And another Pine Ridge proposal that Sabido had opposed was one from a newly formed company named Selva Conservation which wants to manage four recreation sites in the Mountain Pine Ridge area.
According to the minister they still have not designated a concessionaire to look after the grounds, but he certainly seems inclined to do so. He says it's a big job and the forest department cannot manage it alone:
Orlando Habet, Minister of Sustainable Dev
"The concessions, most of the concessions if not all long term forest concessions allow for that concession year to look at areas where they can have some type of additional income that is tourism and we are looking at sustainable tourism. So the concessioners can apply for areas that they can manage. What we see in the mountain pine ridge right now, especially on weekends and long holidays, is that there are thousands of people going there's no type of management. If you go to Rio on or Rio Frio Caves, you see where people have done barbecues and all the wood is still there. Beer cans, beer bottles, garbage from food, plastics and foam are all thrown away. So I think when a concession is given, they will do the management. The government cannot do it. The Forest Department is not equipped to do that. And they don't have the personnel to be doing the monitoring of the area. So the concessions help because it, affords for tourism, but also affords for the public to go and visit a site that is clean and and sustainable."
