I am interested in reforestation or buying a big piece of rain forest.

Does anyone know about national or international funding programs?
I've heard of it - but I haven't found detailed information yet. Is it possible to get some information about possible funding values in advance before buying a piece of land? Lets say - that I calculate with 1 ha of primary rain forest leads to x USD yearly support.

Or does anyone have already made some experience with reforestation and funding programs in general? Difficult to obtain? Worth the application procedure? Yearly revenue?

Thanks

Be aware that if you purchase said 'rainforest' you are not allowed to even cut pathways in the property. So although you may gain some funding, the land itself is virtually unusable.
Reforestation is encouraged but getting the info is difficult. This website Finca Leola is geared to do this on their land for your behalf.
But, they do offer good information and suggestions.
If you are doing this 'informally' you can get free 'wood trees' from ICE for a larger tract of land or 1000 seedlings per hct. They only offer these at certain times of the year, and you must request them in advance. They will take lots of information from you, and they will check up on the trees at a later date to make sure they have been planted where specified.

Mapache,

CRF is right about Finca Leola. It's a successful and viable operation. Fred Morgan came to CR around ten years ago or a little longer. He bought several large farms and began reclaiming them by replanting them with trees. As the trees have been selectively thinned the forest gradually has been seen creeping back into the tree-farmed sections. Eventually when most of the crop trees are harvested that will be secondary forest well established in its place.

The Finca Leola website has a lot of practical information on it.

HTH

Paul M.
==

Thanks a lot!
This is exactly what I was looking for.

Contact member Kahuna, he runs http://www.ecopreservationsociety.org

Thanks Ticoville,

We will be launching our reforestation program in the February.

Fred at Finca Leola runs an interesting program. He uses Teak to act as a canopy for planting hardwood forest.

In our model we will be using some Teak, but we plan to primarily rely on native hardwoods and diverse forests. Teak is not native to Costa Rica. When you plant teak as a mono-crop there are environmental consequences. It is very acidic and damaging to the soil.

I do not believe that it is accurate that you cannot cut trails in primary forest. You certainly are not allowed to cut down the trees.

Kahuna, I am just passing on what we were told when we looked into purchasing a large tract of rainforest, that we couldn't cut a track. If this was done, this part would be taken out of the protected area, hence a reduction of the funding.
To build a house on or I should say next to this property we would have needed to buy the adjacent land.

Hi Finca, I am not offering a definitive answer. I am not sure there is one. Certainly you would want to work closely with MINAE if you wanted to go this direction. For instance I do know that accommodation are made if you were to be working on research projects for example.

I live near a 200+acre rainforest preserve with a small lodge and restaurant - all Tico-owned. They cut trails in the rainforest and built some footbridges across chasms but everything is done manually. For instance, when a huge tree fell on one of the bridges, they hired young men and brought in sacks of cement, rocks and sand to fix it. (The tree fell on the anchors at one end.) They trooped in 50 sacks of cement and the accompanying sand and rocks on the backs of these men who used the trails. They cannot cut any trees but will sometimes use parts of fallen trees to make lumber for various projects around the place. They often leave the entire fallen tree (if it is not on a trail) as they are home to so many plants and animals.

I think MINAE is your source of all knowledge about this. You can often find a very helpful person in one of their offices. Don't necessarily go by what someone else did, they can't give you a fine but MINAE can. And yes, there are international organizations that support rainforest conservation but if you have any experience with grant writing, you know what a difficult and lengthy process it can be.

Eleanor

Great advice!!!!!!

A lot will be influenced by the way they view your intentions. If they think you are there to exploit their forests, it will be tough going. If they view you as an asset that is there to help them manage the resource, they can be wonderful partners.

I think everything in Costa Rica works that way doesn't it?

We talk a lot about the Bad Gringos on this board. But there are a lot of Good Gringos that are here doing good things and lot of people in the government recognize that and appreciate our help.