In the Orinoquia region, the PVS works in the "Bita River Basin," near Puerto Carreño. This is the third-largest basin (8,707 square kilometers) among those surrounding the great Orinoco River. It also works in the Tomo River Basin, within the El Tuparro National Natural Park.
The Bita Basin is located in high, non-floodable plains (Correa et al., 2005). This province covers a total area of 9,238,277 hectares, corresponding to 27 percent of the Orinoco basin.
The altiplain is situated between the south of the Meta River and the alluvial plain of the Vichada and Guaviare rivers and their tributaries (Correa et al., 2005). In this region, there are small eroded valleys around which gallery forests (forests located around rivers) and wide, elongated depressions form, giving rise to swamps or marshes (Molano, 1998).
During the rainy season, waterlogging phenomena occur due to poor soil drainage. Each of these environments determines its own vegetation and the greater or lesser development of common species, especially trees and shrubs. The dominant vegetation consists of vast herbaceous savannas with scattered or concentrated woody plants in thickets or gallery forests (Molano, 1998).
The Bita River has no cities, towns, or villages along its course, nor are there any factories, mines, or oil installations currently in the area. This makes it home to a great biodiversity of aquatic mammals — such as pink dolphins, manatees, and giant river otters — and a variety of fish and reptiles, such as anacondas and turtles.
In the gallery forests and along the river, one can find monkeys, tapirs, capybaras, deer, and many other mammals, as well as macaws, parrots, and falcons, just to name a few types of birds.
However, the basin is not immune to regional threats, including the expansion of the agricultural frontier (mainly cattle ranching and rice crops), as this is the main economic activity of the department (Benavides, 2010), as well as the extraction of fauna and flora.
In this landscape, the PVS has implemented conservation actions for a group of species, which, at the same time, maintains or increases the habitats and permanence of other species.
Traslated with AI support