The Big Field Trip

     ECOAN is a group of conservationists in Peru. They reforest areas and protect endangered species. One thing they do is reforest. They have nurseries in Abra Patricia, by Lake Pomacochas, and in other areas. In Abra Patricia, their nursery is in a town called Progreso. People in the town help plant the trees and reforest. They do it because they feel responsible for the cloud forest and what happens to it and the trees keep the water from going low. A tree called aliso grows fast, is native, and keeps water in the soil. So instead of the water flooding everywhere and going away faster, the water in the stream/river beds is at a higher level. In the nurseries they grow this tree and many others. They grow trees that bring endangered species back by providing food and habitat.

Aliso, 3 years old by Lake Pomacochas. From the big field trip

     ECOAN also invites students from the school in Progreso to plant trees and seedlings in the nursery. Trees from the nursery will be bought by a mine. This mine asked the government if they could mine zinc in an area between Abra Patricia and Lake Pomacochas. The government agreed, but the mine had to reforest. The mine agreed. The mine has taken all of the soil away. The community is mad because they do not think the mine will reforest because it will be very expensive to bring soil in.

Drying dirt from the mine before bringing to Lima to extract Zinc From the big field trip

     ECOAN also teaches children in Progreso. Sometimes the classes walk to the nursery and plant/water the seedlings. Their parents plant the trees when the trees are about three months old. They plant the trees on private and community land. The students also learn about endangered species, including the spatule-tailed hummingbird, the spectacled bear, the yellow-tailed monkey, and others. Tourists come from all over the world to see the birds there. Students learn that tourism is good because the tourists pay for transportation, food, and staying at the lodge. The money that the tourists spend stays within the community.

The nursery in Progreso                               From the big field trip

     We visited the classes to see what they think. A lot of students said that they didn’t think that the rainforest would disappear because it was so big. Some students argued that it was disappearing because the water levels were going down and some animals were disappearing. Some classes asked us for money for field trips and a flag pole.

Th secondary shcool (ages 15-16 in this classroom) in Progreso.From the big field trip

     ECOAN also buys land, either primary forest (forests that haven’t been cut) or deforested areas. In the deforested areas they reforest it from the nurseries. ECOAN buys the land with donations. ECOAN buys certain areas where there are endangered species. In Abra Patricia they had spectacled bear, royal sun angel (a hummingbird), and long-whiskered owlet, a very rare species of owl. The bird has only been photographed once.

long whiskered owlet

     ECOAN also hires people from the community as guards and guides. Someone from our ecolodge named Hector lives right next to the protected area. ECOAN hired him to be a guard because he lives right by it. By Lake Pomacochas there is a hummingbird reserve and interpretation center. It just opened. ECOAN built it for the spatule-tailed hummingbird, a very rare and endangered bird. The people who run it (one was named Bill Clinton) had planted lots of plants that hummingbirds like. People come from all over to see this bird. ECOAN also built this interpretation center to get money for the people at Lake Pomacochas. You have to pay money to get into the reserve. ECOAN will give this reserve to the people in Pomacochas in 10 years. The interpretation center is also a place for kids to learn about endangered species. They take field trips there from Lake Pomacochas.

The opening at the interpretation center          From the big field trip

If you would like to donate money to ECOAN, check out their website at www.ecoanperu.org.

Tags:   Cloud Forest · ECOAN · Peru · reforestation1 Comment