Special use areas

Certain areas of the Galapagos National Park are used for what are called special uses, which include:

• Technical Offices and other tourism infrastructure or for monitoring and surveillance belonging to the Directorate of the Galapagos National Park and the Charles Darwin Research Station.  


• Facilities for telecommunication 


• Mines  


• Dumps for solid waste/sanitary landfills  


• Water hydrants

Due to their characteristics and special features these sites are only found on populated islands, including the island of Baltra; in clearly defined areas within the Low Impact Zone of the GNP Zoning System and in areas close to populated centers.

The requirement of an area for the use of special services should undergo an environmental and technical evaluation mechanism, after its objectives have been considered as being of regional interest by the Council of the Galapagos National Institute (INGALA) in the areas of health, education, culture, sports, security, or public interest.

Commercial use or use for private homes or housing complexes is not considered as being special services.

Demarcation

Currently, the Directorate of the Galapagos National Park is working on physically demarcating the areas with the location of landmarks, first on Santa Cruz Island and then on the other islands.

Meanwhile, park rangers in charge of island control and surveillance do the job of verifying daily that users respect the boundaries and regulations for the extraction of stone materials and usable wood from the introduced plants control and eradication programs.