April 2006 E-Newsletter of the Monteverde Conservation League, U.S. (MCLUS)

Great News! The Land Purchase and Protection Campaign 20th Anniversary Campaign (LPPC), our primary fundraising activity described on our website, www.mclus.org is off to a wonderful start. The Monteverde Conservation League has signed a contract with Sr. Santamaria for the purchase of 102 hectares (250 acres) of primary forest surrounded by our protected Bosque Eterno de los Ninos, Children’s Eternal Rainforest, and the Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve. This piece was sought after by a tourism operator, but because of the generous support of MCLUS contributors we raised $47,500 to make the down payment in time. The next two annual payments of $32,646.89 will be due January 2007 and 2008. A huge thank you to all who gave.

You can know that this piece of forest is habitat for Baird’s Mountain Tapir (Tapirus bairdii), Collared Peccary (Tayassu tajacu), Puma (Puma concolor), Margay (Leopardus wiedii), Tayra (Eira barbara), Olingo (Bassaricyon gabbii), Mantled Howler Monkey (Alouatta palliata), White Nosed Coati (Nasua narica), Paca (Agouti paca), Alfaro’s Pygmy Squirrel (Microsciurus alfari), White-throated Capuchin Monkey (Cebus capucinus), and the recently returned Spider Monkey (Ateles geoffroyi), not to mention about 250 species of birds, more bats, numbers of frogs endemic to the area, insects, snakes, salamanders and hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of micro-organisms that make order out of this ecosystem. And that is only the fauna. The flora is beyond telling.

Thank you! Thank you! We look forward to your help in making the January 2007 payment.
If you haven’t contributed recently, please consider doing so now. Click http://www.mclus.org/give/donate-now/ to donate. To receive our colorful brochure or our CD PowerPoint presentation, click mailto:info@mclus.org to request.

Casa Primavera at San Gerardo (Spring House). Danne and Mike Rhaesa came from Kansas to the BEN with the MCLUS trip last summer. They loved the forest so much they wanted to return and give back something of value. As stone masons, they thought of designing and constructing a stone spring house of local stone that would keep perishable foods cool without electricity at San Gerardo Biological Field Station. People of action, they returned in February spending three weeks accomplishing their goal. The labor of Dwight, Vin, Robert, Randall in advance, digging the foundation hole, mining sand, mixing cement in a wheelbarrow by hand, hauling stones, prepared the site for Danne and Mike’s skilled work. Water from the mountain flows through the Casa Primavera cooling the interior while the stones insulate it from the heat of the forest. Dwight built a “pizote-proof” door to keep out the wildlife! They also laid beautiful flagstone steps to the big porch.

Thank you Mike and Danne for an addition to the Field Station that is both practical and beautiful. The colors, shapes and sizes of the stones are reminiscent of the diversity of the forest as well as an additional step toward energy efficiency for San Gerardo.

April 22 Earth Day Deadline for Student Ambassadors Free Trip. Like last year, we will be announcing the three schools that raised the most money to contribute to the BEN on Earth Day. Each school will get to select a student ambassador to come to the Children’s Eternal Rainforest in August for free. If your school is planning to contribute this year, you have only a couple of days. See http://mclus.org/give/land-purchase-and-protection/.

MCLUS Trip Openings July 30-Aug 12, 2006. The June trip is full, but there are still spaces for the second trip. The price is only $1695 not including airfare. For further info see http://mclus.org/eco-tourism/.