CHAGRES NATIONAL PARK

Chagres national Park was set up in 1985 over 129.000 hectares of land in the provinces of panama and Colòn. Its forests produce not only more than 40% of the water needed to work the Panama Canal, but also provide all the drinking water consumed in the cities of Panama and Colòn, where 50% of the population live.
Without the River Chagres, construction of the Panama Canal would not have been possible, and without Chagres National Park, there would have been no river, the topography of the national park is very steep with altitudes ranging from 60 meters in some river valleys to the highest point, Cerro Jefe, at 1.007 meters above sea level. Other important peaks are Cerro Bruja (974m), Cerro Azul (771m).
With average temperatures around 30° C in the lowlands and 20 C in the highlands and with precipitation exceeding 4.000 mm on the peaks and 2.200 mm al lake Alajuela, the steep sides of the volcanic ranges in the protected area are carpeted in moist tropical forests, very moist premontane forests, very moist tropical and premontane rainforest.
The whole park protects the hydrographic basin of the River Chagres, which was dammed in 1914 where it meets the Canal in order to create Lake Gatun, which for a long time was the world's largest artificial lake. In 1935, the Chagres was dammed again, creating 5.000 hectare Lake Alajuela, which is nowadays inside the national park and serves to regulate the level of Lake Gatun. Chagres is currently the only river in the world of flow into two oceans.
The moist tropical forests consist of large trees basically of the genera Bombacopis, Anacardium, tabebuia and Cedrela, in the very moist premontane forests, the genera Calophyllum and Achras are common, while in the very moist tropical forsests, with huge trunks as big as 50 meters, live the genera Poulsenia, Terminalia and Quararibea. The area around Cerro Jefe is an important place for epiphyte, moss, orchid, fern and bromeliad endemisms.
There is also a considerable wealth of wildlife which is home to endemic salamanders Bolitoglossa schirodactyla and Bolitoglossa cuna. The elusive stripe-cheeked woodpecker (Piculus callopterus), a panam endemic, can be seen in the vicinity of Cerro Azul and Cerro Jefe. The rare Tacarcuna bush tanager (Chlorospingus tacarcunae), previously only recorded on Cerro Tacarcuna de Darien, also occurs on Cerro Jefe in Chagres, a large tapir population (Tapirus bairdii) lives in the dense forests, as do a few harpy eagles (Harpia harpyja) and jaguars (Panthera onca), together with the four other cat species found in Panama, the Chagres and its many tributaries are the habitat of over 59 species of freshwater fish, and the otter (Lontra loncigaudis) in its waters alongside caimans (Caiman crocodylus) and crocodiles (Crocodylus acoutus).
The Camino Real which was used by the Spanish to transport riches from Peru and other South American countries from Panama City to Portobelo, crosses the park in the Boqueron Sector. A community of native Embera has settled in the upper part of Lake Alajuela.