History

Puyango Paleontological and Protector Forest is located in the mid basin of the river named the same way, occupying 2,658 hectares shared by El Oro and Loja Provinces.

“It was formed 300 million years ago when the inner sea of the big continental stratum (that will become America, Africa, and Europe later) dried. There, on the sediments a big tree forest of the Araucaria Family grew all over, which was destroyed and grew back again, at least from six volcanic eruptions million years ago. The Pacific Ocean water penetrated the buried forest 65 million years ago; it filled it with wooden silica and that is why quartz crystals were formed and the trunks became into stone.

The constitution and management of the Puyango Petrified Forest due to its dual condition of protected natural area on the Protector Forests statute, and of Ecuadorian Cultural Heritage Treasure, it requires the application of legal and ruling normative policies corresponding to the two legal and administrative aspects below, that is why in this chapter all the applicable legal frame is registered for pointing out the pertinent articles.

The Puyango Petrified Forest declared “National Heritage Treasure” by Executive Decree Nº 3819 (Official Register Nº 901 of March 25, 1988), and it includes the area proclaimed Protector Forest and Vegetation through the Ministerial Agreement Nº 22 (Official Register Nº 621 of June 17, 2002), from then on it is managed by the Commonwealth conformed by El Oro and Loja’s Consejos Provinciales and Puyango and Las Lajas’ Municipalities.