Editing Durango (section)

===General information===
The area of Durango is {{convert|123,451.2|km2|e6ha|abbr=unit|sigfig=3|disp=or}}; this accounts for about 6.3% of the entire territory of Mexico. It is the fourth largest state,<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|url=http://siglo.inafed.gob.mx/enciclopedia/EMM10durango/|title=Durango Medio físico|website=Enciclopedia de los Municipios y Delegaciones de México|publisher=INAFED|access-date=October 2, 2018|archive-date=October 3, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181003014443/http://siglo.inafed.gob.mx/enciclopedia/EMM10durango/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=lellison>{{cite thesis |last= Ellison Collins |first=Lindsay |date=2015 |title=Post – Revolutionary Mexican Education in Durango and Jalisco: Regional Differences, Cultures of Violence, Teaching, and Folk Catholicism  |type=PhD |publisher=Collins Portland State University}}</ref> lying at the extreme northwest of the [[Mexican Plateau|Central Mexican Plateau]], where it meets the [[Sierra Madre Occidental]]—the highest peaks in the state. The state has an average elevation of 1,775 meters above sea level, with a mean elevation of 1,750 m in the Valleys region and 2,450 m in the Sierra region.<ref name=scaling>{{cite thesis |last=García López  |first=Gustavo A.  |date=December 2012  |title=Scaling up from the top down and bottom up: The impacts and governance of inter-community forest associations in Durango, Mexico |type=PhD |publisher=Indiana University  }}</ref> The [[Durango City|city of Durango]] is on the foothills of the Sierra Madre Occidental, with an elevation of 1,857 m.<ref name=dedavies>{{cite thesis |last=Davies |first=Edward |date=August 2009 |title=The Italianized frontier: Music at Durango cathedral, Español culture, and the aesthetics of devotion in eighteenth-century New Spain Vol 1  |type=PhD |publisher=The University of Chicago  }}</ref>

Durango is landlocked, bordered by [[Chihuahua (state)|Chihuahua]], [[Coahuila]], [[Zacatecas]], [[Nayarit]] and [[Sinaloa]].<ref name=":3" /><ref name=lellison/> It is divided into 39 municipalities,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://siglo.inafed.gob.mx/enciclopedia/EMM10durango/|title=Durango Regionalización|website=Enciclopedia de los Municipios y Delegaciones de México|via=siglo.inafed.gob.mx|publisher=[[INAFED]]|access-date=October 2, 2018|archive-date=October 3, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181003014443/http://siglo.inafed.gob.mx/enciclopedia/EMM10durango/|url-status=dead}}</ref> based on the 1917 [[Constitution of Mexico]], and several additional divisions have been made since.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://siglo.inafed.gob.mx/enciclopedia/EMM10durango/|title=Durango Gobierno|website=Enciclopedia de los Municipios y Delegaciones de México|publisher=INAFED|via=siglo.inafed.gob.mx|access-date=October 2, 2018|archive-date=October 3, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181003014443/http://siglo.inafed.gob.mx/enciclopedia/EMM10durango/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The [[Sierra Madre Occidental]] blocks moisture from the Pacific Ocean, impacting the local climate of the state. Las Quebradas region, located over the mountain chain and on the northwest of the state, has a [[humid subtropical climate]]. Excepting the highest elevations, the rest of the state has [[semi-arid]] and [[temperate]] climates. It is hot and dry in the East, with some temperate areas existing at higher elevations.<ref name=":3" />
[[File:Barrancas en parque natural mexiquillo.jpg|thumb|left|View toward the canyon at the [[Mexiquillo]] ([[:es:Mexiquillo|es]]) nature reserve]]
Most of the state is mountainous and heavily forested, with the Sierra Madre Occidental covering around two-thirds of the state.<ref name=lellison/> Like much of northern Mexico, the state has worked to reforest the degraded forests of the Sierra Madre Occidental and Sierra Madre Oriental. Reforesting efforts have focused on replanting native tree species, versus those used for wood production. However, the tree density in many areas is still too low, especially on the eastern slopes of the Sierra Madre Occidental where tree poaching and clearing for agricultural activities is problematic.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=J. Navar|first=P.A.|date=March 30, 2016|title=A Stand grouth and yield model for northern forested stands of Mexico|journal=Mathematical and Computational Forestry & Natural Resource Sciences|volume=8|pages=25–34|issn=1946-7664}}</ref>

Many rivers begin in Durango, but lead into other Mexican states. Some of these rivers empty into the Pacific, or into the lake area of La Comarca, while one, the Florida, flows into the Gulf of Mexico.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Durango:450 años|publisher=Instituto de Cultura del Estado de Durango|year=2013|isbn=978-607-7976-11-0|editor-last=de la Cruz de la Fuente|editor-first=Mauricio|location=Durango}}</ref>