In the Biocultural Conservation Program we focus on activities and strategies in which aspects of indigenous culture and biological diversity go hand in hand. Traditional knowledge is prioritized as an essential part of conservation practices.
Alianza Sierra Madre A.C. has a study in which national and foreign researchers documented 49 vertebrate species with conservation status, according to the NOM. 059-ECOL-1994 within the territory of Choréachi (Pino Gordo), located inside the Barranca Sinforosa Biological Corridor, considered a priority for conservation by the National Commission for Biological Diversity (CONABIO). In addition to this, a bilingual manual (Rarámuri and Spanish) was prepared on the birds of the Sierra Tarahumara.
As part of the close relationship between culture and environment, we can mention the healing practice that the Rarámuri people of Choréachi (Pino Gordo) has with the use of Jíkuri, or peyote (lophophora williamssi). Alianza Sierra Madre A.C. initiated an investigation and documentation on some aspects of the ceremony, collection sites and uses of this cactus with a view to its protection, through the project “Protection of the Sacred Route of the Jíkuri”
In 2011 we accompanied the owirúame (doctors Rarámuri) in the elaboration of a diagnosis and mapping of the health specialists with which this Choréachi people have, in addition they realized the collection of medicinal plants, as part of the process of reflection around the Importance of the knowledge inherited from the (ancient) Anayáwari, linked to the ancestral territory.
This process of accompaniment to the Rarámuri specialists for documentation and reflection on the natural assets of the territory has continuity with other topics, such as the development of a mapping of the location of the main water sources – manantiales and streams – with the That counts in town Choréachi in its territory, linked to the knowledge about the material and cultural care that must be had for them.