Sign up for Eco/Adventure in Costa Rica July 14-27, 2008

MCLUS’ annual trip to the Children’s Eternal Rainforest offers a wilderness experience with expert guides. Learn about tropical conservation efforts in 5 different life zones! Two weeks for only $1795 plus airfare.

Lost Frog Species Found Again in Monteverde

Recently during fieldwork in the forest, Mark Wainwright of Monteverde and Andrew Gray, Curator of Herpetology for the Manchester Museum, UK led a group searching for frogs. They discovered Isthmohyla rivularis, a hylid frog that had not been observed in the region since the amphibian population crash there in the 1980s. The rediscovery was made during a very long hike to establish the status of the last known population of another species, Lithobates vibicarius. We are also pleased to report that they found a healthy population of Lithobates vibicarius as well. Several hundred animals, including numerous breeding pairs, juveniles and egg clutches were found.

GPS coordinates taken during the Monteverde expedition show unequivocally that the entire population of Lithobates vibicarius – the last known population in the world – lives within the Children’s Eternal Rainforest. Likewise, the entire population of Isthmohyla rivularis – also the last known population in the world – lives within the Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve. Thus, each protected area has its own endemic and highly endangered amphibian species. We hope this fact will serve as further inspiration for those who work for or support these two important conservation organizations.

Emberá Stories Never Before Written Soon to be Published

MCLUS has a hand in saving endangered stories from being lost, the ancient stories of the Emberá, indigenous people of Panama. Rachel has been video recording the storytellers from 12 villages along the Sambu River in the remote Darien jungle. So far 89 stories have been recorded and 35 transcribed into Emberá and translated into Spanish and English. Volume 1 is soon to be published with 22 stories in Spanish and English. The hope is to have 3 volumes in Emberá and Spanish with enough copies to distribute to all Emberá village classrooms.

MCLUS’ Biggest Year Yet Thanks to YOU

We are so grateful for increased support from our wonderful donors. As our story gets told more widely, we gain more partners and more donations. In 2007 you contributed over $100,000 that is enabling us to help expand and protect the precious biodiversity of the Children’s Eternal Rainforest. THANK YOU and Happy New Year!

Children’s Eternal Rainforest Receives UNESCO Biosphere Reserve Designation

Photo by Dale Morris

The Children’s Eternal Rainforest, fondly known as the BEN, (Bosque Eterno de los Niños) has been included as part of a new Biosphere Reserve in Costa Rica under UNESCO and given the name of “Agua y Paz.” The BEN is one of the core areas of the 916 hectare (2300 acres) Biosphere Reserve adopted in Paris on September 19, 2007 by a unanimous vote.

MCLUS Namibia Trip in October a Success

Photo by Gay Townsend

The first MCLUS trip outside of Costa Rica recently returned from Namibia. Fifteen travelers accompanied Rachel Crandell on a journey that focused on conservation in Africa. We were treated to sightings of southern right whales, bottle-nosed dolphins, Cape fur seals and endemic Benguela dolphins in Walvis Bay while we learned about the sustainable harvest of oysters and guano there. Grootberg Lodge in the Damara Desert is a community-operated lodge built and run by local people as part of sustainable development. We donated school supplies and money to an AIDS “orphanage” on our way to Etosha National Park. As it was the end of the dry season, vast numbers of wildlife congregated at the waterholes and made for spectacular photo opportunities. We saw 83 elephants, 35 lions and scores of giraffe, warthogs, rhino, ostrich, thousands of springbok, and zebra, kudu, wildebeest, impala, gemsbok, dik dik, hartebeest, and one leopard. We tented at the Cheetah Conservation site and were treated to a close encounter with cheetahs on the run. Cape Griffon Vultures are among the most endangered of Namibia’s birds. We learned about their importance and plight, as well as the efforts to save them. Baboons were everywhere! A visit to a Himba village gave us a peek into the traditional culture of these indigenous people of the Kaokoveld.

New Intern

Gay Townsend joins MCLUS as volunteer intern helping with a multitude of tasks while earning her degree in Environmental Studies. We are grateful for her willing hands as she learns the ins-and-outs of running a nonprofit conservation organization.

Rachel’s Trip and Presentations to Schools and Friends

Student Ambassadors visit the BEN in July

Katherine, Ben and Elaine along with their moms, dad and grandmother had the adventure of a lifetime. Friends in their schools and homeschool group in Scottsville New York, St Louis. MO and O´Fallon, IL made major contributions to the Children´s Eternal Rainforest, El Bosque Eterno de los Niños (the BEN) and as a result these three student ambassadors were given a free trip to Costa Rica to learn firsthand about protecting the rainforest. Their donations were celebrated by the Monteverde Conservation League staff with a certificate, a BEN T-shirt and a BEN hat. Back home they will spread the word of the value of saving tropical ecosystems and their biodiversity. You can check out messages from past student ambassadors to the BEN on www.rainforest kid.com

Teacher Trip to the BEN

Teachers from Oregon to Florida received graduate credit for a twp week trip to the BEN full of education and adventure with a dual focus on tropical ecology and nature journaling. The art component was added to this year´s two week MCLUS Costa Rica trip with great results. Lee Ogle, an artist from Portland, Oregon, provided wonderful lessons and examples for the teachers whose journals soon were festooned with colorful art of what they had been seeing and hearing in the rainforest. Their mind-expanding experience was filled with wilderness, erupting volcano, waterfalls, professors and biologists as guides, a moving visit to a rural school, river rafting, time spent in five different types of rainforest, and friendship with local families including a lesson in tortilla making. They have much to share with their students when they return to their classrooms in September.

Christian Science Monitor Article re Monteverde Forest

The Christian Science Monitor’s front page article, “The Rain Forest’s Vanishing Species” June 21, 2007 gives a clear and detailed account of Monteverde’s dilemma caused by climate change. The Children’s Eternal Rainforest is 6 times bigger than the Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve and surrounds it on 3 sides, thereby granting a huge extension of the ecosystem, providing habitat and buffer zone. The article by Moises Velasquez-Manoff also explains why “corridors” are so important. That is exactly what we are fundraising for right now. Reading and sharing this article by Moises Velasquez-Manoff with friends will help to spread the word about our mission.

The five page article can be read and videos viewed online at www.csmonitor.com/2007/0621/p25s06-sten.html

SLRA Grant given to MCLUS

The St. Louis Rainforest Advocates gives grants each year to aid scientific research and grassroots organizations that further the cause of tropical rainforests. This year they awarded the $900 grant to MCLUS: $400 toward land purchase, $400 toward environmental education and $100 for the native plant vivero at Bajo del Tigre. Many thanks to SLRA for their support.

Hands of the Maya in Fifth Printing

Henry Holt publishers just ran a fifth printing of Rachel Crandell’s children’s book that provides the money for the scholarship fund to send Maya children to high school in Belize. Long live the scholarship fund and more reprints!

New Children’s Book about the BEN to come out 2008

Acclaimed children’s author and artist, Kristin Pratt Serafini, and Rachel Crandell are collaborating on a children’s book about El Bosque Eterno de los Niños (BEN) under the working title of The Forever Forest. Kristin joined Rachel’s group trip in March to the BEN where she began her research and paintings for the book to be published by Dawn Publications in Spring 2008. To assure the accuracy of the text and the illustrations, Kristin and Rachel conferred with experts Willow Zuchowski, Mark Wainwright, Frank Joyce, Richard Laval, Jim Wolfe, and Deb DeRossier, all biologists that live and work in Monteverde.

2007 Student Ambassadors to be Selected for Free Trip to the BEN

The three student groups that donated the most money to the BEN this year by the Earth Day deadline were 1.) Principia Lower School of St. Louis, MO, 2.) a homeschool group, Walking with Animals, in Scottsville, NY and 3.) J.E. Hinchcliffe Elementary School in O’Fallon, Illinois. Congratulations and a huge thank you to all the kids that worked hard to raise money for the forest this year. Now the student ambassadors will have to be selected, get their passports, and make their plans for a July 19 departure to Costa Rica!

Three New Board MCLUS Board Members

At our Annual Meeting on May 2 three new Board Members were elected: Tom Newmark, Terry Sheets and Gay Townsend. All three have shown deep commitment to protecting the BEN and sharing its message of conserving tropical biodiversity. Welcome Aboard!

Rachel’s Spring Trip and Presentations to Schools and Organizations

March 19-April 2 Trip to Costa Rica including 4 days at San Gerardo Field Station inside the BEN’s 54,000 acre wilderness with expert guides and endemic species!!!

April 11 Principia Middle School - St. Louis, MO

April 12 Delta Kappa Gamma Chapter Slide Show (a.m.)- St. Louis, MO

April 12 Stupp Senior Center Slide Show (p.m.) - St. Louis, MO

April 15 Decatur Audubon Society Slide Show - Decatur, IL

April 16 Johns Hill Elementary School Slide Shows - Decatur, IL

April 19 Principia Preschool Slide Show - St. Louis, MO

April 21 St Louis Rainforest Advocates presentation of “Rhythms in the Clouds” video of conservation in the cloud forest of Costa Rica at the Missouri Botanical Garden - St. Louis
April 23 Announcement to Principia Lower School winner of Student Ambassador Free trip to the BEN in July 2007
April 24 Principia Lower School slide show for Second Grade - St. Louis, MO

May 2 MCLUS Annual Board Meeting - St. Louis, MO

May 3 Canton Elementary School slide presentations - Canton, MO

May 12 Community Science Day at St. Louis Science Center - St. Louis, MO

May 15 Author Visit to Principia Lower School - St. Louis, MO

May 20 Glenridge Retirement Center - slide show - Chesterfield, MO

First Land Purchase Completed since 1995

We are thrilled to tell you that your contributions helped us reach the goal of completing the payments on the 250 acre piece of cloud forest being added to the BEN, not only on time, but a year ahead of schedule! MCL is now beginning negotiations for the next piece of land to be added to the BEN. We will continue to save and reclaim forest to fulfill our mission “to conserve, preserve and rehabilitate tropical ecosystems and their biodiversity.” This is just the beginning.

We hope to raise $100,000 through the Land Purchase and Protection Campaign in 2007. Thanks for your continued interest and support.

MCLUS Africa Trip

Join us for a Journey through Time: Namibia, Africa’s Gem from October 9-22, 2007. $4995 including roundtrip airfare from Washington DC to Namibia via Johannesburg. There are only a few spaces left. A $300 deposit would hold your spot. You’ll go to Etosha NP, the Skeleton Coast, Himba tribal people, Damara Desert, ancient Bushmen petroglyphs and Cheetah Conservation. Details on www.mclus.org for this ecotourism trip that benefits the BEN or email info@mclus.org.

New Brochures More Environmentally Friendly

We changed printers. MCLUS has distributed 10,000 brochures in the last 2 ½ years, and now we need more. We asked Murray Print Shop in St Louis to help us do it right. Their new state of the art Tech DI printing press is non-polluting and uses no alcohol and no water. It requires only ¼ as much paper for set up as the old offset press. The inks are vegetable based with no petroleum. Not only that, they ordered our 100% post consumer waste recycled paper from Mohawk Fine Papers in New York who does all their processing with wind power. When Mohawk does use wood pulp in some of their papers, it is only from Green Seal certified and Smartwood certified by Forest Stewardship Council standards. Murray Print Shop checks to see if the wood was grown in North America. Cheaper paper from Asia comes from tropical rain forests. We are delighted with our beautiful, new environmentally friendly brochures. If you would like to help spread the word about MCLUS’ efforts, we would be happy to send you some brochures.

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

Wow again! Tom Newmark of New Chapter organic vitamins has offered the BEN a wonderful deal. We let him give us money, and all we have to do is smile and say “thank you.” Tom has already raised $20,000 by a promotion through natural food stores that carry his product. He hopes to raise much more to help us continue to purchase land that is needed to protect the borders of the BEN and buy some remaining interior pieces. Thank you, Tom Newmark and New Chapter.

(L to R) Dwight and Rachel Crandell, Tom and Terry Newmark, Dr. Peter Raven, MCLUS Board Member and Director of the Missouri Botanical Garden

March 2007 trip to Costa Rica already half full. Several folks are already looking forward to a wonderful spring trip to Monteverde and the BEN March 19-April 1. There are a few spaces left. Go to www.mclus.org/eco-tourism/Costa Rica and Nambia/ for details of the trip.

July 2007 trip to the BEN has only 2 spaces left –July 19-August 1. Teachers get a special opportunity for graduate credit on this trip through Portland State University as well as instruction on nature journaling while we adventure in our tropical wilderness. Go to www.mclus.org/eco-tourism/Costa Rica and Namibia/ for price and details of this trip.

October 9-22, 2007 trip to Namibia, Africa. $4995 including roundtrip air fare from Washington, DC. Send $300 deposit to hold your space for our adventure to Africa’s Gem. Go to www.mclus.org/ecotourism/Costa Rica and Namibia/ for more details.

Himba women Elephant in Etosha National Park

Calendar of MCLUS President Rachel Crandell’s talks about the BEN to groups in October, November and December 2006

_{Lynch View Elementary students}

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

Wow! Did we have two wonderful MCLUS trips this summer or what? Both trips had a delightful span of 3 generations from 8 year olds to 70 year olds. The strenuous hiking and service projects planting trees and hauling rocks to improve a roadway were approached with verve and joy. Our outstanding guides were appreciated by everyone and opened the natural world of the tropics. Our donation of school supplies with rural schools was reciprocated by the students sharing their cultural dances with us.

After Tree planting June 2006 Trip (click on picture for full size)

After Hauling Rocks August 2006 Women’s Trip (click on picture for full size)

In 2007 our two trips will be March 19-April 1, 2007 and July 19-August 1, 2007. The second trip will offer nature journaling and graduate credit for teachers.

Click http://mclus.org/gallery/ for more photos from our trips.

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

Opal Creek, Oregon – Sister Forest to the BEN

Three Oregon teachers joined Rachel Crandell, President of MCLUS, for a magnificent day of hiking in Opal Creek, the Sister Forest to the Children’s Eternal Rain Forest. Opal Creek flows through this temperate rain forest with its towering Douglas Firs, Western Red Cedars, and Hemlocks. Ferns, mosses, and lichens similar but different from those in Monteverde, are everywhere. The sparkling pure water of Opal Creek cascades over dozens of waterfalls. In honor of our Sister Forest they named the largest one La Cascada de los Niños. Environmental education seminars are held at a rustic lodge for teachers and students of the ancient forest. We have much in common with this 38,000 acre protected wilderness. It lies only two hours southeast of Portland, Oregon. We look forward to a growing relationship with our Sister Forest. You can find out more about Opal Creek. www.opalcreek.org

Oregon teachers hiking in Opal Creek

Cascada de los Niños in Opal Creek

Free Trips to the BEN - Student Ambassadors from Seattle and New York City

In August Ellen Terry and her mom, Janet from Seattle, and Madeline Petrie and her mom, Jennifer from New York City, joined the MCLUS trip to the BEN. The girls were thanked by the Monteverde Conservation League for their schools’ generous contributions to the Bosque Eterno de los Niños. Eckstein Middle School and Little Red School House had successful fundraisers last year which earned them the right to send a student ambassador for a free week in Costa Rica and time in our deep wilderness of the BEN. The girls were awarded BEN T-shirts and hats like our Forest Guards wear. Their experiences in the forest will be shared back home with other schools to raise awareness of the important work of protecting this special ecosystem. All schools are invited to participate in our contest for this school year. The deadline for selecting the top three fundraising schools is Earth Day, April 22, 2007. You can check out www.rainforestkid.com for earlier reports of last year’s student ambassadors.

Madeline and Ellen on Bajo del Tigre Trails in BEN