The Belize Audubon Society notifies the public that the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary (CBWS) will be closed tomorrow, Wednesday, May 23, 2007 – one day only - to enable urgent upgrading of the access road.
Upgrading of the access road includes the installation of culverts to ensure all year round access to the CBWS. The installation of the culverts will block the road requiring the closure of the Wildlife Sanctuary to the public. In the past, heavy rains often resulted in the washing away of culverts making the access road impassable, however the upgrading should create an all weather road.
Funding for the road upgrade is being made possible through the project “Towards the Sustainability of BAS-managed Protected Areas – Halfmoon Caye Natural Monument and Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary” funded by the Protected Areas Conservation Trust (PACT).
The Belize Audubon Society helped establish Belize’s first protected area at Half Moon Caye, and now manages nine protected areas covering over 162,000 acres, on behalf of the people and Government of Belize. These protected areas include St. Herman’s Blue Hole National Park, Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary (Jaguar Reserve), Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary (Ramsar site), Guanacaste National Park, Halfmoon Caye Natural Monument (World Heritage Site), Tapir Mountain Nature Reserve, Blue Hole Natural Monument (World Heritage Site), Victoria Peak Natural Monument and Tapir Mountain Natural Monument.
