Reserva de la Biósfera Sierra Gorda, Sierra Gorda

The Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve is a protected natural area in central Mexico. It is located in the northeast of the state of Querétaro, and covers approximately one-third of the state. It covers an area of 383,567 hectares, in a segment of the Sierra Madre Oriental.

The Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve was created by presidential decree on May 19, 1997. It is under the administration of the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources SEMARNAT.

Its climate is very varied. There are populations located at an altitude of 1,200 meters above sea level and others that reach 2,200 meters above sea level. In some points, as in Pinal de Amoles, and that can reach 3,000 meters above sea level. At the bottom of the canyons, the climate is dry and arid, changing to grasslands, tropical forest and mountain forest in the highest part. Its ecosystems vary from xerophytic scrub to temperate forests, including cloud forests, so the polygon of the RBSG is included in the Priority Terrestrial Region #101, Sierra Gorda-Rio Montezuma and in the Priority Hydrological Region #75, Confluencia de las Huastecas, according to the National Commission for the Use and Knowledge of Biodiversity, due to its value for conservation and hydrological productivity.

In five towns located within the Sierra Gorda are Franciscan missions founded by Fray Junipero Serra in the eighteenth century, when the Franciscans arrived in Jalpan. These missions were declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2003.

The Sierra Gorda was recognized by National Geographic Traveler magazine as one of the most sustainable tourism sites in the world. It ranked first in Mexico, second in Latin America and 13th in the world.

The Jalpan Dam was decreed a RAMSAR site on February 2, 2004, due to its importance as a wetland, and the work that has been done to conserve it.