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Field Report #3Note: Click on photos for larger pictureClay Plager-Unger
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 Darline on the slopes where we are planting. |
Jaime arranged for the landowner at the La Granja site to send a truck to the greenhouse to pick up trees. The truck was loaded up with 270 trees and sent to the site. |
 Ramon fills holes with portions of Tierramonte mulch to help the trees grow in the nutrient poor soil. |
On Tuesday, the planting of the trees taken to La Granja commenced. |
 Lissette plants a Cedro tree. |
Ramon joined us with one of the favorite Bioregionalism students, Lissete, to help with the planting. |
 In the distance, Jasper plants trees in a high risk erosion area. |
With all the volunteers and the extra
help, much progress was made.
Wednesday the volunteers went to the greenhouse to transplant a seed bed of Ebono and a large batch of Amarillo. That night it rained heavily. |
Trudging through the slippery mud two groups of volunteers set out to plant trees on Thursday. One group finished the planting at the La Granja site, the other returned to Don Pepe. The hill is so steep and slippery that carrying trees to the top of the site is nearly impossible.
 Caroline planting one of the few trees of the day, heavy rains delayed progress. |
Most of the day was spent tending to the recently planted trees, clearing weeds, propping up weak trunks, and cleaning off dead leaves and branches. The site will have to be finished another day when the ground is drier. |
On Friday the rains continued. All of the volunteers have coincidentally taken a long-weekend to various costal destinations such as Porto Lopez and Mompiche. I held down the fort and spend the morning tending to some landowner relations business.
I had set up a meeting with Don Eduardo, director of
El Nuevo Globo, to go to his land and talk with some of the members of the
community about land usage and some problems we've had with them planting
crops in our sites. Cheo came along for the ride and we happened to run
into Don Eduardo at the entrance to the watershed.
It was raining and he and his driver were wondering
if they'd be able to drive in or not. He cracked a joke about how Cheo and
I were both in sandals. We were able to drive in and then found the woman
who previously claimed that we needed to have an ordinance to be able to
build the fence we constructed for the 'Nuevo Globo' 2008 revegetation
site, as well as the fellow who just planted corn for the second year in a
row amidst the young trees at the Maria Dolores site (2007)
Fortunately none of the trees were harmed. Then
Eduardo laid it out for the residents explaining that it was his land they
were using (or claiming to have governance over) and that they had been
using it without asking him permission. The entire neighborhood there is
constructed on his land and was a donation to the people. There had been
previous problems with some residents abusing his generosity. We are
meeting again next week to determine how to handle the issue of the baby
corn that has been planted at the Maria Dolores site, but there shouldn't
be any more conflicts in the future. It was one of those times where
things come together and several problems get resolved at once. Also it
was amazing to see Don Eduardo's deep passion for the projects we are
doing on his land
Pásalo bien,
Clay
In January 2008 I had a chance to work on a mural
project for the outside wall of a school in Bahia De Caraquez, Ecuador.
I was assisted by the children of the Valverde Elementary School and
students of the Bahia Bioregionalismo youth group. I was helped by
volunteers from Planet Drum: Clay, Jasper, Darlene, Sam, and adults from
the community, Cheo and Ramón.
This two week mural project was designed and mainly
painted by children of the Valverde Elementary school. The theme of
the mural "La Naturaleza” (Nature) was developed to stress the
importance of the natural resources in the local region, and to keep the
idea of an Eco-City alive. The mural is made up of images drawn by the
children. There is an image of a giant Galapagos Turtle with the earth on
its shell. We see the important sea life represented by fish, sharks,
octopuses, and fishermen. The force of the earth is pictured in a volcano
exploding with books. The word “cuiden” meaning take care, can be read
right below an image of a little girl and boy holding hands in the sky.
The message “recycle, reduce, and reuse” can also be read on the
mural. This message is to remind the community to keep up with progressive
environmental thinking.
The mural project was made possible through resources
provided by Planet Drum Foundation and the kindness of Bahia
residents.
Fred Alvarado
There is an overload of tree planting. With a strong
force of volunteers, we tackled some of the biggest sites Planet Drum has
ever planted. The reward of collecting seeds, germinating, seed bed work,
transplanting in the greenhouse, weeding, watering, and tending to trees
exploded into fruition.
On Monday, the Bosque Encantado site was completed. 270 trees were successfully put in the ground there. We then walked over to the other side of Fanca Barrio (neighborhood) and began preparing the revegetation site at 'La Granja,' a chicken coop owner who is very interesting in reforesting his barren hills which are in the process of eroding into the Rio Chone.
 The Planet Drum hole-digging attack force. |
On Tuesday we went back to the La Granja site, this time with Ramon. In two days, two hundred and seventy holes were dug. |
In the afternoon there was a meeting for the Eco-Amigos who are making a resurgence. There's more participation of school children in the group and more transparency in the Municipio's City Hall activities, projects and funding. Ronald, the Municipio's biologist who is head of the Department of the Environment, has been elected lead coordinator of Eco-amigos. Our dear friend Cheo (eyes, ears and mouth of the city) has been appointed vice-coordinator. The combination of the two is working nicely, and word spreads rapidly through the group, which includes others such as Vladir of Genesis School, about new opportunities and happenings.
During the meeting, plans for the Eco-city anniversary were discussed as well as other potential projects to work on, such as Eco-noticias, Planet Drum's eco-city newsletter. It was great having more input from the kids. I'd like to see the group elect a representative of the younger participants and hopefully the group will be able to bring about some real changes in the future. For the time being it's nice to have a lot more sharing of information about what the Municipio is up to.
 Caroline and a Fernan Sanchez (Triplaris guayaquilensis) en route to the revegetation site. |
On Wednesday a small group of
volunteers went directly to the Nuevo Globo site where they
finished digging holes and completed a gate for the fence.
Meanwhile the rest of us headed to the greenhouse in a rented
truck to load up trees. The usual mayhem ensued to load up the
truck with a selection of over two hundred trees. The longer we
took, the more expensive the trip, so we moved as quickly as
possible. |
 Deven doing one of his favorite activities: planting trees. |
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 Darline carries a load of trees up the steep hill at the Nuevo Globo site. |
We met up with the others and began
unloading and carrying the trees up the hill to where they will be
planted.
On Thursday morning planting at the Nuevo Globo site was finished! |
We then walked over the greenhouse to do some upkeep.
 Deven, Sam and Jasper emptying the bottles of trees which died in the greenhouse. |
The trees were weeded and dead trees moved out to recycle the dirt for new trees. |
Don Pepe showed up with his truck and we took a load
of trees to his land, to continue reforesting hills for the second year in
a row.
Some of the local artists... |
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 Sam and Deven with Freddy celebrating the completion of the mural. |
We took fruit and rounded up some of the many kids to celebrate the event.
Hasta luego,
Clay
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