This year was a great success for our local partner Alternare, from our reforestation efforts to our ongoing projects. The final 4 months of the year we conducted several workshops: eight on how to build fuel-efficient stoves with the participation of 101 women and 12 men which resulted in the construction of 79 stoves benefiting 78 families and four workshops training 13 women and 48 men who built 4 cisterns benefiting 61 families.
Esperanza and Laura from “La Gironda” community expressed their delight when completing the stove, “This is really great, I can make tortillas and beans while saving a lot of wood.”
It is too soon to tell but preliminary numbers indicate that the monarch population is recovering compared to last year. We are hopeful and look forward to sharing the good news from the overwintering sites. Thanks for being our conservation partner and we hope you have a good holiday season.
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June, July and August were busy months for our local partner Alternare. Collaborating with scientists from the local university and funds from MBF, local communities planted 32,350 trees in 35 hectares in the Buffer Zone of the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve. Planting trees in these areas reduces human pressure on the inner Core Zone where monarchs overwinter and encourages local people to protect and conserve the environment. A third of the seedlings came from community nurseries set up thanks to your donations. The original plan was to plant 32,000 trees in 32 hectares so we were very happy to surpass our goal!
Conservation workshops continued and during the last trimester we carried out 8 workshops to teach 62 women and 14 men how to build fuel-efficient stoves resulting in the construction of 49 stoves for individual families. We also held 4 workshops where 11 women and 54 men built 3 community cisterns and 1 for a family. Stoves decrease the demand for wood from the forest and cisterns help conserve water by collecting and storing rainwater.
Anastacio “Tacho”, a campesino (farmer) and Alternare instructor shared his thoughts about the workshops and the reforestation project: “I love the campesino-to-campesino (farmer-to-farmer) methodology which allows us to share experiences with community members and academics. With the work we are doing managing and conserving the forest I see a future full of hope with lots of butterflies.”
The fall migration is underway and we will have to wait to compare with last year but many people across the breeding range reported seeing more monarchs this year. Like Anastacio, we are full of hope and envision monarchs migrating well into the future. Thank you for being our partners and sharing our vision!
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Summer is near and we are ready to plant nearly 32,000 trees in 32 hectares in the Buffer Zone of the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve! Thanks to your generous support, our local partner Alternare produced enough seedlings in community and school nurseries to provide a remarkable one third of the trees necessary to reforest the area. Planting will start at the end of June. We are very excited to begin! Planting trees in these key areas will help reduce human pressure on the older mature forests in the Core Zone of the Reserve and protect the inner core where monarchs spend the winter.
During the last trimester your donations funded 7 workshops to teach 65 women and 15 men how to build fuel-efficient stoves and resulted in the construction of 50 stoves (47 for individual families, 2 for an entire community and 1 for a school). Our focus on water continues and we held a workshop to train 14 instructors to build cisterns that capture rain water. They shared the techniques they learned in an additional workshop and as a result, two new community cisterns were built. Amazing work making a real change in the daily life of these very special people – all because of your generosity!
All the details about our projects, the actions being taken by citizens and governments to support the monarchs and suggestions on what you can do to help are in our Spring-Summer 2014 Newsletter found on our website (see link below).
As spring continues to unfold monarchs are flying north and we are eagerly welcoming them, delighted to see their arrival in breeding areas across the northern range. Together we are making a difference and contributing to the survival of their spectacular migration. Your continued support as our conservation partner means a lot to us and helps make all of this possible
THANK YOU!
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In spite of the low monarch population numbers recorded during the 2013-2014 migration, all of us at MBF have reasons to hope. The challenging situation faced by monarchs has prompted ordinary citizens, scientists, intellectuals and politicians into action. During the recent North Amarican Leader's Summit, the prime minister of Canada and the presidents of the U.S. and Mexico agreed to form a working group to conserve monarchs. Please go to our website to read the most recent updates and media reports about the monarchs.
At MBF we continue promoting conservation of the forests in Mexico and will focus our efforts in 2014 on the conservation of water. From December, 2013 to the beginning of March, 2014 our local partner Alternare continued bulding cisterns to capture rain water. After a workshop held in an indigenous community with 8 men, one shared cistern and 3 families in 3 different communities built a cistern for their personal use.
Fuel-efficient stoves have become very popular among the local communities and during this period 3 women and 17 men where trained resulting in a total of 6 stoves contructed (2 in local schools and 4 in different communities). School children and adults are taking care of more than 9,000 trees in 16 school nurseries, preparing for future reforestations.
Thanks to your continued support MBF has become a positive force in this moment when monarchs needs us the most. We are sincerely grateful.
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.
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This year has been concerning to all of us. Summer population numbers were historically low and monarchs arrived in Mexico later than usual. Monarchs need our support more than ever. While there is much we must do, we cannot forget the many accomplishments due to your generosity this past year.
From September to November of 2013, with partial funding from MBF, 41 women and 14 men from 4 communities built 49 fuel-efficient stoves in 5 workshops held by our local partner Alternare. Two more workshops were held in another community with 23 men who built 2 cisterns, one for the local school and another one for the community.
Capturing rain water in cisterns is becoming increasingly important. Your support has allowed us to provide this option, conserving water resources necessary to both the people, and the monarchs.
The end of the year is approaching and we will be launching our FOMO–Four Months for Monarchs– campaign! GlobalGiving will be matching funds by 100% on all new recurring donations up to $200 during the last 12 days of December. The initial donation will be matched fully and needs to continue for three consecutive months for a total of four months.
Thanks to you, MBF has been able to increase knowledge and awareness about the monarch butterfly and promote conservation actions. We remain hopeful and with your help, will continue our efforts.
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