MANGROVE JOURNAL

Brackish water, mangroves all around. Mud under foot. Crabs scuttle away as I wade towards them. “Click.”  A picture taken.

Stilt-like roots rise out of water. Squish, squish, rise out of water. Hundreds of centimeter long crabs dart into their sand caves. “Click.” Another picture taken.

Light shines through the roots, and leaves snake like shadows. “Swish.” A small hawk glides overhead. “Flash.” Picture taken.

From The Big Field Trip – Brazil, January/February, 2009

I wade upstream. Leaves and twigs drift by. “Click.” A picture taken of small shrimp.

“Swish.” A Fish swims by. A yellow leaf reminds me of fall. As I climb up a sand bar, a snake like fish darts upstream. I follow it to find I cannot reach. Float downstream. “Ow!” Deerflies bite. I sink into water.

From The Big Field Trip – Brazil, January/February, 2009

Crabs scuttle away. “Crash!” An ocean wave breaks. Music plays from beach barraca. I rise out of brown water and think of my adventure.

From The Big Field Trip – Brazil, January/February, 2009

MANGROVES AND THE ENVIRONMENT

While most trees would die within hours in the choking saltwater of the sea, mangrove trees thrive there. Mangroves help the environment and people by blocking tsunamis, creating land, helping poverty, providing habitat for fish, absorbing carbon from the air, and filtering pollution from the water. Unfortunately, mangroves forests are one of the most threatened biomes in the world.

From The Big Field Trip – Brazil, January/February, 2009

The earliest species of mangroves are thought to have originated in Southeast Asia. Mangrove trees’ seeds can float over water. The seeds sprout in the mangrove tree then drop into the water. Sometimes they are swept out by the tide. The seeds can travel in the water for days, weeks, months, or even a year. Mangrove seeds float horizontally. When mangrove seeds get to a sustainable habitat (they need nitrogen, phosphorus and iron) the seeds change their density so that they are vertical. If the habitat is not sustainable, the seeds can change their density and float to another place. Mangrove forests are in the warm waters of tropical oceans all over the world. Along the Atlantic coast, on both the eastern and western coasts of Africa, they stretch into India, Burma, and Southeast Asia. They are also common in New Zealand and Australia. 27% of mangroves are in Southeast Asia. Brazil has 15% of the world’s mangroves.

From The Big Field Trip – Brazil, January/February, 2009

While most trees would die in saltwater within hours, mangroves filter saltwater through their roots. The salt goes to the tree’s leaves which are shed once in a while. Some species of mangrove trees force the salt through their leaves. Mangroves’ roots also serve as stilts by keeping the mangrove’s trunk, branches, and leaves out of the water. The roots also hold back sediment such as leaves, mud, soil, branches, etc. People in Bangladesh planted mangrove trees and Bangladesh gained 300,000 acres of land.

From The Big Field Trip – Brazil, January/February, 2009

Mangrove swamps provide habitat for shrimp, crabs, prawns, shellfish, snails, birds, crab-eating monkeys, fishing cats, lizards, sea turtles, tigers, and deer. Mudskippers are a type of fish that are adapted to mangrove forests. Mudskippers can jump from pool to pool when the tide goes down.

From The Big Field Trip – Brazil, January/February, 2009

People in Eritrea planted mangroves in the Red Sea. The Eritreans used the mangrove tree leaves to feed the livestock. Mangroves also house mullet which attract bigger, predatory fish for the fishermen to catch and sell (this helps poverty). 75% of our commercial fish need mangrove wetlands as habitat to protect them from larger fish when they are small. Mangroves help the world by taking in carbon, 100 pounds per acre per day in fact.

From The Big Field Trip – Brazil, January/February, 2009

Sadly, mangrove forests are being destroyed. They are being destroyed by shrimp farming (the #1 cause), real estate (such as high rise hotels, ports etc.), deforestation for wood (mangrove wood is very fine), and many other things. Many communities have realized how important mangroves are to the overall environment, and are replanting mangrove trees.

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.

From the big field trip

Next we went down the road to a very small school in Vista Alegre. There were 12 kids in the school and one teacher. Robert, another guard at Abra Patricia, has a son who goes to school there. We got to know the kids and told them about our trip.

From the big field trip

Then we went to another school in a larger town called Centro Poblado Menor el Progreso, or just Progreso. The first class we visited had the oldest kids in the school. They were about 15-16 years old. We talked with them about how to preserve the cloud forest, about ways to be more environmentally friendly in the community, and about conservation in the United States.

From the big field trip

At about 11:00 we went to each classroom in grades 1-6. In the lower grades we mostly talked about not cutting down trees and not killing animals. They asked us to sing songs and to speak in English. In the 4th, 5th, and 6th grade classes we talked about how to protect the cloud forest, about ecotourism, and about carbon footprints. After that we went back to the lodge to eat. We really needed to rest.

From the big field trip

From the big field trip

Later in the afternoon we went to the tree nursury. It is located right next to the school in Progreso. It is run by ECOAN, but lots of the work is done by the students. They had a compost pile and a worm bin. The students would put soil in plastic bags. Other students would put seedling trees in the bags. The seedlings were placed in the shade to grow. In about three months the trees are ready to plant. The whole community helps out. Trees are planted on deforested community property like the school land. Families can also take trees for their private land if they want to set some aside for forest habitat.

From the big field trip

From the big field trip

Students planted trees behind the school. There is a huge area of deforested land there. The students are responsible for caring for the trees. They also measure them and record data in notebooks. The trees grow fast. Tomorrow we will drive to Lake Pomacochas to see (hopefully) the marvelous spatule-tailed hummingbird. ECOAN has reforested an area there that has larger trees. We will also pass a gold mine that has deforested a lot of land. ECOAN is selling them native trees to reforest damaged areas.

From the big field trip

From the big field trip

We will be in the cloud forest for two more days, so if you have any questions or suggestions for us please ask. By the way – we saw monkeys tonight. Unfortunately it was too dark to take pictures. We’ll take some pictures of the spatule-tailed hummingbird tomorrow, if we can see one.