An American conservation NGO has helped propose and fund the creation of a vast new nature reserve along a critical corridor of biodiversity high in the Bolivian Andes.
Containing over 1,300 native species, including 13 found only in Bolivia, the Serranías y Cuencas de Palos Blancos Municipal Protected Area isn’t far from the capital of La Paz, but this proximity belies the ecological value found there.
The area sits along a transitionary zone of high-altitude Andean cloud forest into more Amazon-type rainforest. Here, 86% of the forests contained in the new protected area have never seen human disturbance.
On December 30th, 2025, the local government of Palos Blancos enthusiastically moved forward with recommendations from the Andes-Amazon Fund to protect around 340 square-miles of this habitat.
Abutting two indigenous reserves, the new protected area greatly increases connectivity between existing wild landscapes which animals like the black spider monkey and the jaguar will need to flourish.
Conservation International Bolivia and the Rainforest Trust assisted in the funding and organization of the project, which in addition to the animals and plant life, will protect the headwaters of the nearby Alto Beni River which thousands depend on for water resources.
A province to the north of Palos Blancos also recently created a new, 320-square-mile protected area along this transitionary zone between cloud forest and Amazon.
The two protected areas connect with Cotapata and Madidi national parks, and along with the indigenous reserves already mentioned, help form the Gran Paitití de Mapiri Biodiversity Corridor.
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“By protecting this zone, Bolivia strengthens an entire conservation mosaic that extends from the cloud forests of La Paz to the lower Amazon, ensuring that species like the jaguar and the Andean bear can move freely through their habitats,” noted Eduardo Forno, Vice President of Conservation International Bolivia, in October of last year, when the protected area was created.
Protected acreage of the new “mosaic” exceeds 1 million acres, making it larger than America’s Big Bend National Park, in Texas.
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