Parque nacional General Juan N. Álvarez

General Juan N. Álvarez National Park covers 528 hectares of forest at El Ocotal, a group of Sierra Madre del Sur hills rising to about 2,500 m east of the city of Chilapa. The land is split between the municipalities of Chilapa and Atlixtac, right where Guerrero's central region meets La Montaña. President Adolfo López Mateos declared it in May 1964 as an emergency step against soil erosion. Ownership stayed with the ejido farmers, who have not been allowed to take anything out of the forest since.

The ground runs from gentle hills to steep slopes and ravines whose runoff feeds tributaries of the Atzacualoya river, which drains into the Mezcala and on into the Balsas basin. The climate is temperate and fairly humid, with rain from May to September. Slender pines and oaks dominate, some of them planted during reforestation, with grassland lower down and orchids that are in serious danger. Bobcat, coyote, skunk, opossum, rabbit, raccoon, fox, tigrillo (a small wild cat), badger and ringtail have been recorded, and residents also report deer, birds of prey, pumas and a local lizard they call the endemic chameleon. Many surrounding villages get their water from this forest.

After the decree the park had no budget, and loggers moved in. In 2015 Mexico's protected-areas commission sent a biologist to Chilapa to organise the communities, and since 2020 two groups of farmers from Xulchuchio, Los Camaleones and Las Guardianas, have patrolled it unarmed and without regular pay, replanting trees, maintaining the forest and fighting fires. The most stubborn threat is the cutting of ocote, resin-rich pine kindling that ends up at the Chilapa market; the families still living from it have fallen from about a hundred to around ten.

We found no official opening hours, entry fee or marked trails. The main entrance is at a spot called Las Antenas on the Chilapa-Tlapa road. Since this is ejido land watched over by the community, it is best to go with someone local.