Lake Patzcuaro It is one of the most important lakes in México for its role in the culture, ecology and economy of the region, yet experts call Lake Pátzcuaro a dying lake. Once believed to be the gateway to heaven by pre-Hispanic P'urhépecha, the lake has been poisoned by pollution and is shrinking from siltation by topsoil that washes down from small family agricultural plots on the surrounding mountainsides. Large scale erosion from the fields on its watershed have filled the western side of the shallow lake, making a peninsula of the island of Jarácuaro. Agricultural pollutants add to the effluents of numerous communities along the shore. Efforts to restore the lake can never be successful until the mountainsides are returned to forest, to the benefit of the environment and the land owners as well.

Lake Zirahuen: Smaller, but deeper than Lake Pátzcuaro, Lake Zirahuén is also being negatively impacted by pollutants and siltation. Rapid development of its watershed demands attention to reforestation of eroded adjacent mountainsides.