April 2012

Construction of an additional cabina for research housing has begun.  We have installed a new product for the roof manufactured by Dos Pinos Co. Costa Rica’s largest milk producer. They recycle the tetra paks into sheets of láminas. 

Tom working on the Cabina

 

New roof product from recycled tetra paks

 

 

Volunteers

 Tom from the UK  is travelling central America and  stopped in this area to climb Chirripo and volunteer at Cloudbridge.  He helped out with the construction of the cabinas.  The two Toms worked together building the floor and putting up the walls.  Thank you Tom.

 

 

Britanny and Amanda , Sisters from Wyoming volunteered for a couple of days as well.  They  helped with maintenance of the tree seedlings clearing grass and installing cardboard around them for mulch.

 

 

The big challenge for Marlos and her weed suppression study has been collecting enough cardboard to cover the designated quadrants.  She has us all searching for crushed boxes.  We now have many participants donating cardboard from stores in San Isidro to pulperias, hotels and local villages recycling programs.  These boxes will all be recycled up on the mountain ridge as a cover to suppress weeds around the newly planted trees.  This is just one of the methods she is using as a comparison for effective weed control.  She will be comparing a chemical control to three non chemical approaches.

 

 

Holly and Ken are interns  from  Global Vision International (GVI).  They  arrived near the end of April and will be here for 10 weeks doing research .  Their primary goal is to establish a multi-year system for data collection of wildlife for tracking species and populations within Cloudbridge.  They have already installed camera traps.  For the first half of their internship they worked near Tortugero  in the National Park tracking and observing Jaguar predation on turtles.  This experience has provided them with a good  knowledge base for their project at Cloudbridge.

 

 

Earth Day  (Día de la Tierra)

Linda facilated an earth day celebration on behalf of Cloudbridge along with the organization Proyecto San Gerardo.  We held the event  at the Café Bambú in San Gerardo de Rivas.  Cloudbridge gave away trees,  and there was a feria/farmers market  to encourage buying locally produced goods . There was a great variety of products including fresh produce, cheeses, eggs, homemade shampoos, jams, baked goods, organic chocolates, and potted plants.   The art exhibition of Linda’s students  which had earlier been displayed at the Muséo de Los Niños in San Jose was exhibited inside the cafe and will remain there for a few months.   The paintings represent trees from the San Gerardo area.  The exciting outcome of Earth Day is that we have decided to continue the market weekly.  It is a great Sunday morning gathering place for people from surrounding communities.

 

 

 

Wildlife

Drew Hart returned for a visit and his enthusiasm for birding payed off when he and Marloes  witnessed 12 sitings of quetzels in one morning!  They have the photos to prove it.  It has been common to hear the calling of these birds up and down the valleys recently.

Other wildlife reported spotted this month were – peccaries, spider monkeys, toucanets, an olingo, coatis, and  a tayra. 

 

The police and a Mineat representative stopped by the reserve to warn us of possible poachers in the area.  We have seen several suspicious vehicles and some people have been questioned.  While poaching has declined in the country it is a sad statement that it still continues. 

 

 

Looks Whats Blooming!

 

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