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Butterflies of El Salvador
Butterfly breeders since 1989. We are a Butterfly farm and a Private Natural Reserve in Southeastern El Salvador
Our History
The farm was established below and adjacent to the mountainous El Imposible National Park in southwestern El Salvador, close to the border with Guatemala. Acknowledged as being the natural area with the highest biodiversity in the country, El Imposible – so named due to a once precarious and dangerous pass in its upper ridges — seemed a logical choice: the intentions were not merely to start a farm, but also a wildlife refuge called EL REFUGIO (“The Refuge”). With a slightly over 2.5 Km border with the El Imposible Park, this private reserve has become an important buffer zone that complements the park’s conservation objectives and carrying capacity, substantially reducing the impact of fires, poaching, domestic animals and disease on the park, as well as the impact of wildlife on crops and other human activities in the other direction.
1960
In the late nineteen sixties, a prominent Salvadorian musician graduated from the Royal College of Music (England) by the name of Miguel Serrano – also a serious amateur lepidopterist and pioneer in the study of Salvadorian butterflies — started breeding some butterflies and moths upon request from collectors and researchers in the U.S. and the U.K.
1970
National Parks and Wildlife Service
Much later in El Salvador, Miguel’s brother – Francisco – professional ecologist and founder (in 1974) of the country’s National Parks and Wildlife Service– inspired by a close friend and former school mate Francisco Aquino, decided to apply Miguel’s breeding program at a much broader scale.
Between 1975 and 1981 Miguel continued this practice in Costa Rica, thus laying the seeds of what would become the butterfly farming industry in Central America.
1989
Bioproductores de El Salvador is born
1989
Mr. Aquino, a Harvard trained economist, provided more than encouragement. Thus, in 1989, now as associates, the two Franciscos founded “BIOPRODUCTORES DE EL SALVADOR”, the first Salvadorian enterprise oriented towards investigating and producing native fauna and flora for both commercial and conservation purposes. In turn, the first serious venture was to be a butterfly farm.