Climate Action Costa Rica Project #14868

Plant 30,000 native trees Costa Rican owned farms

by Community Carbon Trees- Costa RIca

Plant 30,000 native trees Costa Rican owned farms

Project Report | Mar 3, 2025
VERY WET DRY SEASON SO FAR

By Jennifer Smith | project leader

freshly cut swaths to liberate while also protect

Dry season in the tropics is usually dry!! Hahahha! This year, however, we have received more rain during the month of February2025 than ever before in my 25 years living and doing this work in Costa Rica. While many people believe this extra rainfall is a good thing, and yes, we are grateful for healthy rain, the fact remains that unseasonal rain makes it hard for the farmers to grow our food and for the trees to give us all their fruit blessings as well. Many mango flowers were already blooming on the trees before the heavy rains knocked them all off. Many coffee plants, avocado trees, and bean crops also suffered. We just have to keep the hope and adapt our maintenance practices to accomodate these changes and hope that some of the crops will be available despite the unpredictable weather.

This unseasonal rain also means we have to go and clean many of the smallest trees since the rains make the agressive cattle grasses grow even more. We have been in the field taking care of all trees planted last year in order for. them to survive the rest of the dry season which frankly, we hope will be DRY!! The tiniest trees under 3 years old truly dislike the cattle grasses growing up around their trunks which is why we chop and clean the dirt space around each tree while also leaving the higher grasses in the alternating stripes to hold in ground moisture and allow air to flow and sun to enter to prevent mold and tree suffocation.

This is what is takes to bring the rainforest back to life. Constant care and attention and flexibility to mitigate the changing climate patterns. Adding tree cleaning sessionsin dry season can be risky for the trees to get burned by trhe strong sun. This extra work also means more fair pay for our crews and reinforces the reality that bringing the rainforest back to life requires money, time and commitment, long term. We appreciate our sponsors beyond words. Real gratitude for all yall. THANK YOU !

We love trees!

We have cleaned 4000 tiny trees In last 3 weeks

small but healthy

good color

roble rosada tree

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Nov 11, 2024
Thankful for Trees

By Jennifer Smith | project director

planting project with lama Dorje

We are so grateful for all of your meaningful support for the 2024 tree planting season ... it was a long busy 7 months with lots of grass to chop during an intense rain season whichhas made many of our days wet and soggy. Our crew of rotating men, totally 18 persons, made it through the year accident free. We are always thrilled to stay safe from the snakes and sharp blades of machetes and uneven terrain where we can fall and hurt ourselves. We rarely discuss the dangers of our work since we have been lucky over the years. We go in with good intentions and everyone stays alert in the grassy fields to take care of each other while taking expert care of the trees. We have over 14,000 trees under management between 1-4 years old.

We also rarely talk about the rigors of getting up at 4 am daily to get an early start on our day´s work. In fact, we are a special crew of people who relish being the early birds who rise with the dawn and get going. Plus it helps us get our work done before the afternoon rains come in too strong.

Currently, we are experiencing heavy rains for days in a row and lands are saturated. It is going top be necessary to stay extra vigilant for funghus growth which can kill trees. We can apply calcium carbonate once these rains stop to give our babies some added protection.

And yes, the rains continue and the grass keeps growing so we start field work on maintenance again this week chopping grasses around from from 2000 one year trees which were planted in July on two separate community projects. We will be counting any deaths and comparing the count now from what ends up dying and needing replacement by next May the beginning of rainy season 2025. It is normal for some trees to die upwards of 10% given the harsh hotter summers and wierd rain seasons we have been experiencing the last 7 years. We replace every tree to keep the matrix or forest competition framework balance and strong.

Every single time I receiv e a note from GlobalGiving about your recurring donations, I simply cannot express the gratitude I feel and send out every single time. YOU are making a difference by giving back!

In this thankful season leading up to holidays, we hope you will share us with friends and family either in the form of gifts or suggestions for your own network to join us in bringing the rainforest back to life. We are in it together and it is up to us to support the solutions we know will help the future genrations in immeasurable impactful ways.

swaths for planting freshly prepared

planting trees

great growth 2 year olds in June

huge 2 year olds growing strong

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Jul 24, 2024
Rainforest Tree Planting Season in Full Swing

By Jennifer Smith | project leader

Clean tree entering Year 3

Here in Costa Rica, our workers have been swinging their machetes with expertise and power to chop the constantly growing cattle grasses away from all the trees we have planted the last four years. It is absolutley necessary to retuirn to all the trees the first 4 years, otherwise the grases will choke them out and the trees will die. Thats why we focus on intently at the beginning of the season on cleaning and replacing any dead tyrees as part of our guarantee for every tree you sponsor. Death rates have been goping up over the past 6 years and this year again, mortality loss hovers around 12%. We remain satisfied, nevertheless, with the overall growth of the projects and simply accept that climate change has made the rains more intermittent which means the grass grows more and tends to choke trees during the summer season when it used to be much more dry with barely any rain falling.

Once we finished maintaining all the 8300 trees under managtement, we turned our attention to planting more trees to keep up with our sponsors. We are currently in the process of planting 1500-2000 more trees in Refugio San Antonio as well as 400 more trees with neighbors in a new area centered around the pineapple plantations. Its important to us to keep expanding into new areas where ´people are sturgglimng to make a living andf keep their land and or repair degraded zones from deforestation for cows. With good fair pay jobs, local families can regenerate their land and grow alternative economies of forest products to sustain themselves long term.

It´s really hard work for our crews day after day in the cattle grasses. We are so proud of their dedication and consistency and are thrilled to show you some recent fotos of our work together. Thank you for your continued support. All together, we are truly making a diffrerence now and for future generations.

Growing trees recently cleaned

cleaning trees requires lots of chopping

dedication

2 year old tree being measured

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