Project Report
| May 19, 2011
GlobalGiving Visit With La Reserva
By Clinton Misamore | Field Program Officer
Do you want to give to a project that has vision? High impact? Passionate leadership? Long-term dedication? Look no further than La Reserva. Roberta Ward Smiley, founder of La Reserva, is a kind, intelligent, and welcoming individual who has been taking high impact action to restore and preserve the beautiful rainforests of Costa Rica. Roberta has been at this for the last 15 years but has been living in Costa Rica for around 30 years and is no stranger to the landscape.
I met Roberta on April 5th. Prior to this I had little knowledge of the importance of biological corridors, tree nursery maintenance, and biodiversity. By the end of our day together Roberta had explained these things and much more. In addition, she took me to see several of the project sites that La Reserva was in the process of reforesting. Roberta works with homeowners to build biological corridors on their properties. For the homeowners this translates into free tress and a more aesthetic property. For La Reserva this fulfills their philosophy.
This philosophy and work ethic recently resulted in La Reserva receiving two grants through the Ford Foundation. This competition was not taken lightly and only the best organizations were selected—La Reserva was selected twice!!!
For those of you that have seen the movie Avatar you may recall “Hometree.” This is both the spiritual and physical home of the Na’vi people. Roberta has a project “Hometree” in her back yard—literally. It’s a reforestation project with countless amounts of species and it’s called “Project Hometree.” For me this was the most profound experience from my visit. I realized that we can all have our own project “Hometree.” Not all of us will dedicate our lives to restoring and preserving trees as Roberta has. But ALL of us should realize the importance of balance and interconnections the way that Roberta does. Trees are the foundation of life. This is the message that La Reserva is trying to advocate for and teach others. This is why organizations such as this are so vital. By supporting La Reserva you are supporting many Hometree’s and generating more oxygen for all of life’s creatures. Roberta went from dairy farming to what she calls “oxygen farming.” This is the type of farming that we should all feel inclined to applaud.
![Share on Twitter]()
![Share on Facebook]()
Apr 4, 2011
Our Dependence Upon Trees
By Mary Blizzard | Founding member of LRFF
![Butterfly in biological corridor]()
Butterfly in biological corridor
Did you know that the average American family generates about 20 tons of CO2 per year? There are many ways we can each help reduce our footprint: driving less, keeping the temperature of our homes a couple degrees higher in the summer and lower in the winter, and buying locally produced goods to name a few. All are worthwhile endeavors to reduce CO2 emissions. But an additional tactic is worth consideration. We can each help reduce our carbon footprint by supporting the planting of trees in the tropics. One hectare of tropical forest absorbs approximately 15 tons of CO2 each year!
The completion of this project will result in planting 2 hectares of new forest which will quickly become a biological corridor connecting two older forests. Supporting it will not only help offset CO2 production, it will also help enhance preservation of the numerous animals who will have their habitat dramatically increased. It’s a win-win situation that needs only your financial support.
This project now has $1,189.75 in donations although the project page doesn’t reflect this amount. We added the accumulated donations from the Finca Salvaje project to Chocuaco’s last December when we closed that project for lack of donations. So we are closer to funding this project than you might think.
A new option on the Global Giving website is to make a monthly contribution to a project. Please consider this option, a small monthly donation of $5 or $10 dollars would move us forward and make you an on-going supporter of planting trees in the tropics!
![Leafcutter ant with cargo]()
Leafcutter ant with cargo
Links:
![Share on Twitter]()
![Share on Facebook]()
Mar 2, 2011
A Vital Biological Corridor
By Mary Blizzard | Founding member of LRFF
![Black and white beetle near Chocuaco's farm]()
Black and white beetle near Chocuaco's farm
LRFF’s credibility continues to grow in the local community as projects are funded and local land owners receive their Payments for Environmental Services (PES). It may be difficult for some of us to imagine the difference these payments of $300 per hectare per year can make for local Costa Rican families. It can be the difference of being able to afford school uniforms and books, or of having the money to pay for medical care, or even of being able to put more than a simple meal of beans and rice on the table. Further, these PES’s make it possible for local farmers to reforest a portion of their land and witness the wealth of wildlife that returns when biological corridors are created. This is no small thing. We are helping increase awareness of the interconnectedness between the people of this community and their natural environment. Each project we complete becomes one more example of what’s possible.
Ana loves the jungles of Costa Rica and the wildlife that thrive in them. But since her husband’s death last year, she also has the full responsibility of taking care of her family financially. Her family has resisted selling out to developers when neighbors on either side of her did just that. She waits in eager anticipation for the funding that will bring about the completion of this project - creating a new biological corridor that will allow wildlife access to a broader range of habitat. Your support is crucial to making that happen.
Links:
![Share on Twitter]()
![Share on Facebook]()
