reserve can extend its boundaries as well as extend its area of influence, so to speak, in which we can share with the communities and with local inhabitants and with local cattle ranches.

The way we seek to maintain this lifestyle, the productive lifestyle of this area in a way that is compatible with the conservation of wildlife.

This is our vision for the future: a growing collaboration and a search for shared, productive solutions regarding conservation.

[In Spanish] (Diego) [speaking Spanish] (David) Interesting about this wall is it's very old and Diego believes that it probably was from the time of the Spaniards, it was made entirely from materials that existed.

(Diego) [speaking Spanish] All the ranchers around the reserve and in the compensation zone of the reserve are in favor of the reserve.

[In Spanish] Tourism without causing problems in the reserve, Eco tourism can be in the ranches and the reserve can be a sanctuary.

And we can all benefit from this.

[In Spanish] Wildlife is intact within the reserve and that can be the main attraction for this region.

[In Spanish] Here one can forget the outside world and become one with nature.

That's why I defend nature, because I consider myself part of it.

[In Spanish] Jaguars historically have always been here, are part of my land and I respect what has always been here.

[In Spanish] There are 18 ranches that are in the program Viviendo Con Felinos.

The reserve consists of 23,000 hectares plus another 49,000 hectares.

So the area of Viviendo con Felinos is much larger than what the Reserve includes.

(David) And nothing's more appropriate than the jaguar centered here with other wildlife and the saddles on this saddlerack.

The cowboys here, the Cowboy Laco, part of his job is to protect the reserve, to make sure the Jaguars continue to have a place where they can feed and roam and prosper.

And you do that on horseback.

(Miguel) [In Spanish] The jaguar is part of this ecosystem.

Historically, its range of distribution and use has not been much further north, where it has been disappearing due to the pressure of humans.

(David) Vivendo Con Felines (Man) Felinos.

(Miguel) Here in these landscapes and among these rocks, there are many records of jaguars.

[In Spanish] Here they pass through and rest.

They can be seen quite a lot.

And and although we don't have the exact data, [In Spanish] We do use the cameras to realize that within almost 1000 square kilometers, males move much more than the females in order to maintain their territory.

(David) Climate change on Earth, plus, loss of habitat is testing the ability of our great cats to survive.

The northern Jaguar Project provides one key requirement giving the cats the space and ecological zone they need in order to endure.

Join us next time in the Americas With me, David Yetman.

In the 1950s, the Salton Sea promised to be Southern California's new playground.

Since then, it's contributing waters have dried up and pollutants have increased.

But pockets of life and human occupation remain that add to some of the sea's unusual natural features.

Some of them are decidedly strange.

[singing] I got a mule.

Her name is Sal.

15 miles on the Erie Canal.

She is a good old worker and a good old pal.

15 miles on the Erie Canal, we've hauled sand barges in our day filled with lumber, coal and hay.

And we know every inch of the way from Albany to Buffalo.

[end of singing] Come on Prieta!

Vaya!

Que hago!?

(Announcer) Funding for In the Americans with David Yetman was provided by Robert and Carol Dorsey.

Additional funding for In the Americas with David Yetman was provided by Laura and Arch Brown and by the Gilford Fund.