By José Antonio Perez
Despite the capacity to receive up to 180,000 visitors annually, the Schuk Toak Visitors Center at the Pinacate Biosphere Reserve is currently underutilized, receiving only about 30,000 tourists a year, reports Federico Godínez Leal, Director at the Protected Natural Area. He explained the ecologically sustainable Visitors Center has always sought to be self-sufficient, therefore they are continually working to achieve this goal.
He detailed the dynamic character of the Schuk Toak Visitors Center of the Pinacate Biosphere Reserve (which in 2013 was declared a UNESCO Natural World Heritage Site) is not solely to exhibit static displays but rather provide much more visual and practical exhibits via innovative technology.
To attract more visitors to the Visitors Center, while providing environmental education, work is underway to expand the museography at the center, along with rotating exhibits from time to time.
Now through early January, for example, an “Internal Camera” photography exhibit is on display at the Schuk Toak Visitors Center. Images displayed were taken by young women from the Teen Treatment and Implementation Institute (ITAMA) of Hermosillo, Sonora, and are part of a project promoted by photographer Esperanza Barrón with support from the FECAS Stimulus Program for Creation and Artistic Development.
An upcoming exhibit on the totoaba is set for January 2017, which will remain on display for three months. A future exhibit, developed by museographers from the Mexicali campus of the Autonomous University of Baja California (UABC), will focus on the region’s bighorn sheep (cimarrón borrego).
The Schuk Toak Visitor’s Center, located at KM 72 just north of Puerto Peñasco, is open daily throughout the year, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. pinacate@conanp.gob.mx (638) 108-0011
