“El Salado” Estuary, a Lung of Vallarta

Puerto Vallarta features a large diversity of natural resources. A clear example is El Salado Estuary, with its 417 acres, of which around 333 are mangrove.

A wrong idea many inhabitants of Vallarta have is that the estuary is a dirty place, muddy, dangerous and a mosquito farm. This happens only we don’t properly maintain it and watch it. But the truth is that if we didn’t have the estuary, a lot of our food would have toxic waste. El Salado is a bio-filter where these pollutants are separated. Meanwhile, it protects the town from flooding and other natural phenomena. It is also a space for fish and other species breeding. 

This space has several awards, two of them given by Ecoindex (Rainforest Alliance) at Latin America level. They were thanks to its project “Aventúrate por El Salado” (Adventure through El Salado). They featurey the best monitoring techniques for identification and decreasing of affectations by the visitors. 

 This project is an ecotour where visitors receive an ample explanation of the mangrove ecosystem and its species. The idea is to encourage people to be in touch in a dynamic and safe manner. This tour happens from Tuesday to Friday between 9 am and 3 pm and Saturdays between 9 am and 1 pm. 

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In the words of director Jaime Torres, participating in the care of the area “is the opportunity to show that we can keep preserving the natural resources specifically within cities or housing developments for research, training and development in these areas, it is a new chance for everyone”.  

The estuary is a water ecosystem under the category of ecological preserve zone. We are fortunate to have it in our town as it is unique in Mexico. “El Salado” represents Jalisco and Mexico worldwide in the International Wetlands Network and the Ramsar Convention.