The Rio Guajalito Protection Forest (BPRG) (78°49' W, 0°14' S) is about 59 km W of Quito, on the old Quito-Chiriboga-Santo Domingo highway, province of Pichincha, northwestern Ecuador. It lies in the Subtropical zoogeographic zone at elevations between 1.800-2.400 m in the western slope of Atacazo volcano. BPRG has almost 500 ha of extension that includes the vegetation regimens (according to Valencia et al., 1999) of low montane evergreen forest and montane cloud forest. This area, located in the basin of the Guajalito River, was until the 70’s known as "Hacienda Las Palmeras". It was declared as scientific station and private reserve in 1978. Toward 1993, Ecuadorian government legally declared the area as Rio Guajalito Protected Forest (BPRG) (after the bird commonly called Guajalito or Masked Trogon Trogon personatus).

BPRG is surrounded by the Guajalito Floristic & Ecological Reserve (50 ha owned by the biologist J. Jaramillo) and by La Favorita Ecological Reserve (1500 ha managed by the Environmental Ministry of Ecuador). The climate is bimodal with a dry season from June to December characterized by mild precipitation between 40 and 100 mm monthly. The maximum temperatures in this season are 33°C at noon and the minimum 7°C at dawn. The rainy season runs from January to May and has an average monthly rainfall of 500 to 700 mm, reaching higher points of 900-1.600 mm/month in February and March. Maximum temperatures of 17°C at noon and minimum of 10°C at dawn are reached. The yearly rainfall average is 4.760 mm with a relative humidity exceeding 80% (data obtained between 1992-1999 in BPRG). The soils are typically Andosols (dystranteps) on volcanic materials, and Entisols (udiflanvents) on alluvial sediments (Mutke, 2001).

Cisneros-Heredia, D. F. & A. León Reyes. 2003. The Amphibians and Reptiles of the "Rio Guajalito" Protected Forest, Pichincha Province, Ecuador. Laboratorio de Anfibios & Reptiles, Universidad San Francisco de Quito. [on line: August 12, 2003]. Ecuador.
<http://www.geocities.com/dfch_diegoc/> (last accessed: ...).