{"id":2164,"date":"2014-07-01T19:21:00","date_gmt":"2014-07-01T19:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.pasopacifico.org\/2014\/07\/growing-forests-and-livelihoods-with-help-from-man-and-nature\/"},"modified":"2024-09-10T11:56:11","modified_gmt":"2024-09-10T17:56:11","slug":"growing-forests-and-livelihoods-with-help-from-man-and-nature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pasopacifico.org\/growing-forests-and-livelihoods-with-help-from-man-and-nature\/","title":{"rendered":"Growing Forests and Livelihoods with Help from Man and Nature"},"content":{"rendered":"
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by Richard Joyce<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Marcela Gutierrez, Paso Pac\u00edfico’s agronomist, has been eagerly awaiting the rainy conditions that will allow planting of thousands of trees in the Paso del Istmo.\u00a0“Because of El Ni\u00f1o, the rains are coming later this year, so we might plant in early July.” With a degree from EARTH University in Costa Rica and ample experience working in her native Nicaragua, Marcela is leading the effort to restore forests in focused watersheds, by helping communities adopt agroforestry systems that are both biodiverse and economically productive.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Marcela Gutierrez welcomes a local rancher to one of Paso\u00a0Pac\u00edfico’s community workshops.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n
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Several years ago, in a project called\u00a0Return to Forest<\/a>, Paso Pac\u00edfico reforested over 4 square kilometers of land with more than 250,000 trees. With the generous support of French non-profit\u00a0Man and Nature, Paso Pac\u00edfico is building off this success to plant thousands of more trees in the La Flor and Ostayo watersheds.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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More than 250,000 trees were planted in our hallmark<\/p>\n
“Return to Forest” reforestation project.<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
Planting trees is not a new activity in the region. In fact, plantations of eucalyptus and teak cover many hectares of land in the Ostayo watershed. However, the damaging effects of such plantations make them less than ideal models for reforestation projects. Tree plantations may reduce the demand for timber harvested from wild forests, but they consist of non-native species that secrete compounds preventing the growth of other plants, making monocultures the rule. Despite their canopy cover, tree plantations can have a barren appearance. Eucalyptus trees are very “thirsty,” drawing large quantities of groundwater from the soil, and teak trees shed their leaves near the end of the dry season, exposing the soil to both desiccation and erosion.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Still, in order to be successful in the long term, reforestation efforts must address the economic pressures that drive land-use patterns in the first place. This means that, in addition to providing societal benefits like water services, carbon capture and wildlife habitat, forests must contribute to their owners’ livelihoods. Marcela is working with farmers to creatively design agroforestry systems that are valuable for both business opportunities and biodiversity.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Plant a forest in the garden, plant a garden in the forest<\/b><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The agroforestry systems being put into practice by Marcela and the landowners who she works with are designed to provide streams of economic benefit over time as the forest comes back. Banana plantings shade tree seedlings, offering a quick harvest while helping young trees survive the dry season. Five different farmers currently receive seeds and technical support from Paso Pacifico to grow roselle (hibiscus tea), which can sell for up to 10 times the price of corn and 5 times the price of beans. Chia is another crop grown among the young trees.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Miguel Melendez, coordinator of the reforestation project in
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The trees to be planted comprise a mix of over 15 dry forest species with a variety of uses and benefits. The fast growing\u00a0madero negro<\/i>\u00a0(also known as “quick stick”) will soon yield posts and firewood, while the wood of various timber species (mahogany, guapinol, Spanish cedar) can be harvested in a decade or two.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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This year, farmers will plant a large number of\u00a0b\u00e1lsamo<\/i>\u00a0trees (Balsam of Peru). Actually native to Central America (not Peru), these trees will\u00a0produce a steady supply of cinnamon-and-vanilla-scented resins to sell to the fragrance and pharmaceutical industries<\/b>. Like tapping sugar maples for syrup, harvesting\u00a0b\u00e1lsamo<\/i>\u00a0resin produces a high-value product while respecting the integrity and diversity of the forest.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Other trees, such as Maya nut, Panama tree and hog plums, are meant always to remain, and are planted specifically for wildlife\u2014offering fruits to black-handed spider monkeys, leaves for howler monkeys, and nesting cavities for Yellow-naped Amazon parrots and spiny-tailed iguanas.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The ojoche or Maya nut tree.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
Reward enough<\/b><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Marcela feels especially inspired and motivated by Guillermina Bustos, a landowner\u00a0in Tortuga who has wanted to plant trees for many years.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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“She is reforesting more land than any other farmer, about 8 acres; and next year she will plant more. Her love for the forest is such that she isn’t interested in intercropping; what she cares about are the trees and is willing to hire workers to tend the saplings.”<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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For her, seeing animals in the forest and knowing that there is water in the La Flor River are reward enough.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Members of the local communities gather for a group photograph during one
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http:\/\/www.manandnature.org\/<\/a><\/div>\n
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This project is funded by Man and Nature<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Richard Joyce Marcela Gutierrez, Paso Pac\u00edfico’s agronomist, has been eagerly awaiting the rainy conditions that will allow planting of thousands of trees in the Paso del Istmo.\u00a0“Because of El Ni\u00f1o, the rains are coming later this year, so we might plant in early July.” With a degree from EARTH University in Costa Rica and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2298,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[212,213,216,210],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2164","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-community-engagement-and-empowerment","8":"category-conservation-areas-projects","9":"category-conservation-initiatives","10":"category-wildlife-conservation","11":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pasopacifico.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2164"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pasopacifico.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pasopacifico.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pasopacifico.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pasopacifico.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2164"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pasopacifico.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2164\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6710,"href":"https:\/\/pasopacifico.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2164\/revisions\/6710"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pasopacifico.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pasopacifico.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pasopacifico.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pasopacifico.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}