The Nevado de Toluca National Park is located southwest of the city of Toluca, Mexico State. It was decreed a park in 1936, primarily to protect the Nevado de Toluca volcano, which forms nearly the park's entire surface and is the fourth highest peak in Mexico. It is 45 km from Toluca and 135 from Mexico City. The park was established with the aim of conservation, but the park is under increasing pressure from the growth of the Toluca metropolitan area as well as from illegal logging done by local communities who need the income. The volcano has been long extinct and has a large crater in which are two shallow lakes. The crater and lakes are popular with visitors from Mexico State and Mexico City, especially when there is snow. There are a number of archeological sites in the park, including the lakes themselves, which contain numerous offerings of copal and other items that were deposited during the pre-Hispanic period. The park offers activities such as hiking, mountain biking and horseback riding as well as limited skiing facilities. Due to its altitude, the summit of the Nevado is significantly colder than the surrounding area. The park was closed indefinitely in August 2025 after an accident.
History and conservation issues The Nevado de Toluca National Park (NTNP) was established in 1936, with the aim of preserving a 51,000-ha area surrounding the Xinantécatl, or Nevado de Toluca volcano. This park is one of the most important protected areas in Mexico. When the park was created, the lands were not expropriated by the federal government and they continued to be used as ejido, communal and private lands with restrictions. The decree contained provisions to encourage those with lands here to plant with trees. In the 1930s, the park covered an area of 54,000 hectares, but now it covers only 17,000. Much of the lost land was forested which has diminished the area's ability to replenish local aquifers. In the remaining park lands, more than half of the original tree biomass has been lost. The rural population which lives in and around the park has been involved with agriculture, illegal logging, mineral and soil extraction here. From 1972 to 2000, the forest cover of the park was analyzed. Although the total forest area has remained more or less the same, the density of the forest has changed significantly. Density in fir and broadleaved forests have remained stable but large areas of the forest dominated by pine trees have lost density so that most are now rated as being semi-dense or fragmented forests. The reason for this is that pine trees can fetch up to US$90 on the market. Many rural communities can no longer make a living with agriculture due to declining soil quality. Most of the damage to the park's lands has come from illegal logging, grazing, illegal mining and damage done by visitor's automobiles, especially in the crater of the volcano. Illegal logging has had the most detrimental effect. The park overall is subject to an annual deforestation rate of 0.5%, but over 13,000 of the parks 17,000 hectares show some degree of disturbance in its ecosystem, such as new meadows being created where forests have been cleared. Agriculture has diminished in the park proper but trout farms have appeared. In areas where there is still forest, most of this forest is more sparse. Until 2000, about 40% of dense pine forests were lost to logging. Another problem that the trees being cut are the healthiest, leaving the weakest and sick behind, making the remaining forests susceptible to pests and diseases. The deforestation of the park follows the general trend of this heavily populated area, were 100 hectares of wild lands are lost due to development. The metropolitan area of Toluca has over 1,350,000 people, four times the population it had in 1930 and continues to have population growth rates above average for Mexico. Industrialization has been very intensive here since the 1940s, which has led to ecological consequences in the Toluca Valley. In recent decades 10,000 hectares of forests have disappeared as well as bodies of water such as the seasonal lakes of the Lerma River and numerous fresh water springs due to over pumping of groundwater. Soil acidity and erosion are serious problems. Aside from logging, the park faces other problems due to the large population that lives near it. Mining in Mexico State, mostly of sand and gravel, is concentrated in the area around the volcano and it is known that these materials have been mined illegally in the park itself. There are a number of roads in the park with are almost exclusively used by trucks which take out illegally mined sand and gravel with at least eight illegal open pit mines. While the area is legally only supposed to be forest, mining sand and gravel is relatively easy as it is near the surface. Some of these mines are on ejido land. Local government officials claim that they have been closing mines but environmental groups state that the practiced is tolerated by officials. Other problems are due to the many visitors the park receives, which can be as high as 10,000 per day. This includes the illegal dumping of trash and damage to the crater area by automobiles which had been allowed to drive onto the soft sandy soil here. In 2008, part of the park was closed to allow for the recuperation of the forests there. More than 20% of the park is considered to be highly damaged, mostly in the higher elevations due to automobiles and grazing by livestock. Since July 2008, cars, motorcycles and ATVs have been forbidden to enter the crater area due to the damage they cause here. Visitors to the crater must now walk two to six km from the parking area outside the crater. There are two routes from the parking area to the crater, a longer, flatter one and the Paso del Quetzal, which is considerably steeper. Cattle are also forbidden to enter the crater area. The damage to the crater area has been deemed "critical" by a number of experts. It is unknown how long the restrictions will last. In 2010, it was suggested that it would be necessary to declare the park a biosphere reserve, which would give the area more legal protections.
Park area
… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.
