Treasure of the Sierra Madre

摘要

Tropical dry forest once snaked along the foothills of Mexico's scenic Sierra Madre and into Central America as far south as the Nicoya Peninsula of Costa Rica. A mix of trees that are adapted to survive a harsh annual drought and a short, intense wet season, the forest has not fared well in the past few centuries. Cleared to make way for agriculture and cattle, it has gradually been reduced to fragments, so that only 2 to 10 percent of the original 250,000-square-mile expanse is considered pristine.