Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
The Yaqui Valley
The Yaqui Valley is located on the northwest coast of mainland Mexico in the state of
Sonora (
Figure 12.1
). Situated on a coastal strip along the Gulf of California, the Valley
consists of an intensively managed agricultural region amidst a desert scrub forest and is
bordered by estuarine ecosystems that provide critical habitat for migratory and resident
water birds, marine mammals, and fish and shellfish populations (
Flores-Verdugo et al.
1992
). These coastal waters have long been an important center for both subsistence and
the export fishing industry. More information on its history, climatic setting, and range of
development issues (such as urbanization, coastal zone change, water resource supply and
challenges, and population change) can be found in
Matson et al. (2005)
and in the synthe-
sis volume, Seeds of Sustainability (Matson 2012). For this particular story, however, we'll
focus primarily on intensive irrigated and fertilized agriculture in the Yaqui Valley.
The Yaqui Valley region is of vital economic importance to Mexico in terms both of its
agricultural production and fish production. Today the Yaqui Valley consists of 235,000 ha
of irrigated wheat-based agriculture, and is one of the country's most productive breadbas-
kets (
Naylor et al. 2001
). Using a combination of irrigation, high fertilizer rates, and modern
MEXICO
Sierra Madre
Occidentál
Guasimas Bay
Obregon
Yaqui Valley
Irrigation District
Tóbari Bay
N
Gulf of
California
50 km
FIGURE 12.1
Satellite image of the Yaqui Valley irrigation district (in pink), bounded to the west by the Gulf
of California and to the east by the Sierra Madres, in the state of Sonora, Mexico.
