The Central Corridor connects Laguna del Tigre National Park to Mirador - Rio Azul National Park, and was established to maintain the biodiversity connectivity and gene flow between these core areas. La Corona area is located in the northcentral part of the corridor and the Burral is in the far south. Both sites have great natural importance as scarlet macaw nesting sites, with active nests reported since 2003.
On both sites WCS Guatemala have field camps and field laboratories for the management of macaws chicks, and the nesting success and macaw chicks health is monitored. These sites have high biodiversity, with high abundance of species such as jaguar, tapir, and white-lipped peccary. La Corona area is also very important culturally, for there in lies the archaeological site of La Corona, whose original name was SakNikte and formerly known as Q Site; because the site was identified by a number of looted pieces that appeared in museums and private collections in the 60s. This site contains numerous inscriptions carved on monuments of great quality that relate to Calakmul in Mexico, capital of Kaan Kingdom, and main rival of Tikal during the Late Classic period. Despite being a relatively small site, the monuments area mong the finest works of sculpture.
Conservation Challenges
La Corona and Burral areas face threats of deforestation and forest fires caused by usurpers of areas intended to establish unplanned human settlements, its pressure comes from the west of Laguna del Tigre National Park. These two areas are very important because they maintain the connectivity between the Laguna del Tigre National Park and the block of forest concessions and Mirador-Rio Azul National Park. These two sites are part of the "The Shield", a protection strategy driven by WCS, CONAP and other partners to stop the advance of the agricultural frontier and the establishment of new settlements in the area.
Part of the strategy to protect the area has been the establishment and maintenance of permanent camps with CONAP and WCS staff, and other partners in both areas-The Yesal Burral and La Corona. These camps not only maintain permanent staff in areas to deter illegal activities,but also work to maintain firewall gaps and patrolling to monitor threats. The maintenance of governance in the area is the main challenge to ensure long-term conservation of these areas.