Rio Sol Bio Corridor, Maleku Reserve, Costa Rica

The Rio Sol Biological Corridor Project has been near and dear to my heart for the past two years. I started donating a portion of my very small college student budget to the project to help off-set my carbon footprint and to support LRFF. In the last two years, I also saved up more money to come down to Costa Rica and physically volunteer at La Reserva for half of my summer. Financial sacrifices were involved, yes, but the satisfaction that I've gained from reading Roberta's updates, and now having the opportunity to see the progress that I've contributed to first hand, makes any and all sacrifices worthwhile.

During my time going to visit the Rio Sol, I saw that even with persistent checkups and maintenance, no project is flawless. At one site along the corridor, a property owner had sprayed Root Out herbicide onto the understory and destroyed any natural baby trees from being able to grow up. At another site, I saw horses in among the growing trees potentially feeding on their new leaves, and signs of cow tracks in the dark, muddy soil. I was so thrilled and energized to see Roberta respond immediately to the breaches in contact by calling the person in charge of management to straighten everything out. Roberta and Dan’s passion for the foundation is unmatched to anything else that I’ve seen.

And who am I? I am Courtney Caldwell, a proud La Reserva Forest Foundation volunteer. I am concluding my five weeks in the beautiful rainforest with a satisfied heart and new found motivation to continue pursuing environmental science. Thank you so much to all those out there like me who have donated. I hope more of you can come visit this gorgeous country.