Current Community Projects - Colibrís Women´s Cooperative

• Craft & new jewelry design & development
• English and environmental education
• Organic community gardens

SOME HISTORICAL PROJECTS - Santa Lucia

Santa Lucia´s community projects were developed in collaboration with community consultant Mary Finn, the community´s Marketing and Project Director from mid 2000 to May 2003 (see ´Community - Brief History´)

Reforestation Project

One of the first community conservation projects developed by Mary Finn and SL administrator Francisco Molina was a reforestation project funded by Rainforest Concern and supported by Quest Overseas and Santa Lucía´s many other volunteers. Thanks to their efforts, over 1000 native tree species were planted in the first half of 2002.

Background

The objective of the project was to return certain degraded pasture-lands (around 5 hectares) to forest, in areas of steep hillside and near critical watersheds and environmentally sensitive areas. Other pasturelands (40 to 45 hectares) are to be managed in a sustainable manner using silvopasture techniques. These areas of degraded pasture-land were the result of more than 20 years that Santa Lucia operated as an agricultural cooperative before changing to a focus on conservation and sustainable development in the 1990s. In the past local people were untrained in conservation methods, including the techniques of silvopasture (the planting of trees in pasture areas).

Silvopasture systems aid in the sustainable management of pastures because trees left among the pasture grass help to maintain soil quality and prevent runoff and erosion during heavy rains. They also provide shade and forage for cattle and refuge and food for birds and wildlife. Especially on very steep hillsides and close to water sources, tree cover helps prevent erosion, conserve soils and preserve the quantity and quality of water.

Most of these degraded areas are located in older pastures (planted more than 20 years ago), so there was little or no natural regeneration, or the process of natural regeneration was very slow. The type of pasture grass used in most of the pastures in Santa Lucia, "pasto miel" (Setaria sthaceolata), is difficult to replace once it´s been in place for several years. Moreover, because of the lack of existing tree cover there is very little shade in these pastures, which many of the trees native to the cloud forest need during the early stages of their growth. The lack of existing trees also slows the natural regeneration process since many native species rely on birds and animals as dispersal agents for their seeds. The trees planted in a reforestation project then become ´natural islands´ where birds and other dispersers visit, dropping seeds digested from fruits found in the forest.

Native Tree Nursery

A community tree nursery was established with the aid of Jorge (Noe) Morales and South African volunteer Craig Shaw, in order to produce native trees for the first phase of planting. Over 4700 plants of 11 different species were produced in the first six months of the project. These include local species which are sun-tolerant (pioneer species such as `lechero´- Saplum sp. and `colca´- Miconia sp.), and those which attract birds and other seed-dispersers (e.g, `Tarquí´ - Hedyosmum sp.) Silvopasture areas were planted with leguminous trees such as `Aliso´ (Alnus sp.) and sun-tolerant native species such as `Sangre de Drago´ (Croton sp.)

The nursery has a production capacity for 12,000 to 14,000 trees which allows for various phases of plant production of a wide range of native species, as well as providing space for experimenting with different propagation techniques.

back to top

Environmental Education Project

Santa Lucia began a program of English and environmental education for the youth of the surrounding communities. We are currently seeking funding to build a small community learning center with a library, computers, and community extension /demonstration areas of low cost, appropriate technologies (such as agroforesty, organic gardening and passive solar water heaters). Those who wish to support the community of Santa Lucia in this or other community projects may do so via Rainforest Concern, a registered British Charity.

Activities for local children in the Santa Lucia cloud forest include birding, games, learning about conservation and planting trees.

A critical aspect of environmental education is to teach children not only appreciation of and respect for nature, but also respect for themselves and others. For this reason it is especially important that any volunteer working with children in a community adhere to suggested behavioral norms for visitors. Remember that children learn more from what they see as examples than from what they are told in a classroom!

back to top

Conservation Studies and Projects

There are many opportunities for investigations of the ecology and the flora and fauna of the Chocó cloud forest region, and Santa Lucia encourages researchers to come and study their cloud forest reserve. Previous studies have included birding surveys, a brief survey of the endangered Pacarana (´talaguanta´) and a thesis on the improvement in pasture productivity with the installation of silvopasture systems.

In January of 2003, Santa Lucia began a conservation mapping and monitoring project using GPS and GIS technology. Among the objectives of this project are to:

• Map important physical, hydrological and ecological aspects of the reserve
• Monitor land use changes (particularly the effects of reforestation)
• Monitor endemic and endangered flora and fauna in the Santa Lucía reserve
• Train Santa Lucia members as local naturalists or ´para-biologists´

This project was developed by Mary Finn with help from Anthony Johnson, a six-months volunteer from Australia, with experience in GPS/GIS technology use in conservation/land-use planning.

back to top