At Eco Venao, reforestation has been at the heart of our mission from the very beginning. The first step in our journey was planting trees to restore the region’s rare dry tropical forests, one of the most endangered tropical ecosystems. Today, our oldest reforestation areas have transformed into natural-looking forests, which visitors can experience by hiking our scenic trail network.
Planting trees was actually the first thing we did at Eco Venao. As dry tropical forests (the original native ecosystem) are now the rarest of the major tropical forest ecosystems we are very dedicated to restoring this invaluable habitat. Our oldest parcels already look like natural forests, as you can see if you take a hike on our trail network.
The Eco Venao project was first assisted by PROREINA, a research, education and outreach program led by the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and Yale School of Forestry. We have since supported many environmental research and education initiatives in the area.
The Eco Venao Project has reforested over 30 hectares of land and we have planted over 25,000 trees in the last 13 years. And that doesn’t include all the trees that have sprung up naturally – we do not use herbicide in Eco Venao! We have planted tropical hardwoods, exotics and many fruit bearing species.
Reforestation in this part of the world is not without its challenges. The extreme climate, with its extended dry season followed by heavy rains makes successful reforestation problematic. We have focused on areas where we can buffer existing forest ecosystems and have chosen species that provide food and shelter for our neighbors – the monkeys and birds!
Stay tuned for more updates on our reforestation project.