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Background

The decree establishing the Iztaccíhuatl-Popocatépetl National Park was issued on October 29, 1935 and published in the Diario Oficial de la Federación (Official Federal Gazette) on November 7 of the same year, during the administration of General Lázaro Cárdenas. Likewise, the creation of the Zoquiapan National Park (in the northwest portion of the Sierra Nevada) was decreed on February 19, 1937. It went into effect on March 13 of that year, when it was published in the Diario Oficial.

These decrees were based on the Forestry Law of 1926. The stated purpose of the parks initiative was the protection of the high hydrographic basins encompassing the valleys of Mexico, Puebla, Tlaxcala, and Morelos; soil conservation; and the protection of forest vegetation, as well as flora and fauna in surrounding areas. It was deemed necessary to avoid hydrological alterations and to impede climate changes and torrential rains that were harmful to agriculture and population centers in the valleys.

The Izta-Popo National Park was reduced from 59,913.93 hectares to 25,679 hectares in 1947, when a second decree was issued, creating the Industrial Forest Exploitation Unit in order to supply the San Rafael and Loreto y Peña Pobre paper factories with lumber. The decree set the lower Park boundary at the 3.600 meter elevation line. It's important to note that the Park borders were modified for the sole benefit of the country's paper industry, whose factories had been granted concessions to utilize forests in the area since the end of the 19th century. On the other hand, the San Rafael paper factory built a large part of the hydraulic network and the roads in the Sierra Nevada.

The history of the Zoquiapan National Park dates back to a decree issued by President Elías Calles on January 27, 1931, declaring the public utility of the reforestation of several pieces of private property as well as National Park land in the states of Mexico and Puebla. In 1937, President Lázaro Cárdenas issued another decree creating the Zoquiapan y Anexas National Park, initially consisting of 20,454 hectares of annexed forest land formerly belonging to the ex-haciendas at Zoquiapan, Ixtlahuacán, and Río Frío, as well as the Venta de Córdova, Venta Nueva, and Mayen ranches, which were owned by Iñigo Noriega Laso during the Porfirio Díaz regime. The surface area of these lands coincides almost exactly with that of the National Park. In 1983-1984, the former Ministry of Urban Development and Ecology (SEDUE) registered only 19,418 hectares of National Park land, classified as 56.6 % national surface area, 22.4 % communal lands, and 20.9% unidentified surface area.

A significant step was taken in 1947, with consequences that are still evident today: the government of President Miguel Alemán issued a decree establishing a logging ban in the entire state of Mexico due to overexploitation. The ban was suspended around 1970 with the creation of the quasi-governmental Agency for Forest Protection and Industrialization, PROTINBOS, in the state of Mexico; the aim was to foment the rational exploitation of forest resources over a 20 year period. Then, on June 13, 1990, the Forest Protection Agency, PROBOSQUE, was created in the state of Mexico for the purpose of protection, conservation, fomentation, and vigilance. At that time, the logging ban was once again imposed until 1995. The intention of the logging bans has been the care of the forests; nevertheless, this kind of action has generated more problems than benefits. In many cases the owners of forest land have opted to set fire to their own forests in order to later obtain permits for restoration, clearing out dead wood, or extending pasture land for livestock grazing. Furthermore, the ban on forest exploitation has given rise to clandestine logging, which is one of the most serious problems in the area.