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.
Over the course of four days in February, more than 60 native fruit trees were planted on a hillside in Bahía de Caráquez. The site is located on a hill above the beach promenade which faces the Pacific Ocean. Planet Drum is collaborating with two local residents (Benigno and Ester), who maintain small gardens there and have committed to watering and caring for the trees. […]
For the 20th anniversary of Bahía de Caráquez’s declaration as an Ecological City, Hugo Vaca, head of the environmental department for the city, wisely decided to host an environmental forum instead of a celebration, as has been custom in the past. Despite the lack of initiatives coordinated by the city government, many private and public organizations and groups based in Bahía continue to be proactive […]
Julia (USA) spent five months (September – January) interning at Planet Drum. During this time, she was very dedicated to helping with all of the various work activities. Regardless of how difficult, muddy, sticky (peeling tamarind seeds), smelly, or how many mosquitoes bit her, she had a smile. I would especially like to thank her for all of the photos of mine that she bombed […]
On December 19th we began planting trees on the hillside above the Astillero neighborhood. 15 trees were planted that day. After delivering 60 more trees (15 each of Algarrobo, Ébano, Guachapelí, and Guayacán) in January, we spent 3 more days planting them, resulting in a total of 75 trees at the revegetation site. With machetes, we cleared trails to be able to move around the hill. […]
January, 2019 I had been inspired by the book The Man Who Planted Trees by Jean Giono, when I arrived in Bahía to participate in Planet Drum’s ecological project. So I was very excited to go out and plant a whole forest of trees. However, reality is always a bit different from what we read in books. Soon I found myself working most of the time in […]
José María from El Astillero neighborhood tipped me off that there were loads of Grosella seeds ready for harvesting. Grosella fruits can be used to make a traditional wine and the fruits are also a popular snack, so the species is highly requested for planting. We spent the morning collecting several bucket loads of seeds, which were sorted into seeds for making a batch of wine […]
I arranged a community tree planting workshop with residents from the Pampilandia community, which is located alongside the road to the greenhouse—approximately 6 kilometers from Bahía (2 km before the greenhouse). One resident, Polo, in particular was very excited about the prospect of planting trees, and he helped motivate a handful of his neighbors to participate in the work. In total, 35 native fruit trees were […]
At Planet Drum’s main greenhouse at the Catholic University, we began transplanting seedlings that were large enough to be moved into repurposed plastic bottles. Compost was sifted and soil was mixed with rice hulls, which had recently been delivered from a rice processor in Charapoto. The rice hulls help with soil aeration and filtration. Volunteers cut recycled plastic bottles to convert them into containers for […]
Last September, we planted fruit tree seeds that students from the Algarrobos School in Canoa had brought from home in the elevated seedbeds at the school. Since then, many of the seeds germinated and have grown into seedlings ready for transplanting. The volunteers and I took a trip to the school with supplies to transplant the seedlings out of the seedbeds and into recycled plastic cups. Students […]
In January a group of volunteers from the One World Institute joined the project for a few weeks. Their help was crucial for doing a major reorganization of the greenhouse. Trees were sorted by species, weeds removed, and fresh soil added to bottles where the soil had compacted over time. At this time, there are 21 different species and a total of 4269 trees: