Bosque Para Siempre - Costa Rica
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Learning
Throughout our trip we receive presentations and interpretive talks on biodiversity; sustainable systems; bats; birds and of course lots of trees!
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Planting
Our main objective is to plant as many trees as possible! We are planting to reduce erosion, create habitat, biodiversity and corridors. Read about the beginning of the project and the Bell Bird Here.
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Leadership
We practice the 8 Shields Leadership Model and share group responsibilities while in Costa Rica. Collaboration, communication and reflection guide our process together and leads to a connected and life changing trip.
About the Project
High in the mountains of Costa Rica, there is an ecological crisis. Bellbirds and other rainforest creatures are becoming endangered species because the forest through which they migrate has been cut down. Without the fruit from these trees, the birds and animals cannot survive! The unique biodiversity of the region is declining as bird and animal populations decrease or become extinct. Much of the rain forest where the birds mate and breed has been conserved in national parks or private preserves, but rich tropical forests that blanketed the Pacific slope of these mountains are rapidly disappearing. Hardly any of this critical habitat is protected!
Since 2003, the Change the World Kids and a group of Costa Rican biologists and conservationists established “Bosque para Siempre,” the Forever Forest, a migratory corridor critical to the survival of indigenous birds and neo-tropical species from northern countries. The three-wattled bellbird represents the unique nature of this biologically diverse area, where without immediate preservation efforts, many species are threatened with extinction. With the help of youth from countries all over the world, we hope to establish this refuge for migrating and resident species in perpetuity through conservation easements and outright land purchases as well as through reforestation of destroyed acres. This means protecting a corridor of at least 300 hectares, and to do so will cost over $2 million dollars.
In June, 2004, we fully paid for the first parcel of the reserve and traveled to Costa Rica to begin reforesting Bosque para Siempre Sector Finca Rodriquez. We also created a Change the World Kids tree nursery in Monteverde to propagate the indigenous species that the birds and animals need to survive. In February, 2007, we purchased the third parcel named Refugio Ecological al Nacimiento y Vida. We have just finished paying for an adjacent parcel and a parcel at the top of the corridor that were in immediate threat of development. We have planted over 6,000 trees and distributed over 100,000 trees from our nursery. To date we have raised well over $208,000 toward Bosque para Siempre, which included meeting a $10,000 challenge grant. We are racing against time to save this habitat. The amazing bellbirds of Monteverde are one of only four populations in the world. At least eight of the many neo-tropical migrant bird species the winter in the corridor are on the international Partners in Flight list as birds of conservation concern.
We are partnering with the following organizations: Fundacion Conservacionista Costarricense, and Monteverde Conservation League
