Ceiba tree spared, moved elsewhere as airport expansion overtakes green space
ByYucatán Magazine
A huge ceiba tree, considered sacred in many cultures, was transplanted rather than chopped down at the Merida International Airport.Photo: Facebook
Not every tree was chopped down when a modest green space was cleared at the Merida Manuel Crescencio Rejón International Airport.
A huge, decades-old ceiba tree, considered sacred in Maya culture, was transplanted elsewhere at the complex.
Transplanting mature trees is difficult and not guaranteed to save the life of the tree, but the company charged with removing several 50-year-old arboles decided it was worth trying to salvage it.
The 2-billion-peso airport expansion required the land where a grove of green trees, habitat to noisy grackles that greeted travelers, grew for decades.
SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTERDelivered to your inbox every Monday, completely free.
Look up this week, and the sky over Yucatán may look a little different. Civil protection officials say a cloud of Saharan dust is settling over the Peninsula from today through Tuesday, with a light to moderate concentration expected. The main effects: a hazy, slightly duller sky during the day and unusually deep red and…
Federal environmental inspectors have sealed off a stretch of dunes in Chabihau, a small fishing port on Yucatán’s north coast, after social media posts showed heavy machinery digging up sand along the shoreline. Mexico’s Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, known as Semarnat, sent inspectors to the site along with police from the municipality of…
Authorities at the Cuxtal Ecological Reserve are warning would-be buyers about a wave of online ads offering so-called “investment lots” inside and around the protected area south of Mérida, saying the land behind many of these offers cannot legally be sold as residential property. Sandra García Peregrina, director of the reserve, said her office remains…
The Celestún Biosphere Reserve is a popular destination to get a close-up view of its most famous residents: pink flamingos. However, this part of the western coast of the Yucatán Peninsula offers much more than graceful pink species. A Diverse Ecosystem The reserve covers more than 200 hectares. It extends across the states of Yucatán…
Yucatán business leaders say a hostile investment climate is scaring off capital, and they’re pointing to the stalled “Las Dunas” beach project as their prime example. Coparmex Mérida, the local chapter of Mexico’s national employers’ confederation, unveiled its first Data Coparmex 2026 survey this week. The results were bleak: eight in 10 member businesses have…
Three tropical waves are expected to cross Yucatán during the first week of September, building toward the weekend and raising the risk of street flooding in low-lying areas, according to meteorologist Juan Antonio Palma Solís of Meteored México. The timing lines up with the Atlantic’s busiest stretch of the year. The season’s climatological peak falls…