endangered species
BACKGROUND
Tropical rainforest is the source of the richest biodiversity in the world. Yet even after great public alarm and dismay over the loss of tropical forest, only minor attempts have been made to plant native trees and develop sustainable forestry systems in the tropics. Most tropical reforestation is still done with monocultures of exotic species.
The Tropical Forestry Initiative is developing the techniques to restore the vanishing Central American rainforests on our 350-acre preserve, called Los Arboles, near Dominical in SW Costa Rica. We have planted mixtures of native early and late successional forest trees in mixed-species plantations which are forming a young forest, where there was overgrazed pasture only a dozen years ago. With subsequent planting of more shade-tolerant trees, we are learning to accelerate succession to a diverse hardwood forest.
With help from our local community and volunteers, we have planted over 40,000 trees of 35 forest species from seeds and cuttings collected in nearby forests. By recording growth performance, we can assess site requirements and the best successional stage for planting each species.
As of 2007 we have a forest management plan developed for us by a local forester. Using this plan, we have begun some judicious thinning of both natural regeneration and our plantations.
By enrichment plantings at the margins of forest remnants, we are trying to preserve the diversity of these patches, and to reconnect them to reform a forest corridor. Using methods from the Smithsonian Institute, we have begun mapping vegetation, and monitoring changes in the diversity and abundance of birds, reptiles and amphibians, which are good indicators of overall biodiversity on our preserve.
THE TREE NURSERY
At the TFI nursery near the Rio Guabo we germinate, bag, and plant or sell seedlings each year. Although trees that produce wood of commercial value are most desirable to local farmers, there is a growing demand for ornamental flowering trees and species which attract birds and wildlife. We are especially interested in finding seeds of endangered tree species, whose numbers unfortunately increase annually.
for erosion control
plantation