Roberta's Forest Blog — Let's Get Planting

Mostly, I have news to tell, but on this beautiful summer solstice day, feeling so inspired and hopeful, I must add some of my revelations today. But first let me recount the most recent happenings at La Reserva.

This past Saturday the 31st of May, 2008 we planted the new Kiki Corridor in record time. Tropical storm Alma passed us by on Friday making Saturday a normal day here in the tropics, with hot sun in the morning and a good rain in the afternoon. Here I will let the pictures tell the story of that landmark day.

Work began on the Kiki biological corridor the 27th of March, only 12 days after the big fundraising dinner on March 15th. The topographical survey was done on the 27th, as well.

On March 15, 2008 a fund raising dinner was held to benefit the creation of a new biological corridor. We call it the Kiki corridor because the owner’s name is Kiki and he has signed on to participate in La Reserva’s forest regeneration project.

Whew! We’ve been really busy here in Costa Rica. The LRFF was invited to participate in the Wetlands Day celebration here in our town of Tilarán, Guanacaste, Costa Rica with an exhibit in the park for 3 days, February 15 – 17. Here are a couple of photos of our booth and the interested passersby.

Here are three of us manning the booth early in the morning, before all of the people began to show up. Gary Graham, Betsy Whyte and me.

This past January 2nd we were hit by the strongest windstorm anyone has ever seen here in the Lake Arenal area. The photos here are of 2 different areas in the La Reserva forest showing the damage it caused. It almost looks like a slash and burn logging area, before the burn. It is as if a tornado hit in these small (1/2 hectare) areas, because it caused all of the trees to twist and snap in half, no matter how big they were.

These photos are only one of the gifts that we offer to you all, at the end of the year, holiday time. It always seems that we get some really excellent photos at this time of year. The natural world is in attunement with the natural cycles and this is a time of contraction and dying off. The animals come closer and this orchid the Flor de Un Dia is in splendor right now.

Thanks to our friend and associate, Mary Blizzard-Kelly, we were invited to give a presentation on October 22, 2007 in Bend, Oregon at the Central Oregon Environmental Center. We arrived two days early because there was to be a party given at Mary and Richard’s beautiful home in our honor, as well as a radio interview at KLOV, the local station on the 21st.