In 2019, Finca Alicia was planted with over 1100 trees of 40 different species. Numerous schoolchildren and students from the region actively helped out. With the start of the rainy season at the beginning of May 2020, we will be able to assess more precisely how well the young trees have survived the hot dry season. A recent inventory showed the very good condition of the plantation. The project was successfully managed and supervised by our forest engineer Victor Esquivel for 2 years. Victor changed careers at the beginning of 2020 and we would like to thank him very much for his professional reforestation work and his great commitment to environmental education. Working with him was a lot of fun and we wish him all the best for the future!
At the same time, we are delighted to have found a professional successor for environmental education in Alexis Obregon Carillo. Our project coordinator Stefan Rother and Alexis have already drawn up a project plan for the next two years at the start of 2020, which also includes numerous new ideas and projects. In addition to traditional environmental education at more than 10 regional schools and universities, we will be implementing new ideas with the pupils, such as creating local gardens with medicinal plants in schools. Here, the knowledge of the older generations is to be passed on to the pupils and implemented directly with the plant nurseries. At the same time, we would like to use the immediate proximity between the protected reforested forest areas and the small parcel fruit and coffee plantations in the Hojancha valley basin to establish a model project combining forest protection, agriculture and beekeeping.
Scientific aspects are also being given greater consideration: Together with the Fundacion Monte Alto and the Guanacaste Fund, we have been able to reforest more than 60% of the approx. 900-hectare basin with natural mixed forest within 25 years. From 2020, we will increasingly carry out the determination and identification of animal and plant species in the reforested region. This also includes the establishment of camera traps, which are primarily intended to provide data on nocturnal mammals. We wish our young project partner Alexis a good start and every success with this comprehensive program of environmental education, nature conservation and science.
Alexis explains the individual environmental education modules to Stefan (left), watched intently by the head of the Fundacion Monte Alto Miguel Mendez (right) and the very interested youngsters.
Photos: Stefan Rother – Faunity & Michael Ott
