1. MCLUS received two Rotary International grants for $1,000 each which enabled us to refurbish and repair the two nature centers at Bajo del Tigre and Finca Steller including signage. With help from staff and volunteers new hands-on exhibits and a beautiful mural were designed and painted. The Open House for the Casita Nature Center at Bajo del Tigre was a great success with over 250 students and their teachers from eight local schools participating in hikes, activities, storytelling and an art contest. The exhibits engaged the children in activities about seed dispersal, birds and beaks, leaves and their adaptations, puzzles to match bats with what they eat, matching games about animal classification and specimens to look at through a magnifying glass. The Rotary grants also allowed us to purchase much needed field guides for the libraries in each Casita and at both field stations as well as tables and chairs for the classroom and have special insect boxes made so that we could receive a wonderful donation of a moth collection from Dr. Richard Whitten. An non-Rotarian $1000 gift provided for a professional exhibit fabricator to create a stunning exhibit on mutualism of not only plants and animals, but people and the forest. An article appeared in the March 2004 Rotarian International Magazine about thisproject sharing this success widely. (more…)