Help us help Nature restore the Pterocarpus Forest

Since mid-June, when the Forest reopened after Puerto Rico’s first Covid-19 lockdown, visitors have returned in large numbers to the Forest. Our Forest Tour Application app project, however, has been the primary focus of our efforts, as this project has been amply delayed by Covid and other factors. It is now about to launch.

The focus on completing the Tour App, and the shortfall in revenues from the "Help us help Nature" campaign contributed to the project’s being on hold, as we last reported.

In terms of revenues, we received one – though major – donation of $1,000 toward our $10,000 goal. But that amount is not enough to make the purchase and planting of new trees as cost-effective and efficient as possible.

Our decision has been to revitalize and re-energize the project and to reconfigure it from a promotional perspective. It will soon be announced as object of the Forest’s “Giving Tuesday 2020” campaign with GlobalGiving and #GivingTuesday Puerto Rico. The core project remains the same, with an emphasis on how the the renaissance of the Forest after María can and should inspire us in these times of turmoil.  Contributing to the Forest tree planting project is investing in a beautiful, bountiful future.

As Puerto Rico, like many states and countries, is seeing a worrisome, recent uptick in Covid cases and hospitalizations, we believe that Help us help Nature restore the Pterocarpus Forest can be a truly inspiring and motivational campaign. What better symbol of hope than a renascent Pterocarpus Forest – a survivor of Hurricanes María and Irma – that can serve as an inspiration to our visitors, and a beautiful symbol of hope, recovery and renewal in these trying times.

Our timing for the tree planting campaign perhaps couldn’t have been worse.

On March 15th Puerto Rico became one of the first jurisdictions to go into a near-total lockdown to avoid the spread of the Corona virus, with the governor ordering most businesses on the island to shut down and imposing a curfew from 7pm to 5am.

The Forest, the offices and all of the businesses with which we had dealings were closed, a situation that continued for three months. Our Board has been unable to meet physically as well; communication has been online but no formal meetings have been conducted.

Since a gradual reopening began on June 15th, the Forest has reopened, and visitors have come back. However, employees of contractors on the grounds of Palmas del Mar, where the Forest is located, recently came down with Covid, leading to increased security measures to avoid the spread at Palmas, particularly with respect to contract work.

In terms of revenues, we had hoped to have raised enough funds by now to make the purchase and planting of new trees cost-effective. Covid and the shortfall in revenues for the project, have placed the project effectively and temporarily “on hold”.

As Puerto Rico rebounds from Covid (although, like many states, we’ve seen a veery worrisome recent uptick in cases and hospitalizations), we expect a return to normalcy to eventually take place. However, fundraising to keep our GlobalGiving project on track in these times is more challenging than ever and will require new, primarily virtual initiatives and a reconfigured case for support. We will be working on that, remotely and in person, in the next few weeks.