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Forest Transformation in the Wake of Colonization: The Quijos Andean Amazonian Flank, Past and Present

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Forest transformation modified the Quijos’ ancient mountainscapes in three ways: scientific approximation, entrepreneurial investing, and community engagement. We concentrate the study in the Cumandá Protected Forest reserve as exemplar in the Quijos valley. Our objective is to understand forest transition trends and prospects of sustainability by answering qualitative research questions of impact on cloud forest vegetation from a socioecological standpoint. We used ethnographic work, personal interviews, surveys to the community, and queries to authorities; our qualitative methods included critical discourse analyses, onomastic interpretation, and matrix comparison for ecological legacies, focused on three sectors of the economy that we posit impacted these forests, all indicative of a more competitive, globalized framework: forest tourism, retreating forest frontier, and mining forested watersheds. We found that these sectors also helped alleviate poverty in local communities so that ecotourism, non-traditional forest product harvest, and subsistence mining of water could become stewards, despite the fact that such a nuanced approach has not yet been fully implemented by local governments. We conclude that Hostería Cumandá promotes new conservation narratives in positive ways, since it fuels grassroots organizations to incorporate nature conservation into restoration ecology efforts, provides studies on mountain forest species of concern in the area, generates local employment, and converts a transitory, ephemeral attraction into an international tourism destination.
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Citation: Sarmiento, F.O.; Rodríguez,
J.; Yepez-Noboa, A. Forest
Transformation in the Wake of
Colonization: The Quijos Andean
Amazonian Flank, Past and Present.
Forests 2022,13, 11. https://doi.org/
10.3390/f13010011
Academic Editors: Adam A Ali and
Cécile Remy
Received: 28 October 2021
Accepted: 6 December 2021
Published: 22 December 2021
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Attribution (CC BY) license (https://
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4.0/).
Review
Forest Transformation in the Wake of Colonization: The Quijos
Andean Amazonian Flank, Past and Present
Fausto O. Sarmiento 1,* , Jack Rodríguez 2and Alden Yepez-Noboa 3
1Neotropical Montology Collaboratory, Department of Geography, University of Georgia, Athens,
GA 30602, USA
2CumandáEthnobotanical Reserve, Hoturis–Hostería CumandáInc., Via Quito-Lago-Agrio, Baeza Km 103,
Baeza 150750, Ecuador; hosteriacumanda@yahoo.com
3Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Human Sciences, Pontifical University of Ecuador,
Ave. 6 de Diciembre 1076 y Patria, Quito 170411, Ecuador; amyepez@puce.edu.ec
*Correspondence: fsarmien@uga.edu
Abstract:
Forest transformation modified the Quijos’ ancient mountainscapes in three ways: scientific
approximation, entrepreneurial investing, and community engagement. We concentrate the study in
the CumandáProtected Forest reserve as exemplar in the Quijos valley. Our objective is to understand
forest transition trends and prospects of sustainability by answering qualitative research questions
of impact on cloud forest vegetation from a socioecological standpoint. We used ethnographic
work, personal interviews, surveys to the community, and queries to authorities; our qualitative
methods included critical discourse analyses, onomastic interpretation, and matrix comparison for
ecological legacies, focused on three sectors of the economy that we posit impacted these forests, all
indicative of a more competitive, globalized framework: forest tourism, retreating forest frontier,
and mining forested watersheds. We found that these sectors also helped alleviate poverty in local
communities so that ecotourism, non-traditional forest product harvest, and subsistence mining of
water could become stewards, despite the fact that such a nuanced approach has not yet been fully
implemented by local governments. We conclude that Hostería Cumandápromotes new conservation
narratives in positive ways, since it fuels grassroots organizations to incorporate nature conservation
into restoration ecology efforts, provides studies on mountain forest species of concern in the area,
generates local employment, and converts a transitory, ephemeral attraction into an international
tourism destination.
Keywords:
forest frontier; biocultural heritage; cloud forests; montology; transformative change;
farmscape; microrefugia; socioecological production landscape; forestscape; Andean flanks; Ecuador
1. Introduction
With the changing demographics in mountain regions and increased pressures on re-
source exploitation to satisfy demands of growing cities in the lowlands, the forested areas
of the tropical Andes experience worldwide stressors that are transforming community-
driven, subsistence-based economies into a more global, urbanized, and industrial-based
economy [
1
3
]. Human–environment interactions due to global climate change, and en-
suing adaptation to economic and social transformations, make mountain communities
vulnerable to external forces, while transformative ecological changes put resilience of
time-tested cultures under pressure [
3
,
4
], which is often augmented when dealing with
protected areas (PAs) and other forms of communal and private conservation easements
in the equatorial Andes [
5
7
]. Biodiversity is often put under stress by these changes
in two important dimensions, both affecting the complexities of mountain landscapes
(mountainscapes henceforth), the permanent presses of natural drivers, and the sporadic
and ephemeral pulses in the behavior of the watershed [
6
,
8
]. These dynamics demon-
strate forests as socio-ecological systems, showing Gestalt qualities such as transgressivity
Forests 2022,13, 11. https://doi.org/10.3390/f13010011 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/forests
Forests 2022,13, 11 2 of 16
and self-organization [
7
,
8
]. Thus, novel conservation and development practices are re-
quired, and modern approaches, such as protected biocultural heritage (PBH) [
9
] and
socio-ecological production landscape (SEPL) [
10
], need to be considered when applied
montology is implemented in the mountains of the world [
10
,
11
]. Our general research
objective seeks to understand forest transformation driven by development pressures
resulting from economic trends, including forest frontier expansion, agricultural pres-
sure, and mining operations, as suggested in the roadmap for restoration research [
12
].
Specific objectives include elucidating the historical factors affecting conservation, under-
standing environmental change adaptations, and identifying successful community-driven
responses to forest transformation. Thus, our research questions are threefold: What are
the stressors that significantly affect the conservation of the cloud forest belt? How are the
impacts of climate change contributing to a better adaptation for conservation? Up to what
extent do community-driven initiatives for sustainability succeed in preventing forest lost
and thus regenerating the forest frontier?
Among the many ways in which culturally-rich sites help protect biodiversity, the An-
dean region shows potential to become an exemplar for mountain forests elsewhere [
13
,
14
].
The PBH and the SEPL approaches appear to be successful in generating poverty allevia-
tion options associated with ecotourism, non-traditional forest products, ethnobotany and
ethnomedicine, and even help meet spiritual and nonmaterial needs [
15
,
16
]. However, this
trend has received minimum attention from social scientists in the Americas, particularly
in the Andes, where a dearth of research on the human dimension of global climate change
exists [
17
,
18
]. Therefore, it is pertinent to emphasize resilience, adaptation for resource
allocation, restoration, and the human drivers of landscape change as integer functions in
the context of globalization and sustainability [
18
]. The realization of the SEPL approach,
supported in social science research, should help in ending debates as to whether nature
or culture is responsible for highland Andean ecosystems [
11
,
17
], and the new political
ecology of conservation will include people as an integral element of PAs, particularly
when dealing with indigenous people and traditional economic practices [
6
,
19
21
]. For
example, during the last two decades, structural reform projects and capital investment
in mountainous regions of the Ecuadorian Andes brought about a significant change in
land use practices [
22
], away from the traditional, agriculturally based economy and to-
wards a new industrial-based economy, one in which dairy farming and exotic cultivars
(e.g., broccoli, asparagus) dominate [
18
,
23
]. In the pre-montane and cloud forest belts of
the Quijos River valley of the Andean-Amazon flank of the tropical Andes (Tropandean
landscapes henceforth), change has taken the form of pasture land, floriculture, as well as
copper and gold mining, leaving the anthropic landscape fabric of the Quijos watershed
surrounded by protected areas, showing an inversed Biosphere Reserve model, whereby
the core area is the cityscape (i.e., Papallacta, Baeza, el Chaco), the buffer is the rural land-
scape (i.e., Cumandáprotected forest), and the periphery is a wilderness of protected areas
(i.e., Antisana Ecological Reserve, Cayambe-Coca Ecological Reserve and Sumaco-Napo
Galeras National Park and Biosphere Reserve) (Figure 1).
These changes led to shifting from traditional rural landscape (farmscape henceforth),
created over long periods by ancestral practices through generations of country folk, leaving
an ecological legacy that is difficult to discern because of the heavy canopy of old growth
forests that have recolonized the abandoned productive landscapes of antiquity [
24
,
25
].
These apparent pristine forests have shifted towards an exotic landscape dominated by
aggressive patterns of timber and gold exploitation of extractive operations, a transformed
rural landscape with new roads and increased traffic, the emergence of new cultural
westernized values, and the neglect of tradition [1921,25].
Forests 2022,13, 11 3 of 16
Forests 2021, 12, x FOR PEER REVIEW 3 of 17
Figure 1. Map of the Quijos River basin, including the Antisana volcano, the protected areas of the
national system, and the private reserve that helps contain the deforestation front of the Andean
flank at the gateway to the Amazon River. Source: database Cuéllar (2010) and imagery ESRI (2021).
Map elaboration by Ing. Paola Nicole Parra Curimilma.
These changes led to shifting from traditional rural landscape (farmscape hence-
forth), created over long periods by ancestral practices through generations of country
folk, leaving an ecological legacy that is difficult to discern because of the heavy canopy
of old growth forests that have recolonized the abandoned productive landscapes of an-
tiquity [24,25]. These apparent pristine forests have shifted towards an exotic landscape
dominated by aggressive patterns of timber and gold exploitation of extractive operations,
a transformed rural landscape with new roads and increased traffic, the emergence of new
cultural westernized values, and the neglect of tradition [19–21,25].
The Andean Amazon flank has been studied for decades by biologists, yet the scien-
tific knowledge is just now being compelled to integrate paleoecological insight, land-
scape archaeology, and current thinking [24–27]. The explosive richness of biodiversity
there called the attention of early explorers and naturalists, who, reportedly, were im-
pressed by the growing attention to neotropical diversity that could not be readily ex-
plained [26,27], such as the diversity found by the Antisana volcano a nd the eastern slopes
in gradient to the Amazon [2830]. There was such an impressive accumulation of tropical
life that Humboldt’s profile of Chimborazo in the Western cordillera—his famous Tableau
physique or Naturgemäldeincluded species that are found on Mount Antisana in the East-
ern cordillera [31,32] and perpetuated the Humboldtian paradigm for altitudinal zonation
[3234]. The confluence of atmospheric rivers that co me from A mazonia towards the stee p
slopes, where the easterly winds approach the cordillera, make the Upper Quijos River
one of the wettest zones of the country, harboring a mossy forest shrouded in cloud almost
all year long, and the plethora of wetlands, including lakes, lagoons, bogs, fens, and other
Figure 1.
Map of the Quijos River basin, including the Antisana volcano, the protected areas of the
national system, and the private reserve that helps contain the deforestation front of the Andean
flank at the gateway to the Amazon River. Source: database Cuéllar (2010) and imagery ESRI (2021).
Map elaboration by Ing. Paola Nicole Parra Curimilma.
The Andean Amazon flank has been studied for decades by biologists, yet the scientific
knowledge is just now being compelled to integrate paleoecological insight, landscape
archaeology, and current thinking [
24
27
]. The explosive richness of biodiversity there
called the attention of early explorers and naturalists, who, reportedly, were impressed by
the growing attention to neotropical diversity that could not be readily explained [
26
,
27
],
such as the diversity found by the Antisana volcano and the eastern slopes in gradi-
ent to the Amazon [
28
30
]. There was such an impressive accumulation of tropical life
that Humboldt’s profile of Chimborazo in the Western cordillera—his famous Tableau
physique or Naturgemälde—included species that are found on Mount Antisana in the
Eastern cordillera [
31
,
32
] and perpetuated the Humboldtian paradigm for altitudinal zona-
tion [
32
34
]. The confluence of atmospheric rivers that come from Amazonia towards the
steep slopes, where the easterly winds approach the cordillera, make the Upper Quijos
River one of the wettest zones of the country, harboring a mossy forest shrouded in cloud
almost all year long, and the plethora of wetlands, including lakes, lagoons, bogs, fens,
and other waterlogged surfaces, create the motto for the area as a “natural sponge” [
35
,
36
].
Most common forest species are, among others, cedars (Cedrela spp., Oreopanax spp., Schef-
flera spp., Gynoxis sp., Alnus acuminata,Buddleia incana,Weinmannia spp., Clusia octopetala,
Vallea stipularis,Nectandra spp., Ocotea spp., Miconia spp., Siparuna spp., Myrica spp., Euge-
nia myrtelloides,Monnina spp., Podocarpus spp., Hesperomeles spp., Brugmansia spp., even
the national tree of Ecuador: Cinchona officinalis). Moreover, the epiphytic load of the
Forests 2022,13, 11 4 of 16
cloud forest canopy manages to be saturated with tank bromeliads, and hemi-parasitic
bryophytes that intercept the mist to capture water which will be finally drained towards
Amazonia [
37
,
38
]. So profuse is water capture, that the citizens of Quito use this hydric
resource after transvasement of the eastern river flow westward, from the Papallacta area
towards the capital city in the opposite site of the divide, towards the Pacific Ocean [
39
],
often seeing it as a mining of water for consumption elsewhere.
The power of nature is manifested constantly, not only from torrential rains that
overflow the riverbeds, causing havoc in downslope communities, but also from active
volcanoes (i.e., Reventador, Sumaco), ice-capped mountains producing avalanches (i.e.,
Antisana and Cayambe), earthquakes, and frequent tremors that trigger rockslides and
landslides (i.e., Guacamayas range) towards the alluvial cones that proliferate in the low-
lands. Those are indicative of the young geology and dynamic geoecological processes on
fragile soils [
40
]. The magnitude of disasters has caused broken roads, inundated towns,
and even forced the resettlement of the old town (i.e., “Baeza Viejo”) to a nearby hanging
valley (i.e., “Baeza nuevo”). A recent example was given by the tallest waterfall of Ecuador,
located at the lower end of the Quijos River, in the confluence with the Salado River to form
the Coca River that flows towards the larger Napo River in the lowland Amazon region, The
waterfall was severely affected by an earthquake and small eruptions of Mt. Reventador
in February 2020. In an instant, more than 20 years of activism and resistance by local
NGOs against the construction of a huge hydroelectric power plant (project Coca-Codo
Sinclair) was swiftly muted due to a natural course change, because of the water channel
implosion on the sidewall of the San Rafael waterfall. It was an iconic image; a favorite
to depict in many publications as the paramount of tropical nature, which now no longer
exists (Figure 2). As the waterfall disappeared, the riparian forests along the river channel
also disappeared by receding erosion.
Forests 2021, 12, x FOR PEER REVIEW 4 of 17
waterlogged surfaces, create the motto for the area as a “natural sponge[35,36]. Most
common forest species are, among others, cedars (Cedrela spp., Oreopanax spp., Schefflera
spp., Gynoxis sp., Alnus acuminata, Buddleia incana, Weinmannia spp., Clusia octopetala, Val-
lea stipularis, Nectandra spp., Ocotea spp., Miconia spp., Siparuna spp., Myrica spp., Eugenia
myrtelloides, Monnina spp., Podocarpus spp., Hesperomeles spp., Brugmansia spp., even the
national tree of Ecuador: Cinchona officinalis). Moreover, the epiphytic load of the cloud
forest canopy manages to be saturated with tank bromeliads, and hemi-parasitic bryo-
phytes that intercept the mist to capture water which will be finally drained towards Ama-
zonia [37,38]. So profuse is water capture, that the citizens of Quito use this hydric re-
source after transvasement of the eastern river flow westward, from the Papallacta area
towards the capital city in the opposite site of the divide, towards the Pacific Ocean [39],
often seeing it as a mining of water for consumption elsewhere.
The power of nature is manifested constantly, not only from torrential rains that over-
flow the riverbeds, causing havoc in downslope communities, but also from active volca-
noes (i.e., Reventador, Sumaco), ice-capped mountains producing avalanches (i.e., Anti-
sana and Cayambe), earthquakes, and frequent tremors that trigger rockslides and land-
slides (i.e., Guacamayas range) towards the alluvial cones that proliferate in the lowlands.
Those are indicative of the young geology and dynamic geoecological processes on fragile
soils [40]. The magnitude of disasters has caused broken roads, inundated towns, and
even forced the resettlement of the old town (i.e., “Baeza Viejo”) to a nearby hanging val-
ley (i.e., Baeza nuevo). A recent example was given by the tallest waterfall of Ecuador,
located at the lower end of the Quijos River, in the confluence with the Salado River to
form the Coca River that flows towards the larger Napo River in the lowland Amazon
region, The waterfall was severely affected by an earthquake and small eruptions of Mt.
Reventador in February 2020. In an instant, more than 20 years of activism and resistance
by local NGOs against the construction of a huge hydroelectric power plant (project Coca-
Codo Sinclair) was swiftly muted due to a natural course change, because of the water
channel implosion on the sidewall of the San Rafael waterfall. It was an iconic image; a
favorite to depict in many publications as the paramount of tropical nature, which now
no longer exists (Figure 2). As the waterfall disappeared, the riparian forests along the
river channel also disappeared by receding erosion.
Figure 2. The San Rafael waterfall at the terminus of the Quijos river. (a) The left image is the his-
torical flow and scenic beauty of the tallest waterfall in Ecuador. (b) The right image shows the
change in the current flow that responded to natural causes of erosion; however, there are hints
reflecting intensive manipulation of the riverine areas for the Coca-Codo Sinclair hydroelectric meg-
aproject nearby. Source (a): Photo from Neotropical Montology Collaboratory, 16 December 2011.
Source (b): Photo from Jack Rodríguez, 12 August 2021.
The Study Area
The Quijos river basin comprises almost the entire altitudinal gradient from lowland
forest habitats to the highland forests towards the Andean divide. Ecotonal properties that
are noted with increased elevation include an augmented forb layer, the diminishing
a b
Figure 2.
The San Rafael waterfall at the terminus of the Quijos river. (
a
) The left image is the historical
flow and scenic beauty of the tallest waterfall in Ecuador. (
b
) The right image shows the change in the
current flow that responded to natural causes of erosion; however, there are hints reflecting intensive
manipulation of the riverine areas for the Coca-Codo Sinclair hydroelectric megaproject nearby.
Source (
a
): Photo from Neotropical Montology Collaboratory, 16 December 2011.
Source (b): Photo
from Jack Rodríguez, 12 August 2021.
The Study Area
The Quijos river basin comprises almost the entire altitudinal gradient from lowland
forest habitats to the highland forests towards the Andean divide. Ecotonal properties that
are noted with increased elevation include an augmented forb layer, the diminishing heights
of canopy trees, and the diminishing girth of tree and shrub boles. These forest habitats
harbor most of the drainage basin and its biological richness [
41
]. Different elevation
zones experience distinct climatic envelopes, reflecting a meteorological regime that is
influenced by orographic and telescopic effects. On the slopes of the flank, adiabatic winds
raise daily towards the ridges; but these are countered by descending katabatic winds,
bringing humidity to the valleys at night. This effect encourages species that can capture
Forests 2022,13, 11 5 of 16
the abundant precipitation, leading to massive epiphytic gardens on the branches and
exposed surfaces and waterlogging the soils [
42
]. Biologically, speciation is very active
in this ridge-and-valley topography, where constant humidity produces cloudiness that
enhances UV-ß radiation, favoring mutation rate and stimulating speciation [
25
,
42
]. In
Eastern Ecuador, there is one continuous cloud forest surrounding the city of Baeza. The
high degree of biodiversity in the tropical montane cloud forest belt is impressive in almost
every taxon [
42
,
43
]. A profusion of lauraceous trees with aroids, mosses, ferns, and orchids
occurs mostly between 1800–2200 m, as an ecotonal height for the intermixing of both forest
types, as predicted by Grubb’s classification [
29
], who compared lower (700–1800 m) and
upper (1800–3400 m) montane forests in Tropandean landscapes, as an intermediate zone
of mid-elevation forests has been identified [
30
], where Cecropia sp., Ceroxylum alpinum and
Dictyocaryum sp. are conspicuous (Figure 3).
Forests 2021, 12, x FOR PEER REVIEW 5 of 17
heights of canopy trees, and the diminishing girth of tree and shrub boles. These forest
habitats harbor most of the drainage basin and its biological richness [41]. Different eleva-
tion zones experience distinct climatic envelopes, reflecting a meteorological regime that
is influenced by orographic and telescopic effects. On the slopes of the flank, adiabatic
winds raise daily towards the ridges; but these are countered by descending katabatic
winds, bringing humidity to the valleys at night. This effect encourages species that can
capture the abundant precipitation, leading to massive epiphytic gardens on the branches
and exposed surfaces and waterlogging the soils [42]. Biologically, speciation is very ac-
tive in this ridge-and-valley topography, where constant humidity produces cloudiness
that enhances UV-ß radiation, favoring mutation rate and stimulating speciation [25,42].
In Eastern Ecuador, there is one continuous cloud forest surrounding the city of Baeza.
The high degree of biodiversity in the tropical montane cloud forest belt is impressive in
almost every taxon [42,43]. A profusion of lauraceous trees with aroids, mosses, ferns, and
orchids occurs mostly between 1800–2200 m, as an ecotonal height for the intermixing of
both forest types, as predicted by Grubb’s classification [29], who compared lower (700
1800 m) and upper (1800–3400 m) montane forests in Tropandean landscapes, as an inter-
mediate zone of mid-elevation forests has been identified [30], where Cecropia sp., Cerox-
ylum alpinum and Dictyocaryum sp. are conspicuous (Figure 3).
Figure 3. Panoramic view of the Quijos River at the mid-course level, near the town of Baeza at the
Hostería Cumandá location, at the edge of Cumandá Protected Forest. (a) The left picture from 2010
shows the large isle that the white-waters course isolated in its rapid flow downslope. (b) In the
picture on the right, taken in 2020, the isle is no longer visible in just one decade, due to human
encroachment at the riverbank. Source (a) Photo from Jack Rodríguez, 15 September 2002. Source
(b) Photo from Neotropical Montology Collaboratory, 6 July 2012.
This is the habitat for ‘cascarillaor quina(Cinchona officinalis), the official national
tree of Ecuador; other genera include Clussia, Barnadesia, Oreopanax, Schefflera, and Wein-
mannia. Tree ferns, especially Trichipteris pilosissima and Cyathea poeppigii, are found
widely in these mountainscapes, along with conspicuous mountain bamboo (Chusquea
sp.), which covers recently exposed landslides that often appear on steep topography
[25,34]. These landslides occur not only because of tremors and earthquakes shaking the
precipitous terrain, but also because of recently cut-off access roads and other mountain
pathways, breaking the talus. Other important indicators of this montane habitat are palm
species, especially those adapted to growth closer to the inclined ground (e.g., Geonoma
sp., Chamadorea sp.). Because of the scarcity of flat lands, most plant species require root
systems that resist gravity or ground-hugging stems, such as corms, bulbs, rhizomes, run-
ners, stolons, tubers, and crowns [34,42]. Representative bird species include Penelope mon-
tagnii, Crypturellus cinereus, Buthraupis montana, and the big Cephalopterus sp., as well as
the other iconic Cotingidae, including Rupicola peruvianus aequatorialis, considered the
a
b
Figure 3.
Panoramic view of the Quijos River at the mid-course level, near the town of Baeza
at the Hostería Cumandálocation, at the edge of CumandáProtected Forest. (
a
) The left picture
from 2010 shows the large isle that the white-waters course isolated in its rapid flow downslope.
(
b
) In the picture on the right, taken in 2020, the isle is no longer visible in just one decade, due to
human encroachment at the riverbank. Source (
a
) Photo from Jack Rodríguez, 15 September 2002.
Source (b) Photo from Neotropical Montology Collaboratory, 6 July 2012.
This is the habitat for ‘cascarilla’ or ‘quina’ (Cinchona officinalis), the official national tree
of Ecuador; other genera include Clussia, Barnadesia, Oreopanax, Schefflera, and Weinmannia.
Tree ferns, especially Trichipteris pilosissima and Cyathea poeppigii, are found widely in these
mountainscapes, along with conspicuous mountain bamboo (Chusquea sp.), which covers
recently exposed landslides that often appear on steep topography [
25
,
34
]. These landslides
occur not only because of tremors and earthquakes shaking the precipitous terrain, but
also because of recently cut-off access roads and other mountain pathways, breaking the
talus. Other important indicators of this montane habitat are palm species, especially
those adapted to growth closer to the inclined ground (e.g., Geonoma sp., Chamadorea sp.).
Because of the scarcity of flat lands, most plant species require root systems that resist
gravity or ground-hugging stems, such as corms, bulbs, rhizomes, runners, stolons, tubers,
and crowns [
34
,
42
]. Representative bird species include Penelope montagnii, Crypturellus
cinereus, Buthraupis montana, and the big Cephalopterus sp., as well as the other iconic
Cotingidae, including Rupicola peruvianus aequatorialis, considered the flagship of the rocky
cliffs within the cloud forest [
38
,
43
,
44
]. Several endemic species have been described for
the area, including the equatorial or crested quetzal Pharomachrus antisianum. Finally, the
list of endangered species includes flagship mammals, such as the mountain tapir (Tapirus
pinchaque), the Andean bear (Tremarctus ornatus), the equatorial cougar (Puma concolor
bangsi), and the Andean tigrillo (Leopardus pardalis)[38].
The biodiversity of the site is even greater in the transition between the open pastures
and the remnant forest areas. Cougars and bears, for instance, are often found near
Forests 2022,13, 11 6 of 16
cultivation plots or sites where cattle are reared. These forests contain much unique genetic
material. For example, the “naranjilla” or lulu (Solanum quitoense) is vulnerable to infestation
by nematodes in the monocultured soils of the open areas; however, wild stock of Solanum,
which is genetically resistant to worms, can be found in the surrounding forests. Likewise,
local tea is traditionally improved by the collection of Guayusa leaves (Ilex guayusa) in the
forest nearby. Additionally, the presence of heirloom varieties of walnuts and some palms
(e.g., Juglans neotropica,Bactris gasipaes, Euterpe sp., Ceroxylum sp.) encourages culturally
sensitive forms of forest conservation [36,38].
The Quijos River drains the tertiary watersheds of the Cayambe and Antisana snow-
packed volcanoes, flowing eastward to form the Coca River. This is the ancestral territory
of the Kofan nation, who, along with the Quixu and “Canelos”, occupied the region before
the Inka conquest, just before the Spanish colonization. The Kofan pledged dominion over
an extensive territory recently recognized by the Ecuadorian government as their ances-
tral lands, with co-governance of the indigenous protected area extended the protection
towards the other side of the mountains, including some important sacred natural sites [
15
]
(pp. 3–10) and [
42
]. The mountain pass of Wamani in the continental divide, with its
characteristic Polylepis woodlands, has been the preferred route to the Amazon from Quito
since colonial times.
2. Materials and Methods
The Quijos River Basin has been subjected not only to land-use and land-cover change,
but also to a significant forest transformation connected to both natural and human drivers
in a dynamic socioecological production landscape (SEPL), where the Satoyama Initiative’s
methodology of the Institute of Global Environmental Sustainability (IGES) of the United
Nations University (UNU) fits quite well [
45
]. We selected a multi-methodological approach
to study how interactions of the manufactured mountainscapes are evidenced after the
post-Columbian indigenous depopulation registered in the area [
46
,
47
]. Archaeological
findings pointed to the presence of people inhabiting the area at the time of contact, in the
form of chiefdoms with strongholds that withstood the Inka presence towards the eastern
Andean flanks [
47
], which was verified with paleoecological records from the area [
48
].
Historical and archival research verified when the conquistador Francisco de Orellana
ventured through the Quijos River valley to discover the Amazon sea-river [
24
,
26
,
36
,
48
]; a
great conduit was made obvious from the old kulunku system traversing the continental
divide, which later allowed caravans of settlers from the highlands to follow the routes of
Yumbo and Canelo nations (Castilian terms used to describe the people of the Quijos basin),
with long lines of loaded mules. This practice is now recognized as a national intangible
cultural heritage in the “Ruta de los Arrieros” conservation effort.
Our multi-method research approach incorporated deep-seeded knowledge of a native
Baezan and scholarly concerns of long-cherished knowledge of the area [
19
,
22
,
42
,
49
,
50
]. In
addition to the extensive and intensive literature review and archival research, we devel-
oped an ethnographic method by following the development of civil societies that have
been created to pursue sustainable mountain development in the Quijos basin [
51
54
]. In
addition, geographical research based on repetitive photography and expert interviews
with key stakeholders’ photo-elicitation, as well as surveys for environment interpretation
to visiting tourists, allowed better measures of the perception of environmental change
in protected areas [
55
,
56
]. We also benefited from local student visits for field courses
and study-abroad students related to tropical ecology, mountain livelihood, and environ-
mental education campaigns. Several options have determined the transformative change
in the forests, particularly around the town of Baeza, whereby, due to frontier-town id-
iosyncratic behavior, changes have established a conservation lifestyle based on ecosystem
services, historical revalorization, private engagement in conservation, and multifunctional
agropastoral management, all oriented toward the maintenance of the scenic beauty and the
revaluing of historical and cultural elements that make these forests a biocultural heritage
microrefugium of choice [5558].
Forests 2022,13, 11 7 of 16
3. Results
3.1. Pre-Hispanic Settlements and Historicity
Archival research on the foundation of a mountain hamlet found that the Spanish name
“Baeza” was borrowed from an isolated town perched in the faraway Cerros de Úbeda
in Northern Andalucía, as if highlighting the long and difficult access for the Amazonian
homestead respite in a valley that was, in the past, occupied by a large settlement of the
Cosanga-Panzaleo culture [
59
,
60
], to justify bestowing royal status to “the most noble and
most loyal city of Baeza de los Quixos”. Only two other Spanish colonial cities in Ecuador
were founded with the royal seal: “the most noble and most loyal city of San Francisco
de Quito”, in what was the seat of the Kitu-Kara-Shyri nation (and reportedly the “second
Cuzco” for the Inka empire), and “the most noble and most loyal city of Santa Ana de
los Cuatro Ríos de Cuenca”, in what was the seat of Tumipampa for the Inka, previously
Wapondeleg, the land of the Kañary nation [61].
The timeline of the Quijos valley is shown in Figure 4, where the prominence of
colonial explorations towards the Amazon rivalled those in the Colombian valleys and in
the southern Ecuadorian mountain passes towards the Marañón River, as described by
the French Geodesic Mission, who followed route maps of Salesian, Jesuits, Dominican,
and Franciscan monks, who entered the Amazon with the first Spaniards. The fame of the
Wamani pass became apparent when supplies of rich spices and tropical produce started
flooding the vegetable markets of Quito residents, who soon appropriated the area of the
“land of cinnamon” and claimed the “discovery” of the Amazon River to the world.
Forests 2021, 12, x FOR PEER REVIEW 7 of 17
for field courses and study-abroad students related to tropical ecology, mountain liveli-
hood, and environmental education campaigns. Several options have determined the
transformative change in the forests, particularly around the town of Baeza, whereby, due
to frontier-town idiosyncratic behavior, changes have established a conservation lifestyle
based on ecosystem services, historical revalorization, private engagement in conserva-
tion, and multifunctional agropastoral management, all oriented toward the maintenance
of the scenic beauty and the revaluing of historical and cultural elements that make these
forests a biocultural heritage microrefugium of choice [55–58].
3. Results
3.1. Pre-Hispanic Settlements and Historicity
Archival research on the foundation of a mountain hamlet found that the Spanish
name “Baeza” was borrowed from an isolated town perched in the faraway Cerros de
Úbeda in Northern Andalucía, as if highlighting the long and difficult access for the Am-
azonian homestead respite in a valley that was, in the past, occupied by a large settlement
of the Cosanga-Panzaleo culture [59,60], to justify bestowing royal status to the most noble
and most loyal city of Baeza de los Quixos”. Only two other Spanish colonial cities in Ec-
uador were founded with the royal seal: “the most noble and most loyal city of San Fran-
cisco de Quito”, in what was the seat of the Kitu-Kara-Shyri nation (and reportedly the
“second Cuzco” for the Inka empire), and “the most noble and most loyal city of Santa
Ana de los Cuatro Ríos de Cuenca”, in what was the seat of Tumipampa for the Inka, pre-
viously Wapondeleg, the land of the Kañary nation [61].
The timeline of the Quijos valley is shown in Figure 4, where the prominence of co-
lonial explorations towards the Amazon rivalled those in the Colombian valleys and in
the southern Ecuadorian mountain passes towards the Marañón River, as described by
the French Geodesic Mission, who followed route maps of Salesian, Jesuits, Dominican,
and Franciscan monks, who entered the Amazon with the first Spaniards. The fame of the
Wamani pass became apparent when supplies of rich spices and tropical produce started
flooding the vegetable markets of Quito residents, who soon appropriated the area of the
“land of cinnamon” and claimed the “discoveryof the Amazon River to the world.
Figure 4. Timeline of the discovery and conservation efforts in the Quijos River valley in the Andean
flank of the Ecuadorian Amazon, from prehistoric accounts to the historicity of the present, into the
near future. Source: own design, 6 July 2021.
Figure 4.
Timeline of the discovery and conservation efforts in the Quijos River valley in the Andean
flank of the Ecuadorian Amazon, from prehistoric accounts to the historicity of the present, into the
near future. Source: own design, 6 July 2021.
The Quijos forests attracted the attention of frontier settlers, who later developed
a unique mountain town at the edge of the Amazon in colonial times [
62
]. The “Baeza
viejo” was founded with the Spanish design of a central plaza and the square matrix, yet
challenging topography often forced longer zigzagging access routes and hanging bridges
to connect the lowlands and the highlands. This was, in essence, the nature of this important
resting area for the voyagers of the past, whose caravans reached Baeza after weeks on the
dangerous and often precipitous mountain roads for a change of “acémilas” or packhorses,
giving preference to mules instead of horses or donkeys due to their enhanced ability
to walk through slippery and muddy pathways and stone-layered shortcuts trough the
mountain forests [
36
,
37
]. No longer were llama caravans utilized, as in the pre-Columbian
era along the mountain roads, because the huge weight of loads did not merit using them
as beasts of burden. This movement of goods was facilitated later by the implementation of
established resting places or “tambos” along the penetration road to Amazonia or “Oriente”,
Forests 2022,13, 11 8 of 16
which allowed safer travels with rest areas, fresh food provisions, and pack animals [
63
].
Ancient mountain routes (e.g., kulunku, chakiñan) facilitated trade between the lowland
premontane jungles with the highland forests and Interandean valleys. Historical records
confirmed that trade was exerted by traveling merchants or Mindala, who brought products
from the jungle to the Interandean valleys and vice-versa, with the help of the people of the
cloud forest areas or Yumbos [
36
,
47
,
64
]. Several routes have been identified, connecting the
Quijos territory with indigenous settlements between Pifo and Oyacachi, in Saraurku and
Kayampi, further north to Pimampiro town and Purwanta Lake. This ancestral corridor was
well known, thus serving as the gateway to the Amazon by early expeditions [
52
]. These
routes (1) allowed entry to European conquistadors and other settlers to the Amazon in
the XVI Century in search for the “land of cinnamon” and “El Dorado” [
50
]; (2) favored to
implement colonial policies and the establishment of Spanish hamlets and villages [
64
]; and
(3) continued the traditional flow of fruits, vegetables, skins, feathers and other valuables,
including salt, between the highlands and the lowlands [
42
,
65
]. The importance of these
trade routes was such, that the Spaniards implemented a fee payable to them for a permit
to have muleteers’ caravans through the mountain forests, as well as for the right to stay in
the rest areas along the perilous journey and little-known jungles [60].
Unlike traditional detection of archaeological sites—by asking locals about the pres-
ence of ruins to later document them [
62
], a systematic topographic prospection of 137.5 km
2
in the Quijos valley was made in 2002 to detect areas of human occupation [
64
], reconstruct-
ing patterns of pre-Hispanic settlements by calculating density concentration of surface
pottery fragments. The study found seven human settlements in late pre-Hispanic epoch,
for ca. a millennium (600–1538 CE), namely: three small non-nuclear—San José, Sardinas
Chico and Santa Lucía del Bermejo—near the confluence of Quijos and Cosanga rivers; two
medium-sized nuclear—Logmapampa and Sardinas Grande—to the north and west of the
confluence; and, two large nuclear sites—Pucalpa and Bermejo [
64
]. The methodology for
site reconstruction follows a basic premise: where the density of pottery pieces (artifacts)
increases, the likelihood of greater human settlements increases because the larger middens
reflect a larger population size [
65
]. More recent archaeological research in the Quijos forests
points to the lack of geological processes severely affecting the landscape [
66
]. Only the
1987 earthquake, with its epicenter in Reventador volcano, marked a distinct topography
with forestscape change. Mass movements and colluvial geodynamics were also frequent
due to slopes’ clivage, with a median incline of 29.3% [
66
] towards the interfluvial forests.
Thus, forest change is a constant factor due to tremors, episodic rainfall, landslides and
other erosive forces [
67
]. However, no evidence of wild fire affecting forested watersheds
has been identified. This change was also manifested in the construction of terraces for
cultivation and housing [
68
]. It is important to depart from a suggestive interpretation of
a stable pre-Hispanic past, with constant population growth conducive to the establish-
ment of chiefdoms [
64
,
69
], solely based on documented fragments of artifacts disregarding
their geodynamics.
A critical study of online sources, extensive use of one of our datasets, and comparative
evaluation of digital elevation models [
64
,
66
,
70
] demonstrated that there is no correlation
between site size and territorial use of site catchment size as factors to understand the
pottery fragments on certain regions, considering slope/aspect in forest cover as a factor
conditioning human mobility and access to forest resources [
71
] in highly dissected slopes
characterized for micro-vertical succession on altitudinal vegetation belts [
60
,
72
]. There-
fore, the Quijos’ forests are good examples to consider spatial factors, such as the visual
dominance on trade routes with the highland Sierra or with the lowland Amazonia, that
complement topographic and political criteria in our understanding of ancient human
settlements in these forests.
The larger nuclear archaeological sites are located in the natural gateway towards
the Quijos river, using the route from Papallacta to Baeza, and then to Bermejo to reach
Puerto Napo in the lowlands. Pucalpa overlooks the headwaters of the Quijos when joining
the Papallacta river at the mountain pass towards the highland Andean divide. Bermejo
Forests 2022,13, 11 9 of 16
overlooks the Cosanga river near to the Guacamayas range, a mountain pass to connect
the piedmont of the Amazon. Cuéllar [
64
] determined early occupation of the area since
the year 400 B.C. Therefore, we could affirm what Church [
73
] has identified as the driving
force for the population of the montane forests of the Andean flank: visual control of
forestcapes and trade routes. Amidst this impressive natural backdrop of the verdant,
the human-dominated landscapes of the valley bottoms reflect an old tradition of forest
frontier agriculture and livestock ranching. Therefore, long before its incorporation into the
Western world, the Quijos river basin was much influenced by people [48,49].
A discursive analysis of population dynamics in this wide region showed that, despite
the number of inhabitants (ca. 16,500–24,500) by the year 1577 [
72
] was from 2.4 to almost
3.6 times below the census figures for the year 2000, it is comparable to the present number
of 17,268 people [
28
,
58
]. Therefore, it is important to observe current ethnographic data
to understand the process of historical and ongoing cultural transformation. In 1561,
the Spanish Viceroy Conde de Nieva defined the boundaries of the Quixu territories
(Gobernación de Quijos) headed by Melchor Vázquez de Ávila, replacing Rodrigo Núñez
de Bonilla and assigning to his tutelage the Spanish towns of Baeza, Avila, Archidona and
Macas. This made Quijos the most important Amazonian region of the colonial era. It
included various ethnic groups, such as Yumbu from the Misawalli river, Sumaq from the
Suno river and Sumaco volcano, Kuca from the land of Coca (Eritroxylon coca) and the Coca
river, Uyakachi from the highlands, Santa from the lowlands of the Salado river, Kofan from
Putumayu river, “Pelones” (or encabellados) of the Awariku river, Ankuter and Waorani from
Curaray river, and Orejones, Mazanes, and Iquitos from the lower Napo river, with their
capital in the area of Baeza viejo [
62
64
]. The Quijos river itself was subdivided into three
main areas: “Jatunquixos” to the highland western edge, “Coca” to the lowland northern
collines, and “Cosanga” to the lowland southern piedmonts. The immensely complex and
varied culture-nature hybrid of the forest created a kind of ‘mountain archipelago’ of land
use mosaics in a tropical montane forest matrix, corresponding to different elevations in
this mountainscape [26,39,42,51] (Figure 5).
Forests 2021, 12, x FOR PEER REVIEW 10 of 17
Figure 5. The left picture (a) shows the settlers and explorers in the central plaza of the old town of
Baeza in 1950. Note the bare terrain and the huts as housing. On the right (b), the new plaza in 2020
with distinctive benches, electric posts, many trees, manicured gardens, paved roads, and traffic on
the side road. Source (a) from Jack Rodríguez, Mar 1952. Source (b) from Jack Rodríguez, 22 Sep-
tember 2021.
3.2. Forest Transformation Factors
Oral tradition and local surveys allowed us to grapple with the impressive change
exerted by colonization and to assess the forest transformation from current activities,
making it clear that we needed to separate two types of factors: natural occurrences and
human-induced changes. For instance, the earthquake of 1987 that altered the hydrogra-
phy of the valley, or the disappearance of the most recognizable waterfall in Ecuador, la
cascada de San Rafael in 2020; we observe the fate of these water features slowly, but
because of a geological phenomenon, the speed of change was dramatic in February (Fig-
ure 2). Closer to the town of Baeza, in the mid-Quijos River, we can appreciate the change
brought forth by humans and the need to send the water for one river channel, creating
an artificial island now connected with the adjacent field on the Quijos riparian zone (Fig-
ure 3).
The establishment of local NGOs, such as the Cumandá Protected Forest, has served to
facilitate an about-face of exploitation of resources in favor of a sustainable, regenerative use
approach [65]. Moreover, the work done with Cumandá has allowed integration of other-
wise unrecognized potential of agrotourism as part of the conservation toolbox in the area.
The integration of women as key players of the development pathway is very appealing.
For instance, Mrs. Doña Virgilia de Rodríguez, the first woman Undersecretary of Agricul-
ture and President of the Chamber of Agriculture of the IV Zone of the Ecuadorian Amazon
Region (RAE), hails from the Quijos Andean Amazon flank. This is only one example of
note for the new generation of young women leaders, tourism students, and future profes-
sionals of conservation that will benefit the area conserved [6567] (Figure 6).
a
b
Figure 5.
The left picture (
a
) shows the settlers and explorers in the central plaza of the old town
of Baeza in 1950. Note the bare terrain and the huts as housing. On the right (
b
), the new plaza
in 2020 with distinctive benches, electric posts, many trees, manicured gardens, paved roads, and
traffic on the side road. Source (
a
) from Jack Rodríguez, Mar 1952. Source (
b
) from Jack Rodríguez,
22 September 2021.
3.2. Forest Transformation Factors
Oral tradition and local surveys allowed us to grapple with the impressive change
exerted by colonization and to assess the forest transformation from current activities,
Forests 2022,13, 11 10 of 16
making it clear that we needed to separate two types of factors: natural occurrences and
human-induced changes. For instance, the earthquake of 1987 that altered the hydrography
of the valley, or the disappearance of the most recognizable waterfall in Ecuador, “la cascada
de San Rafael” in 2020; we observe the fate of these water features slowly, but because of a
geological phenomenon, the speed of change was dramatic in February (Figure 2). Closer
to the town of Baeza, in the mid-Quijos River, we can appreciate the change brought forth
by humans and the need to send the water for one river channel, creating an artificial island
now connected with the adjacent field on the Quijos riparian zone (Figure 3).
The establishment of local NGOs, such as the CumandáProtected Forest, has served
to facilitate an about-face of exploitation of resources in favor of a sustainable, regenerative
use approach [
65
]. Moreover, the work done with Cumandáhas allowed integration of
otherwise unrecognized potential of agrotourism as part of the conservation toolbox in
the area. The integration of women as key players of the development pathway is very
appealing. For instance, Mrs. Doña Virgilia de Rodríguez, the first woman Undersecretary
of Agriculture and President of the Chamber of Agriculture of the IV Zone of the Ecuadorian
Amazon Region (RAE), hails from the Quijos Andean Amazon flank. This is only one
example of note for the new generation of young women leaders, tourism students, and
future professionals of conservation that will benefit the area conserved [
65
67
] (Figure 6).
Forests 2021, 12, x FOR PEER REVIEW 11 of 17
Figure 6. Women have been present in formalizing and promoting conservation programs and other
sustainable development ventures in the area. The left picture (a) shows the original wooden struc-
tures with thatch roof, while on the right (b) the houses are already brick with metal roofs. Source
(a) from Jack Rodríguez, Mar 1952. Source (b) from Jack Rodríguez, May September 1988.
Today, this watershed continues to be a key transportation asset: from a kulunku (or
a mountain footpath), to an Inkañan (or Inka road), to a muleteer track, to a gravel pene-
tration road, finally replaced by a two-lane paved Interoceanic Highway [39,46] leading
to the jungle loop (or troncal de la selva). Land exploitation during the ‘colono’ period
greatly altered the original mountainscape into a mosaic of pasturelands, croplands, and
remnant forest patches. Although the original Quixu/Kofan people have almost disap-
peared or migrated out of the area [47,53], rich archaeological evidence of their presence
abounds in the area. Baeza, in the heart of the Quijos valley, is the only city towards the
Ecuadorian Amazon territory that holds the rank of National Cultural Patrimony in Ec-
uador. Another important settlement, now considered one of the Ecuadors Magic Towns,
is “El Chaco, in the lower Quijos river area. The lives of mestizo in the Quijos valley and
Kofan original people in the Oyacachi River and around the Reventador volcano represent
important samples of traditional and ancestral practices of alternative economic options
in a working, living mountainscape, considered a socioecological productive system [15]
(pp. 310) and [19,21,31,42].
4. Discussion
We consider that transformative changes to secure the conservation of the mountain
forests of the Quijos River basin have occurred in phases, separated in three main periods
with significant historical accounts: (1) the ancestral pre-inka and pre-Hispanic epoch,
with a significant population living in the piedmont occupation of the Jatunquixos area in
the 1500s, starting the Colonial phase; (2) the republican epoch, in the following centuries,
that used the area as a frontier zone, with exploitation fronts responding to the location of
trade routes further amplified by gravel road construction; and (3) the modern epoch,
with developments of the recent past since 1970 that brought the bigger road for the con-
struction of the oil pipeline to cross the Andes and the declaration of the Cayambe-Coca
Ecological Reserve and other protected areas to ensure maintenance of the most repre-
sentative “wilderness of the Andean flank. As in many ecological projects, defining the
initial stage from which to restore the forest remains challenging [74]; thus, it is just as
difficult to find the starting point of the transformation [61,69], the inflection points of the
population pressure [75], or the “pristine” state to which to move ecological restoration
activities in these forests [76]. Our work suggests using the metaphorical platitude “it de-
pends” to establish conditions in assessing the environmental change afflicted in the Qui-
jos River basin and its connected, transformed mountain forests [69].
a b
Figure 6.
Women have been present in formalizing and promoting conservation programs and
other sustainable development ventures in the area. The left picture (
a
) shows the original wooden
structures with thatch roof, while on the right (
b
) the houses are already brick with metal roofs.
Source (a) from Jack Rodríguez, Mar 1952. Source (b) from Jack Rodríguez, May September 1988.
Today, this watershed continues to be a key transportation asset: from a kulunku (or a
mountain footpath), to an Inkañan (or Inka road), to a muleteer track, to a gravel penetration
road, finally replaced by a two-lane paved Interoceanic Highway [
39
,
46
] leading to the
jungle loop (or “troncal de la selva”). Land exploitation during the ‘colono’ period greatly
altered the original mountainscape into a mosaic of pasturelands, croplands, and remnant
forest patches. Although the original Quixu/Kofan people have almost disappeared or
migrated out of the area [
47
,
53
], rich archaeological evidence of their presence abounds in
the area. Baeza, in the heart of the Quijos valley, is the only city towards the Ecuadorian
Amazon territory that holds the rank of National Cultural Patrimony in Ecuador. Another
important settlement, now considered one of the Ecuador’s Magic Towns, is “El Chaco”,
in the lower Quijos river area. The lives of mestizo in the Quijos valley and Kofan original
people in the Oyacachi River and around the Reventador volcano represent important
samples of traditional and ancestral practices of alternative economic options in a working,
living mountainscape, considered a socioecological productive system [
15
] (pp. 3–10)
and [19,21,31,42].
Forests 2022,13, 11 11 of 16
4. Discussion
We consider that transformative changes to secure the conservation of the mountain
forests of the Quijos River basin have occurred in phases, separated in three main periods
with significant historical accounts: (1) the ancestral pre-inka and pre-Hispanic epoch, with
a significant population living in the piedmont occupation of the Jatunquixos area in the
1500s, starting the Colonial phase; (2) the republican epoch, in the following centuries,
that used the area as a frontier zone, with exploitation fronts responding to the location
of trade routes further amplified by gravel road construction; and (3) the modern epoch,
with developments of the recent past since 1970 that brought the bigger road for the
construction of the oil pipeline to cross the Andes and the declaration of the Cayambe-
Coca Ecological Reserve and other protected areas to ensure maintenance of the most
representative “wilderness” of the Andean flank. As in many ecological projects, defining
the initial stage from which to restore the forest remains challenging [
74
]; thus, it is just as
difficult to find the starting point of the transformation [61,69], the inflection points of the
population pressure [
75
], or the “pristine” state to which to move ecological restoration
activities in these forests [
76
]. Our work suggests using the metaphorical platitude “it
depends” to establish conditions in assessing the environmental change afflicted in the
Quijos River basin and its connected, transformed mountain forests [69].
One condition would be the biological richness of the area that seems to have mush-
roomed after the abandonment of the native population of the Quixu and the Kofan, first
with the Inka expansion to the eastern cloud forest, then with the Spanish colonization
of the Amazonian headwaters. If this trend is confirmed, monumental constructions are
still waiting to be discovered under the dense cover of the cloud forest belt. A recent
finding of inclined walls with megalithic design has just become apparent in the heart
of Llanganatis National Park, south of the Antisana volcano and the Quijos River basin.
Anecdotal accounts of stone terracing and other earthen works refer to the area of Kuyuja,
near Papallacta, as a site of extensive terracing. The same structures seem to exist further
north towards the “La Bonita” area in the headwaters of the Putumayu River. If all this
evidence gets confirmed, then the area has to be incorporated within a new model of
biocultural heritage of this ecological legacy, indicating that the cloud forest is actual a
“feral” community that has settled again, with the ecological legacy of about four centuries
of abandonment [28,42,49].
Another condition would be the political rhetoric, utilized to describe these new lands
in a popular vision of the inaccessible frontier that prompted agricultural production,
mineral extraction, or timber extraction exclusively. There was a famous quote attributed to
the former president of Ecuador, Mr. Galo Plaza Lasso, saying, “The Oriente is a myth”, as
a result of which, resources of the country went toward promoting economic development
in the coastal and highland regions only, not the “wastelands” of the Amazon. There
was little attention placed on long-term planning of agricultural production other than
assigning land titles to the colonists that demonstrated ‘factual’ occupancy of the land.
Therefore, the first thing a settler did was to clearcut the forest of a significant frontage,
then to claim landownership of 50 hectares for the factual “evidence” of work done in the
area. The National Institute for the Agrarian Reform (IERAC) was mainly charged with
redistributing these “wastelands” and conferring the Title to those frontiersmen, which
was later attributed to the Institute of Colonization of the Ecuadorian Amazon Region
(INCRAE) and finally to the Ecological Development Institute (ECORAE), with funding
from fiscal revenue generated by oil exploitation in lowland fields and usage of oil pipelines
throughout, with dismal gains for conservation in the mountainscape.
Finally, a political ecology angle could be used to assess the transformative change in
the Quijos forests, associated with the political agency of the local residents and indigenous
communities [
39
], as other groups of the civil society saw the importance of switching gears
in relation to maintaining the traditional agricultural practice of deforestation, planting
crops, or pasture and placing cattle in the slopelands. Indeed, it seems that success in forest
restoration of Amazon forests is site-specific [
76
]. Once the forest was gone, the planting
Forests 2022,13, 11 12 of 16
of crops was not profitable due to the low fertility and productivity of the mountain
soils, pertinent precipitation —horizontal and otherwise, and the prevalence of nematode
infestation. This was the case with the flagship cultivar of the area, the “naranjilla” or “lulo”
(Solanum quitoense), which grew well only in recently felt chakra plots but diminished
production after 2 years, where the nematodes infested the planted sites. The only way
to continue with this revenue was to keep cutting down the forest and utilizing the fresh
freed soil, every time for a new harvest. The presence of corporations exploiting the
dairy industry brought economic respite by building milk-gathering facilities. It was
only in the 1980s and 1990s that a move was energized to bring ecotourism (mostly as
birdwatching and hiking) to the area, and several international projects took place, looking
at what then was deemed as sustainable mountain development, which motivated forest
conservation measures in smaller private reserves. For instance, the Sustainable Use of
Biological Resources) (SUBIR) project, the funded by the US-AID, was key in turning
the tide from traditional pasture or cultivation towards the use of forested patches and
converting most of them into Private Reserves with ecotourism operations [
72
]. The
creation of a network of reserves around the Quijos Valley confers an inversed Biosphere
Reserve model, where pristine nature is located in the periphery of the settled area, making
the nucleus or core the area, where most of the human impact is felt, the Sumaco-Napo
Galeras National Park and Biosphere Reserve, close to the CumandáProtected Forest to
the East. The Antisana Ecological Reserve closes the area to the South and the Cayambe-
Coca Ecological Reserve closes the area to the West and North. Connectivity among these
protected areas remains key to the successes of the small private conservation areas (PCA),
such as CumandáProtected Forests, which are de-facto microrefugia of biocultural heritage
and worth preserving.
A good example of this about-face in the exploitation of the forests towards a shift in
the connectivity conservation of the mountain forests of the Quijos River basin was the
establishment of the CumandáProtected Forest as a private reserve near Baeza in 1993 [
51
].
This site maintains most of the forest protected, yet pressure from neighboring farms
encroaches on its upper limits. CumandáReserve was highlighted by the rich diversity
of useful plants and their medicinal and ornamental use; thus, it was incorporated as a
member of the Latin American Ethnobotanical Sister Gardens Network in 1999, which later
became a member of the Botanical Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) network
in the Americas. An attractive rural setting was built in the place of the old farmhouse,
where a hostel provides accommodation to visitors from Quito and other cities of Ecuador,
as well as to an increasing number of foreign visitors. For example, at the “Hostería
Cumandá”, we organized a scientific field visit for mountain scientists, who participated in
the International Symposium of the Andean Mountains Association (AMA) on Sustainable
Development of Fragile Ecosystems in 1998. An international group of scientists also met
at Cumandáfor the field trip of the Conservation Connectivity Network of IUCN-WCPA,
which produced the Papallacta Declaration in 2006 and started emphasizing connectivity
conservation as a goal of management of protected areas worldwide [
69
]. Several technical
demonstrations and focused workshops were held with the residents of Baeza and the
private sector in the last decade. Cumandáwas also the site for the meeting of the Latin
American Ethnobotanical Sister Gardens Network, which brought together Latin American
colleagues and international experts in applied conservation with ethnobotanical insight to
strategize on making Quijos a cultural landscape designation within UICN category V [
23
].
5. Conclusions
We conclude that the stressors affecting conservation of the cloud forest belt are identi-
fied roughly with the practice of extractivism, operating since colonial times. Particular
stress was provided by the federal incentive to grant land ownership by titling those parcels
that demonstrated active deforestation. Another important stressor for the change is the
subsidies given to dairy production and the fever of the “white gold” that pushes the estab-
lishment of large expanses of planted pastures with improved varieties of invasive grass
Forests 2022,13, 11 13 of 16
species. These two stressors were facilitated by the road construction of the Interoceanic
Highway through the area that exacerbated the opening of the frontier and the degradation
of the forested slopes [66].
We concluded that impacts of climate change contributing to a better adaptation for
conservation are the establishment of private forest reserves, the operation of ecotourism
companies offering non-traditional practices, such as white-water rafting and rappelling
tours. The increased presence of foreign visitors has prompted an urban “renaissance”,
making Baeza an internal tourism destination for cultural and natural features.
We concluded that community-driven initiatives for sustainability succeeded in pre-
venting forest lost, as well as in regenerating the forest frontier because of the implementa-
tion of nation-wide initiatives such as “Plan Bosque”, which compensated landowners for
not deforesting the remnant forest patches of the basin, making a successful exemplar of
payment for ecosystem services (PES) an attractive income, particularly when the PES for
the water captured in the basin and transvasing towards Quito became a modus operandi for
funding conservation of the headwaters. Finally, the establishment of private forest reserves
has proven successful. For instance, Cumandáhas now integrated not only ethnobotanical
applications, but also ecotourism and recreational activities, such as weekend workshops
of different conservation topics or hosting kayaking groups for navigating the rapids of
the Quijos River, considered one of the best places for white-water rafting in the world.
This link, with abundant water resources and the scenic beauty of the river, led to the
establishment of the “Route of Water Commonwealth” in 2017, which includes the local
decentralized governments (GADs) and municipalities along the Quijos River, and made
this location into an officially declared priority area for sustainable mountain development
initiatives and biodiversity conservation [
20
]. Furthermore, the transformative change
that Cumandápromoted was the new approach of biocultural diversity and heritage by
fomenting territorial planning that integrates the human dimension with nature conser-
vation, applied in the buffer area of one of the most diverse biosphere reserves in the
world. CumandáProtected Forest and Hostería was key in helping to establish Baeza as a
“National Heritage City” of Ecuador in 1994. It also played a key role in establishing the
intangible heritage of the “Itinerary of the Muleteer” in 2018 and incorporating it within the
National System of Intangible Heritage, highlighting the montane forest belt as a “cultural
landscape” that is worth protecting. It is hoped that this momentum continues with the
incorporation of the Quijos River basin as a Satoyama site to demonstrate that the benefits of
harmony between nature and people could lead to sustainable, regenerative development.
With the case of CumandáProtected Forest, we analyzed the efficacy of adapting
to environmental changes in the Quijos River Valley on the Andean Amazon flank, with
the prospective of tropical montane forest conservation scenarios [
77
]. We highlighted
the difficulty to establish a starting point in farmscape transformation, as it is difficult
to mark the beginning of restoration ecology programs without knowing where to start
to target forest restoration efforts, since human occupation has long been recorded in
paleoecological and archaeological research. This is the important challenge for future
research and application of the Satoyama landscape approach for mountainscapes. Since
they are Socio-Ecological Production landscapes (SEPL), there is a need to highlight the
importance of equilibrium between exploitation and wise use of forest resources, allowing
for the inclusion of alternative forms, such as agrotourism, ethnotourism, ecotourism, and
adventure tourism in the mix of choices for local empowerment with Non-Timber Forest
Products (NTFP) and private reserves as part of “other effective conservation measures”
(OECMs). For instance, making the watershed a GeoPark will highlight the nature-culture
linkages of these impressive mountainscape. Additionally, declaring it as a Globally
Important Agricultural Heritage System (GIAHS) will highlight its rich biocultural diversity.
This gamut of options should reflect the gains observed with the integration of women in the
political ecology of biocultural heritage conservation, and it should promote higher levels
of educational attainment and leadership engagement of women in the local civil society.
Forests 2022,13, 11 14 of 16
Finally, we argue that further research is needed to understand the imperative of
switching the current conservation narrative, emphasizing forest biodiversity for “sustain-
able” development. New research efforts should engage in formulating “regenerative”
development to allow for forest restoration of self-correction and self-organization pro-
cesses that ameliorate forest conditions and create a mountainscape, with respect for the
surrounding forestscape, which could be maintained for perpetuity.
Author Contributions:
Conceptualization, F.O.S.; Methodology, J.R., F.O.S. and A.Y.-N.; Software,
F.O.S. and A.Y.-N.; Validation, J.R. and F.O.S.; Investigation F.O.S. and A.Y.-N.; Resources, F.O.S. and
J.R.; Data curation, J.R. and A.Y.-N.; Writing—original draft, F.O.S.; Writing—review and editing,
F.O.S. and A.Y.-N. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Funding: This research received no external funding.
Acknowledgments:
We thank the community of Baeza and residents of Papallacta, Kuyuja, Borja, and
El Chaco, who provided surveyed information and anecdotal evidence. Thank you for administrative
and logistic support of the Neotropical Montology Collaboratory of the University of Georgia and
the Hostería Cumandá. We also thank Nelson Ortega of the Pan American Center for Geographic
Research and Studies (CEPEIGE) for geoecological references provided. We thank Nicholas Allen
of the UGA Willson Center for Humanities and Art for defraying publishing cost to MDPI for
open-source distribution.
Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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