Federal inspectors have closed a property inside Mérida’s Cuxtal Ecological Reserve after finding illegal clearing in San Pedro Chimay. The damage covered more than 5,000 square meters, and heavy machinery was seized at the site. The case adds pressure to a larger question around Mérida’s growth, because Cuxtal is not only a protected forest. It is also tied to the city’s water supply, biodiversity, and land-use enforcement in the south of the municipality.
Profepa closes illegal clearing site inside Mérida’s Cuxtal Reserve
Federal environmental inspectors closed a property inside Mérida’s Cuxtal Ecological Reserve after detecting illegal clearing that damaged more than 5,000 square meters of vegetation and soil.
The operation took place in San Pedro Chimay, a community within the protected area south of Mérida. Profepa inspectors worked with Yucatán public security officers and reserve administration personnel.
Authorities placed closure seals on the property and seized heavy machinery allegedly used to remove vegetation. No arrests were reported in the enforcement action.
The closure puts a familiar land-use conflict back on the table in Mérida. Cuxtal is not an empty green fringe waiting for the city to reach it. It is a legally protected reserve tied to water supply, biodiversity, and the rural communities in Mérida’s south.
Federal closure inside a protected reserve
Inspectors found illegal clearing work inside the Área Natural Protegida Reserva Cuxtal, according to information released after the inspection. The damage affected forest cover and soil conditions across slightly more than half a hectare.
The reported surface area is smaller than in some previous Cuxtal cases, but the location changes the file’s weight. Inside the reserve, land clearing, soil movement, and machinery work require environmental authorization and review before work begins.
That point is central to the enforcement case. The closure does not, by itself, settle any criminal responsibility. It halts activity on the site while authorities process the alleged violation and decide which administrative or legal steps to take.
Municipal officials also urged people to check rules before intervening in the reserve. That warning applies to clearing, construction, changes in land use, and other work that can alter vegetation or soil.
The water reserve behind the case
The Cuxtal administration says the reserve began as a 10,757-hectare protected area declared by Mérida’s city council in 1993. Its protected surface later expanded to 11,894.56 hectares, mostly low deciduous forest.
Its purpose is broader than tree cover. The reserve’s public information states that Cuxtal was created to conserve natural processes that support environmental services, especially the water cycle. Another reserve page identifies the territory as the municipality’s most important water reservoir and says it supplies Mérida through the Mérida I drinking-water plant.
A municipal environmental statement from 2023 said Cuxtal contains the city’s most important water source and supplies 50 percent of Mérida’s water. The same statement placed Cuxtal across several communities, including San Pedro Chimay, Dzununcán, Molas, Xmatkuil, Santa Cruz Palomeque, San Ignacio Tesip, Hunxectamán, Dzoyaxché, and Tahdzibichén.
The reserve administration also lists 349 vertebrate species, 450 invertebrate species and 392 plant species identified through monitoring. Those figures give the current closure a broader context than a single piece of land. Damage inside the reserve can affect habitat, water recharge, and the soil structure that keeps the protected area functioning.
A recurring pressure point in Mérida’s south
The latest closure follows earlier enforcement and court activity tied to Cuxtal. In April, two people were linked to a criminal case over environmental damage within the reserve following deforestation in 2025 that affected more than 11 hectares. A judge authorized a conditional suspension of the process and a damage-repair plan, including forest-restoration costs and restrictions on activities at the affected site.
That background matters because Cuxtal sits at the edge of Mérida’s growth. The reserve is protected on paper, but it also contains communities, roads, and land under pressure from expansion. Each enforcement case tests whether protected status can stop unauthorized clearing before damage becomes routine.
Recent coverage of Mérida’s protected heritage trees has shown the city promoting canopy protection, reforestation, and green corridors. The Cuxtal closure is the harder side of the same policy problem. Planting and tree recognition help only if land-use enforcement keeps pace with the pressure to clear.
The immediate case now rests with environmental authorities. The public record so far confirms a closed property, machinery seized, and more than 5,000 square meters of reported damage. It does not yet identify the property owner, the person responsible for the work, or the sanctions that may follow.
