Reserva Natural Punta Cucharas (Punta Cucharas Nature Reserve) is a nature reserve in Barrio Canas, Ponce, Puerto Rico.AN ACT To designate Punta Cucharas natural area of the Municipality of Ponce as a Natural Reserve Area of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, to be administered pursuant to the provisions of Act No. 150 of 4 August 1988, as amended, known as the "Puerto Rico Natural Patrimony Program Act." Legislature of Puerto Rico. Legislative Year 2008, Law No. 227. House Bill #3797. 9 August 2008. Accessed 8 June 2016. It consists of both a land area component as well as an offshore marine area.Protected Natural Areas in Puerto Rico. (Large Map) William A. Gould, Maya Quiñones, Mariano Solórzano, Waldemar Alcobas, and Caryl Alarcón. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, International Institute of Tropical Forestry. PR Gap Analysis Project. Accessed 8 June 2016. The land component has an area of AN ACT To designate Punta Cucharas natural area of the Municipality of Ponce as a Natural Reserve Area of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, to be administered pursuant to the provisions of Act No. 150 of 4 August 1988, as amended, known as the "Puerto Rico Natural Patrimony Program Act." Legislature of Puerto Rico. Legislative Year 2008, Law No. 227. House Bill #3797. 9 August 2008. Accessed 8 June 2016. while the marine component has an expanse of ,Construcción de Infraestructuras Mínimas Recreativas y Educativas en la Reserva Natural Punta Cucharas: Evaluacion Ambiental: Punta Cucharas. Departamento de Recursos Naturales y Ambientales de Puerto Rico. Page 6. October 2012. Accessed 9 June 2016. Archived. for a total area of . The Reserve consists of mangrove ecosystems, coastal sand dunes, a saline lagoon known as Laguna Las Salinas, open water, and a century-old local community.BirdLife Data Zone: Government and local community are working together to restore life to the mangroves of Puerto Rico. BirdLife International. 2016. Accessed 10 June 2016. The lagoon occupies and area of Educación Ambiental: Herramienta para Proteger La Reserva Natural Punta Cucharas. Maria de los Angeles Cruz Torres and Natividad Cruz Torres. Universidad Metropolitana, Escuela Graduada de Asuntos Ambientales. San Juan, Puerto Rico. Page 6. 2 December 2009. (In Spanish) Accessed 8 June 2016. Ecological protection is managed and enforced by the Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources.Informe Final del Proyecto de Monitoreo Socioeconómico en las Áreas Protegidas Marinas y Costeras de Puerto Rico: Reserva Natural Punta Cucharas, Ponce, Puerto Rico. Rosemarie Vazquez Cruz, Carlos J. Carrero Morales, Jeannette Ramos Garcia, Andreica Maldonado. Carlos Carrero. NOAA, DRNA, Centro Interdisciplinario de Estudios del Litoral (UPR-Mayaguez), Programa de Colegio Sea Grant de la UPR. 2011. Gaspar Pons, Reserva Natural Punta Cucharas. Ponce, Puerto Rico. Re-published by Carlos Carrero. (November 2011). Accessed 7 June 2016. Eight activities are allowed at the Reserve: scuba diving, boating, fishing, hiking, sun bathing, photography, bird watching and canoeing. Activities prohibited are camping, crabbing/trapping, horseback riding, water crafting, and hunting. Pets, ATVs, and fireplaces are also prohibited.Per welcome sign at the entrance to the Reserve. See photo of sign in this article.
History
In 2001, the Puerto Rico Ornithology Society started promoting the conservation of the Las Cucharas area and proposed it as an Important Area for the Conservation of Birds. Then, during 2003–2004, the United States Geological Survey, with the support of the Ponce Municipal Government, conducted a hydrology study of Laguna Las Salinas.Informe Final del Proyecto de Monitoreo Socioeconómico en las Áreas Protegidas Marinas y Costeras de Puerto Rico: Reserva Natural Punta Cucharas, Ponce, Puerto Rico. Rosemarie Vazquez Cruz, Carlos J. Carrero Morales, Jeannette Ramos Garcia, Andreica Maldonado. Carlos Carrero. NOAA, DRNA, Centro Interdisciplinario de Estudios del Litoral (UPR-Mayaguez), Programa de Colegio Sea Grant de la UPR. 2011. Page 38. Gaspar Pons, Reserva Natural Punta Cucharas. Ponce, Puerto Rico. Re-published by Carlos Carrero. (November 2011). Accessed 8 June 2016. In June 2004, the Integrated Planning Area of the Natural Patrimony Division of the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources of Puerto Rico (DRNA) issued a report on the natural value of the Punta Cucharas area.AN ACT To designate Punta Cucharas natural area of the Municipality of Ponce as a Natural Reserve Area of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, to be administered pursuant to the provisions of Act No. 150 of August 4, 1988, as amended, known as the "Puerto Rico Natural Patrimony Program Act." Legislature of Puerto Rico. Legislative Year 2008, Law No. 227. House Bill #3797. 9 August 2008. Accessed 8 June 2016. In 2008, Amigos de La Laguna (Friends of the Lagoon), a local concerned citizens group, issued a press release showing the impact that construction of the Gasoducto del Norte was to have on the lagoon. In August 2008, the Legislature of Puerto Rico passed Law 227 designating the Punta Cucharas natural area as a nature reserve and creating the Punta Cucharas Nature Reserve using, among others, the June 2004 DRNA report.AN ACT To designate Punta Cucharas natural area of the Municipality of Ponce as a Natural Reserve Area of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, to be administered pursuant to the provisions of Act No. 150 of August 4, 1988, as amended, known as the "Puerto Rico Natural Patrimony Program Act." Legislature of Puerto Rico. Legislative Year 2008, Law No. 227. House Bill #3797. 9 August 2008. Accessed 8 June 2016. On 9 August 2008, Punta Cucharas became a protected area under the law.Protected Natural Areas in Puerto Rico. (Large Map) William A. Gould, Maya Quiñones, Mariano Solórzano, Waldemar Alcobas, and Caryl Alarcón. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, International Institute of Tropical Forestry. PR Gap Analysis Project. Accessed 8 June 2016.AN ACT To designate Punta Cucharas natural area of the Municipality of Ponce as a Natural Reserve Area of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, to be administered pursuant to the provisions of Act No. 150 of August 4, 1988, as amended, known as the "Puerto Rico Natural Patrimony Program Act." Legislature of Puerto Rico. Legislative Year 2008, Law No. 227. House Bill #3797. 9 August 2008. Accessed 8 June 2016.
Location and size The area is located in the coastal and the subcoastal zones of the southern end of Barrio Canas. The area is bounded in the west by a tourist development, including a hotel, in the north by modern residential compounds, and in the south by the Caribbean Sea.BirdLife Data Zone: Government and local community are working together to restore life to the mangroves of Puerto Rico. BirdLife International. 2016. Accessed 10 June 2016. It includes all the land southeast of Road PR-2 in Barrio Canas and the marine component of Isla de Ratones and Isla Cardona. The Caribbean Sea Marine Extent component includes the waters south of points from Punta Cucharas in the west and Rio Matilde in the east, both in the Ponce mainland, and north of points from Isla de Ratones in the west and Isla Cardona in the east, both islands south of Ponce.Protected Natural Areas in Puerto Rico. (Large Map) William A. Gould, Maya Quiñones, Mariano Solórzano, Waldemar Alcobas, and Caryl Alarcón. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, International Institute of Tropical Forestry. PR Gap Analysis Project. Accessed 8 June 2016.AN ACT To designate Punta Cucharas natural area of the Municipality of Ponce as a Natural Reserve Area of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, to be administered pursuant to the provisions of Act No. 150 of August 4, 1988, as amended, known as the "Puerto Rico Natural Patrimony Program Act." Legislature of Puerto Rico. Legislative Year 2008, Law No. 227. House Bill #3797. 9 August 2008. Accessed 8 June 2016. Isla de Ratones and Isla Cardona are both included in the Punta Cucharas Nature Reserve.Restauran hábitat del lagartijo del seco Anolis cooki en la Isla de Cardona y Cayo Ratones. David Wege. 4 August 2010. Accessed 9 June 2016.Plan de Uso de Terrenos de Puerto Rico. Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico. Junta de Planificacion. 30 January 2014. Accessed 9 June 2016.
It consists of a salt water lagoon known as Laguna Salinas (Salinas Lagoon) that measures 347,898 square meters, as well as forestland systems of mangroves and other coastal forests, and different types of estuary and marshy wetlands. It also includes extensive areas of sand dunes covered by herbaceous vegetation, part of which are gramineous plants.Educación Ambiental: Herramienta para Proteger La Reserva Natural Punta Cucharas. Maria de los Angeles Cruz Torres and Natividad Cruz Torres. Universidad Metropolitana, Escuela Graduada de Asuntos Ambientales. San Juan, Puerto Rico. Page 6. 2 December 2009. (In Spanish) Accessed 8 June 2016. The Reserve's total area is 698 cuerdas.Laguna Las Salinas: De nuevo en el mapa sureño. (Update: Un Refugio Cerca de Todos. (Laguna Las Salinas: De nuevo en el Mapa Sureño.) Year 29. Issue 1436. 8–14 June 2016. Page 21. Accessed 8 June 2016.) Carmen Cila Rodríguez. La Perla del Sur. Ponce, Puerto Rico. 8 June 2011. Retrieved 8 June 2011. Update accessed 8 June 2016. Archived.AN ACT To designate Punta Cucharas natural area of the Municipality of Ponce as a Natural Reserve Area of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, to be administered pursuant to the provisions of Act No. 150 of August 4, 1988, as amended, known as the "Puerto Rico Natural Patrimony Program Act." Legislature of Puerto Rico. Legislative Year 2008, Law No. 227. House Bill #3797. 9 August 2008. Accessed 8 June 2016. The Salinas Lagoon has a mangrove that expands about 37 acres.Laguna Las Salinas: De nuevo en el mapa sureño. (Update: Un Refuio Cerca de Todos. (Laguna Las Salinas: De nuevo en el Mapa Sureño.) Year 29. Issue 1436. 8–14 June 2016. Page 21. Accessed 8 June 2016.) Carmen Cila Rodríguez. La Perla del Sur. Ponce, Puerto Rico. 8 June 2011. Retrieved 8 June 2011. Update accessed 8 June 2016.Archived.
Ecological value The Municipality of Ponce recognized the ecological value of the Punta Cucharas natural area and included a Special Plan PL. E. 2, on La Matilde Area (the Area that includes the Punta Cuchara area) in its Territorial Plan (Integral Review effective on 23 December 2003), in its Ordination Regulations component. This Special Plan intended to facilitate a residential, tourist and commercial development, contingent on the protection of natural resources such as Laguna Salinas and the wetlands to the south of the area and the conversion of PR-2 to an expressway and the construction of parallel service roads. Among the objectives of the Municipality of Ponce development were the establishment of a protection zone for wetlands and the Laguna Salinas.AN ACT To designate Punta Cucharas natural area of the Municipality of Ponce as a Natural Reserve Area of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, to be administered pursuant to the provisions of Act No. 150 of August 4, 1988, as amended, known as the "Puerto Rico Natural Patrimony Program Act." Legislature of Puerto Rico. Legislative Year 2008, Law No. 227. House Bill #3797. 9 August 2008. Accessed 8 June 2016.