Eco-Ecuador Dry Tropical Forest Revegetation Project
The Dry Tropical Vegetation of Bahia De Caraquez coastal bioregion is both specific and barely extant. The Project began as an effort to stabilize hillsides (which had recently become mudslides) by replanting a combination of indigenous trees, shrubs and grasses. Working with local people as well as international volunteers, the various project managers have each left their mark on the Eco-Ecuador Project. This page is a compilation of who they are and were and a links to their Reports.
January 22-26, 2007 We are still waiting for rain. Locals say that when it doesn’t rain until February, the rains hit all the harder. We’ll see. An occasional shower has allowed us to avoid having to water some days, and the delay in the real rains has afforded us more time to further prepare for the planting in the wet season. But at this point we’d […]
January 15-19, 2007 It’s been another exciting and work-filled week here in Bahia de Caraquez. The dry season continues even though a few showers teased us, which suggests that the rainy season is close. With the real rain holding out on us, we continue to water our old revegetation sites. We are also making the final preparations in the greenhouse to get new trees for this […]
Clay Plager-Unger, Field Projects Manager Planet Drum FoundationReport: January 8-14, 2007 It is an honor for me to be representing Planet Drum Foundation as the new Field Projects Manager here in Bahia De Caraquez, Ecuador. This is an incredibly interesting time to begin work here as the dry season is coming to a close and we are on the verge of the wet season, when we begin moving […]
December 18, 2006 For repairing the Maria Auxiliadora park we needed more Muyuyo stakes, which we thankfully cut down in Ricardito Lopez` bosque (forest). We used them for building more steps and made it easier and safer to stroll around. We`re almost done with the basic improvements there, like installing stairs, handrails and clearing trails, and already plan on making it more useful by building benches […]
December 11, 2006 Finally our damaged apartment roof got repaired at the beginning of the week. We’re really happy because after some overnight sprinkles we noticed little water puddles on the livingroom floor, and it won’t be long until the heavy rain starts. Unfortunately volunteer Sebastian has been sick for most of the week, but we still managed to complete the basic tasks and hope he’ll […]
December 3, 2006 We started the week with a house cleaning day. Then we went over to Bosque en Medio de las Ruinas (B. Ruinas), where we made a plan with Jaime concerning the work that has to be done there. For now, we decided to improve/rebuild all handrails and some sections of steps in order to make it safer to walk around the park. Tuesday […]
November 26, 2006 It’s been an interesting week of changes. On Sunday one volunteer left for an Spanish intensive course in Quito for 2 weeks, Wednesday morning brought us a new volunteer, Bienvenidos Matt, and on Thursday fellow volunteer and interim manager Dan had to fly home to the US. His great personality and horticultural knowledge certainly will be missed, thanks for everything Dan! Workwise the […]
November 6-11, 2006 This is our first week as a group without Patrick as acting Project Manager. Instead of relying on Patrick as the sole leader and teacher, I think we could all sense that we were beginning to pool together our resources and skills to compensate for the loss of such an invaluable mentor. There were a few hitches along the way reminding us, like […]
August 28-September 3, 2006 The greenhouse received a lot of love and affection last week. After nearly two months of construction we began a fresh inventory of the seedlings. With nearly 2300 seedlings we began reorganizing to make room for the upcoming growing season (November). It is incredibly helpful to have nearly double the amount of space following our renovations — thanks to all who […]
August 21-27, 2006 What a difference a week can make! Following a light sprinkling of ash from the recent volcanic eruption of Tungurahua to our east, the weather here has changed. Every day for the last 8 days it has rained. Not only is rain in August unheard of here, but we are receiving five or six hours of torrential rains. It is quite reminiscent […]