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

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

La Hora de los Niños. Volunteers from MCLUS began a Saturday morning environmental education program called La Hora de los Niños, the Children’s Hour, held in the Casita at the Bajo del Tigre Trails in Monteverde. Each Saturday we focus on a different theme: insects, hummingbirds, bats, interactions between wild and domestic animals in a village surrounded by forest, symbiotic relationships between plants and animals. We have storytellers, puppet shows, games, songs, hikes. One week the San Jose TV Channel camera team came to Monteverde and took videos of the kids on the trails discovering tiny secrets of the forest with their magnifying glasses. They interviewed some of the parents and children later seen on TV. We hope the Children’s Hour is only the beginning to further environmental education offered in the BEN. Martha Moss (Storyteller) and children at the Casita, Bajo del Tigre, Monteverde. (click picture for larger image)

Sister Cities: Estes Park, Colorado and Monteverde, Costa Rica. Estes Park and Monteverde have chosen each other as Sister Cities. Delegations from each “city” have visited the other. This summer Dwight and Rachel Crandell also visited Estes Park and met with Tom Pickering, Executive Director of the Estes Park Visitor Center. dWe learned what a perfect match the two cities are. Both are in the mountains near their respective Continental Divides. Both have an abundance of wildlife because of nearby large protected areas. Rocky Mountain National Park almost surrounds Estes Park. The BEN, the Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve and the Santa Elena Reserve almost surround Monteverde. Both municipalities depend largely on tourism for their economy. We can learn from each other. Where the BEN has tropical animals like monkeys, puma, armadillos, sloths, coati, agouti, etc, Rocky Mountain NP has an abundance of elk, big horn sheep, marmots, black bear, mule deer and lots of our neo-tropical migratory birds during the summer months.

 Monteverde poster in Estes Park, CO (Warren Clinton on left, Tom Pickering on right) (Click on picture for larger image)

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

Thank you for the donations! We are pleased with the generous reponse to the Earth Day post card asking for support for the purchase of the forest from Sr. Santamaria near Monteverde which was announced in the previous e-newsletter. We need to make two additional payments of $32,646.89 in Jan. 2007 and 2008 to complete the purchase. If you wish to donate via a secure online link, click http://mclus.org/give/donate-now/.

 Map, Santamaria Purchase, Jan 2006  (Click on picture for larger image)

Fox River Country Day School Trip. An end of the school year trip to the Bosque Eterno de los Ninos (BEN), the Children’s Eternal Rain Forest, was perfect for a Chicago area middle school. The students prepared in advance by studying tropical forest ecology. They brought their journals, binoculars, cameras and curiosity. They left their CD players at home and opened their senses to the sights and sounds of the rainforest. They delighted in hearing the howler monkeys early in the morning and were awestruck watching Arenal Volcano erupt, sending glowing magma down its side. Our expert guides opened the students’ eyes to the intricate relationships of the special ecosystem around San Gerardo Field Station, finding endemic frogs in the stream on a night hike. Very early in the morning the students all hopped out of bed to walk the Tabacon Trail and see the rare male bare-necked umbrella bird at its nesting site. Each one of the group felt like a partner as he/she worked to re-forest an old pasture and clean the trails at San Gerardo. They had a new world opened to them that they never will forget.
 Fox River Country Day School, Tree Planting, May 2005 (click on picture for larger image)