Community Conservation of Monarch Forest in Mexico

The first semester of the year is usually a busy planning season for Alternare. However, although the local communities are preparing for the upcoming 2017 summer reforestation they have also been participating in the various workshops held by Alternare. During March, April, and May, six workshops were held in Carpinteros, Donaciano Ojeda, Donato Guerra, Jesus de Nazareno, Tuxpan and San Miguel Chichimequillas indigenous communities. A total of 33 women and 41 men participated, resulting in the construction of two cisterns, the establishment of one tree nursery, and the building of seven fuel-efficient stoves, 5 for the communities and 2 for individual families.

A total of 23,400 trees are ready to be planted in approximately 20 hectares. Reforestation will take place in Curungueo, Carpinteros, Donaciano Ojeda, Crescencio Morales and Nicolas Romero indigenous communities and is planned for the beginning of July, during the rainy season to make sure the trees have enough water. The communities have all asked for and agreed with the reforestation, ensuring their collective participation in the process. Environmental education is a key component of Alternare and MBF so most of the trees for the reforestation come from school nurseries. This allows the team to engage children in the entire tree planting experience from beginning to end.

As one of the teachers told us, “The nurseries are an excellent opportunity to discuss the importance of taking care of natural resources with the children, especially the forest where they live”.

As monarchs head north, MBF, Alternare and the local communities will be more than ready to receive them when they come back to Mexico!

All of us, together, will continue doing everything we can to conserve the special and unique migration of the monarch butterflies.

THANK YOU for being a part of our team!

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Monarchs are starting to head back north and our partner Alternare and the local communities are preparing for the year ahead. This winter the monarch population diminished by 27% compared to last year which is prompting us to redouble our efforts to help them!

The last month of 2106 and January and February, 2017 were mostly dedicated to planning our projects for 2017. However, we did carry out four workshops with the participation of 28 women and 15 men from the Manzanillos, Nicolas Romero, and Francisco Serrato indigenous communities. There were two workshops to build cisterns, and two on tree planting techniques. They resulted in the construction of two cisterns and three fuel-efficient stoves and one school tree nursery. Trees in nurseries need to be nurtured and 20,906 trees were looked after on 23 school and community nurseries.

Community cisterns are helping us manage the water supply by capturing rain water and distribute it among the individuals that live in the community. Communities are becoming self-sufficient, empowered and have embraced conservation and land stewardship, not only for the monarchs but for their own well-being. As one workshop participant told us: “we have sufficient water but it is distributed poorly. And to solve this problem we have considered the construction of a cistern to capture water. That would bring water to the community in the months when it is scarce.”

As one of our partners in conservation, you are joining thousands of people across North America actively doing something to support the monarchs and we are very grateful.

THANK YOU for being a part of these inspiring initiatives!

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Monarchs arrived in Mexico and we are waiting for the colonies to settle to assess the populations. In the meantime, our local partner Alternare continued with their ongoing workshops.

During the last trimester of the year, 6 workshops were held with the participation of 46 women and 86 men from the Crescencio Morales, Curungueo, San Cristóbal and Francisco Serrato indigenous communities. There were 4 workshops to build cisterns, 1 on reforestation and another one on tree planting. They resulted in the construction of 27 cisterns, 3 fuel-efficient stoves and one school tree nursery.

The cisterns have a large capacity to hold rainwater which is used to water vegetable gardens and provide drinking water to communities. Thanks to the cisterns and their fuel-efficient stoves, families can cook and enjoy their meals with potable water. A family eating tortillas and drinking clean water told us, “This is fantastic! We can make our tortillas using less fuel and get a glass of water right here in the community. The food seems tastier now. Thank you!"

 Stay tuned for our upcoming winter newsletter where you will be able to read more details about all our projects.

 THANK YOU for being a part of these inspiring initiatives!

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Our local partner Alternare and the communities from Carpinteros, Francisco Serrato and Crescencio Morales were busy planting trees all summer. Six reforestation workshops helped 86 women and 84 men obtain the necessary skills to plant 22,124 trees in 21 hectares.With current survival rates we expect the forest to be covered in luscious green in about 3 or 4 years with small trees!

Additionally, as a result of diverse workshops, 72 fuel-efficient stoves were built in several communities as well as a large-capacity cistern. The fuel-efficient stoves will be used by families to cook and the cistern will provide clean water to a group of families in the community of Crescencio Morales.

The monarchs are starting their journey to Mexico where they will be joyfully greeted by the local communities that have participated in our conservation programs and workshops. As one little girl from Carpinteros said: “We are all ready to receive the monarchs with lots of trees and love!”

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Links:

• Check out the new video highlighting need to take action

This month our local partner Alternare began the summer reforestation in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve (MBBR)! They planted 2.8 hectares with 3,400 trees from the school nurseries of Francisco Serrato and El Rincon located in the indigenous community of Crescencio Morales.

Conservation workshops are going full blast with local communities eagerly participating. During the last three months 12 fuel-efficient stoves were built as a result of the workshops where 89 women and 12 men participated. Additionally, five workshops to construct cisterns were held with the participation of 40 men and 20 women resulting in six new cisterns. After one of the workshops, a woman stood proudly drinking a glass of water from the cistern her family had just built and expressed her joy saying, “This is wonderful! All we have to do with the water is boil it and we can drink! Thank you!”

Like the appreciative woman, we at MBF want to express our gratitude for your contributions which are helping improve the daily lives of the indigenous communities in the MBBR. THANK YOU!

Reports are sent to donors every three months but if you do not wish to receive them click on the unsubscribe link in this email or login to your GlobalGiving account and change your email preferences.