Tantric Goddess Retreat hosted by Carmen Sanchez
Susquehanna University 11-13 January 2023:
Students and staff from Susquehanna University, a private liberal arts college in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania, came to stay for three days, brought to us by Vamanos Tours who specialize in immersive experiences for children and young adults.
This team continued with the cementing of the path down to El teatro; a much needed upgrade after the torrential rains of Hurricane Fiona in September 2022. Thanks to volunteers at Las Casas de la Selva who helped with crew leadership for the task in hand: 3t, Larry Birdflask, George Locascio, and Alfredo Lopez.
Monique Nieves was chef, ably assisted by Vanessa Acevedo. We ate really well! 3t gave a presentation about the history and work at Las Casas de la Selva, and George Locascio made a presentation about his work as a lepidopterist and botanist.
See more of 3t’s photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/BXgPL5GbiHsgc62S6
We appreciate the collaboration we have with Vamanos! Reach out to them if you have a large school group that you would like to travel with, get all over the island, and also stay a few nights, or all nights, with us.
https://www.vamonostours.com/about-us/
Vámonos is a minority-owned educational tour company incorporated in the state of Delaware. Founder, Jorge Pardo, started the company in 2002 after six years of taking his own students on cultural and Spanish immersion tours of his island. With a 100% teacher background, they know what it is like to organize these tours from a teacher’s perspective. Therefore, they help teachers throughout the entire sign-up process and provide more than what’s expected in terms of trip preparation.
Globalworks Team 11 January 2023
A service day with teenagers from Charles Wright Academy, Tacoma, WA, brought to us by the fun and very competant team of Globalworks staff lead by Lauren Gette-King. Volunteers at Las Casas de la Selva who helped with crew leadership for the task in hand: 3t, Larry Birdflask, George Locascio, and Alfredo Lopez. The task was to re-cement the 40 year old path down to El Teatro. Various other nursery tasks were also accomplished. This team started the process and completed half the path, had a fantastic lunch cooked by Monique Nieves, and Vanessa Acevedo, and left in the afternoon as we prepped to receive another team that same evening!
See more of 3t’s photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/gTxZ9yDCQsyXxEM56
Trips abroad change children’s lives, open their minds, and create new perspectives!! https://www.globalworkstravel.com/summer-service-adventures/
Thrity was invited by the directors of the Botanical Gardens Conservation International, and Naples Botanical Garden, to the Botanical Bridges Congress 2022, at The Leon Levy Native Plant Preserve, a 30 acre world-class, botanic garden in Governor’s Harbor Eleuthera Island, Bahamas. It is a showcase of native and endemic Bahamian plants and is the first and only national park on the island. Thrity’s presentation at the congress highlighted the history and forestry work at Las Casas, including the last two years of work with critically endangered endemic species. There were 50 participants from 26 Botanical Gardens and institutions, representing 11 countries and territories, a gathering to improve global collaboration.
Here is 3t’s photo album of the trip: https://photos.app.goo.gl/JGPBqnmxetVGTKECA
Huge thanks to Joachim Gratzfeld, BGCI Regional Programmes Director; Chad Washburn, Director, Naples Botanical Garden, Florida; Noelia Alvarez, BGCI Plant Conservation Project Manager, for arranging and sponsoring Thrity’s trip.
| Outcomes and Emerging Themes |
| |
| There were many important outcomes and emerging themes at the Congress including: Revision and acceptance of a draft of A Plant Conservation Strategy for the Caribbean Region. The strategy provides a unifying set of plant conservation actions linked to and in support of the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. The Strategy will be circulated among the Network in early 2023 for a final stakeholder consultation. A range of tools and resources are available through Botanic Gardens Conservation International to support and guide plant conservation efforts, including the International Plant Sentinel Network, Global Conservation Consortia, Global Tree Assessments, Plant Search, Threat Search, and the Global Tree Portal. There is a significant need to draw in more participation from Caribbean and Central American gardens and plant conservation organizations to build a stronger network. This will require improved communication, engagement, and promotion of the network. Botanic Gardens across the region are acting as education, training, and sustainability centers to build regional capacity to support plant conservation. Projects that focus on taxonomic groups can serve as successful models for collaboration and creating coordinated metacollections of high conservation value. Collaborations within the region and outside of the region will be necessary to build significant capacity for plant conservation. This includes collaborations between gardens and governments, businesses and entrepreneurships, schools and universities, and local communities. Conservation horticulture plays a vital role in supporting all plant conservation efforts. Climate change impacts play a strong role in the region. Work is needed to plan for disaster management and to prepare, mitigate and restore in the face of climate change. |
META ABSTRACT: TREE CONSERVATION SESSIONS
Prioritise, plan, act and monitor – promoting an integrated approach to threatened tree conservation
Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) promotes a holistic, integrated approach to the conservation and management of plant diversity. The ultimate aim of BGCI’s Tree Conservation Program is that no tree species become extinct. A coordinated, integrated approach to global tree conservation is needed, as the State of the World’s Trees, published in 2021 indicates that almost 30% of all tree species are threatened with extinction. BGCI’s Tree Conservation Program is integrating threatened tree conservation through four actions – prioritise, plan, act and monitor – to protect the world’s tree species from extinction with partners worldwide. In this session, we will showcase the varied approaches used to further the conservation of tree species.
PRIORITISE
Effective tree conservation requires information and tools to guide and prioritise action. The Global Tree Assessment is an initiative to assess the conservation status of all the world’s tree species, led by Botanic Gardens Conservation International and the IUCN Species Survival Commission Global Tree Specialist Group. Here we present the progress of the Global Tree Assessment towards our goal of an IUCN Red List assessment for every tree species with a focus on Central America and the Caribbean. However completing IUCN Red List assessments isn’t enough. Tree extinctions can only be avoided if the best possible information is available and then used to inform conservation decisions made by practitioners, policy makers and funders.
PLAN
Conservation action can be planned at species level but also at the national, regional and taxonomic group levels. All together, resources as made available by BGCI including the Global Tree Portal, Conservation Action Tracker, Recovery Plans, national conservation planning work and taxonomic group-level conservation planning, inform the selection of priority sites and species to develop integrated tree conservation initiatives and funding applications. Ground surveys are key to updating the information on baseline populations and understanding of threats and ecology for the species to enable the development of recovery plans.
ACT
The information available through the Global Tree Assessment is crucial to guide tree conservation action. While the challenges and scale of the problem in maintaining tree diversity are significant, the Global Trees Campaign initiative has worked to conserve over 400 threatened tree species in more than 50 countries. These projects carry out direct tree conservation action, collaborating closely with local partners worldwide. The full engagement and participation of local stakeholders is key to the success and lasting impact of all tree conservation initiatives. Technical challenges can be multiple and complex, building stakeholder capacity and partnerships facilitates the sharing of experiences, improves practices and increases success. We will showcase examples of tree conservation projects currently being implemented in the Central American and Caribbean region in countries such as the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Haiti and Puerto Rico.
MONITOR
Project monitoring is the routine collection and analysis of information about project progress and whether expected results are being achieved. To track progress annually, BGCI has developed a thorough system of monitoring and evaluation where project activities are reviewed and amended as necessary, based on new findings or on unforeseen events, including natural and man-made hazards and changes.
An example of integrated conservation encompassing the Prioritise-Plan-Act-Monitor framework are the Global Conservation Consortia. The global botanic garden community is establishing a series of consortia of specialists with knowledge of genera that are technically challenging to conserve and manage. Eight such consortia have been established to date, including for cycads, and Magnolia. The Global Conservation Consortium for Magnolia (GCCM), led by Atlanta Botanical Garden, is a coordinated network of institutions and experts who work collaboratively to develop and implement a comprehensive conservation strategy to prevent extinction of the world’s Magnolia species.
Collaboration is needed to most effectively conserve the world’s tree species. Strengthening the networks already in place, sharing of information and experiences and developing new partnerships is key to protecting the region’s unique tree flora.
Devastating landslides at Las Casas de la Selva.
17th to 18th September 2022, Hurricane Fiona passed over Puerto Rico, and Patillas received 27″ of rain. Landslides were the major events at the project, and we also lost our forest bridge that leads into our plantations. The force of the water was extremely high and violent, as we have seen all over PR after Fiona. We have also lost access to our plantations from the Las Mulas side as the municipal road suffered a huge landslide.
It has been a devastating event. The main drive suffered two land slides, the vegetation was cleared in the week following the hurricane by a volunteer Team Echo, then work with a tractor by Andres Rua, then finally the Patillas municipal bulldozer. Thrity was trapped for four days. The electric line is also down, so the generator is on for maybe the next two months. Thrity is working with volunteers to clean up, Andres is working on the water system, and the future looks towards ecological restoration being a major part of what we do.
Thank you to everyone who has reached out to help, and a huge thank you to those that have come and given a hand at a very challenging time.
Please help in whatever way you can.
https://eyeontherainforest.org/donate/
Links to Press Reports & Other publications
https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2022/09/puerto-rico-crippled-by-flash-flooding-and-power-failures-as-fiona-heads-toward-bermuda/
https://www.accuweather.com/en/hurricane/fiona-rainfall-totals-in-puerto-rico-rival-hurricane-marias-downpours/1249695
https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2020/1022/ofr20201022_sheet_geospatial.pdf
See the images of landslides on PR 184 near Las Casas de la Selva
https://www.canva.com/design/DAFOd6RTGH8/oi8KFQMX_CqqOrv4CH71Jw/view?utm_content=DAFOd6RTGH8&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton
Students and staff from Hartford High School, Vermont were in the house for several days, whilst we had an island-wide blackout. We worked on the ethnobotanical trail where a landslide had erased much of the path, and created a new trail. Old eroded steps on the trail were renewed and undergrowth was cleared for more tree-planting. Thanks to staff Doug Anton, Israel Provoncha, and Tricia Pfeiffer for great leadership, and to Vamanos Tours for safe travel and island organizing! Monica Nieves and Vanessa Acevedo worked the kitchen and dining, and we were delighted by the fine cuisine.
Democracy Prep Public Schools is a growing network of free, open-enrollment, high-performing public charter schools committed to preparing students for success in college and active citizenship. These five teams of New York teens came to participate at Las Casas de la Selva, Sustainable Forestry Project, Patillas, and worked outside in heavy rains and muddy conditions, helping with clearing overgrowth, clearing an area for more tree sapling storage under shade, digging holes for tree planting, and cleaning up various nursery areas. Comfort zones were broken down swiftly, but happy to report big smiles all around. We had a great time with these young students who are all on their way to great achievements. We salute you all. Thanks also to the staff who brought each team and Vamanos Tours for getting them all in and out safely. Thanks to Monique Nieves and Vanessa Acevedo for the delicious cuisine.
Mercury, a visiting artist from New York, and 3t, worked with students out in the forest on the ethnobotanical trail. The students were lucky to get some presentations from project volunteers George Locascio, a butterfly expert who teaches at Mount Wachusett Community College, and Brian Connolly, a botanist who is a professor at Eastern Connecticut State University.
Vamanos Tours brought a wonderful team of 25 teens and 3 staff, from Meridian School, Boston, USA to stay for two days and help out in all areas. We cleared a bank in preparation for a future project and worked on the ethnobotanical trail. Thanks to Monique Nieves for delicious vegetarian food, and to Vanessa Acevedo for all homestead help.
Thank you to Globalworks for bringing us this enthusiastic group of teens who helped with clearing the land in preparation for a new project. We really appreciated the effort! Thank you to Ari Wildau and Randall Vargas Guido, Globalworks, trip leaders.
The New School of the Anthropocene Symposium is an ongoing series of unscripted video dialogues launched to coincide with the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 26) held in Glasgow in Autumn 2021.
The framework for discussion is bio-political emergency: a question of unimaginable climate catastrophe, species extinction and the undermining of the very notion of civil society and its reciprocal practices. This is our pivotal question:
How can the university be reshaped to address these issues in the context of its own accelerating crises of marketisation, instrumentalism and the systematic denigration of arts and humanities subjects?
The Symposium pairs leading cultural figures from neighbouring fields with the intention of allowing free-ranging conversation, which is loosely tied into the New School’s wider educational enquiry.
For Tropic Ventures Research & Education Foundation, 2021 began with Naples Botanical Garden in Florida securing a grant from the Association of Zoological Horticulture to fund the building of a new tree nursery at our project in Patillas, Puerto Rico, after the devastation of all our tree nurseries in Hurricane Maria in 2017. Following this, the 2021 Botanical Gardens Conservation International & Global Tree Campaign agreement and grant opportunity to survey for two threatened endemic species was a huge accomplishment; a proposal for the conservation of two Puerto Rican endemic trees, Garcinia portoricensis & Ravenia urbanii. Thrity Vakil, director of TVREF, immediately set about creating a diverse team comprised of plant and tree experts, and experts in the fields of ecology, biology, taxonomy, bryology, mycology, and zoology. (TVREF is also known as Eye on the Rainforest, which is the name of its website).
Take a short drone flight over Las Casas de la Selva, Sustainable Forestry & Rainforest Enrichment Project, established in 1983 in Patillas, Puerto Rico. August 2021.
Footage by Brent Foley, Production by Alfredo Lopez.
Earthday Botanical Survey 2021, at Las Casas de la Selva, Sustainable forestry & Rainforest Enrichment Project in Patillas, Puerto Rico. Filmwork: Raymesh Cintron, Narrator: 3t Vakil, Soundtrack: Andrés Rúa
“Re-examining Crises as Opportunities for Change: Sustainable Forestry, Log salvage, and Hardwood production after extreme social, ecological & technological disturbances in Puerto Rico.”
Since 2014, the Yale University Chapter of the International Society of Tropical Foresters (ISTF) has awarded an Innovation Prize at its annual conference to honor outstanding initiatives and ideas related to tropical forest use and conservation. Thrity was selected as one of three finalists to tell the story of Las Casas de la Selva, Puerto Rico Hardwoods, and the Institute of Ecotechnics. February 2021
Images and footage: 3t Vakil, Andrés Rúa, Tom Marvel, & Greg Byers.
Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico as a Category 4 storm on the morning of 20th September 2017. Tropic Ventures Sustainable Forestry and Rainforest Enrichment Project established 35 years ago, lay directly in her path. This is 3t’s visual story of the impact of Hurricane Maria on the rainforest project in Patillas, on the land known as Las Casas de la Selva, southeast Puerto Rico.
Film and photos by 3t Vakil, and Andrés Rúa. Edited by Corinna MacNeice. Use headphones to appreciate the soundscape.
“Seas, rain forests, and saving coral reefs” Long Lost Friends talks with 3T Vakil
“Painting and saving forests in Puerto Rico” Long Lost Friends talks with 3T Vakil
“Saving Endangered Trees” Long Lost Friends talks with 3T Vakil
PRESS & PUBLICATIONS
- In 2021, the Global Tree Campaign has partnered with Eye on the Rainforest, a Puerto Rican NGO, with the aims of conserving tree species most at risk of extinction by increasing the technical capacity of project partners and improving the conservation status of these tree species. https://globaltrees.org/projects/securing-the-conservation-of-endemic-trees-in-puerto-rico/
- 3t made a virtual presentation to the Rotary Club of San Juan in September 2021.
- Conserve Magazine: https://www.naplesgarden.org/wp-ontent/uploads/2021/08/Conserve.pdf
See pages 16 to 20. 3t’s photo of the Las Casas forest made the front cover!
15-18th July 2021
Vamonos Tours have been collaborating with us for several years now and bringing groups of people from all over the world to stay for a while in the rainforest, volunteering on many fun tasks.
This team from Massachusetts stayed for three nights and helped with trails, compost management, nursery cleaning and re-organizing, putting in new weedcloth and spreading gravel on the ground. An incredible time was had by all, and thanks to Magha Garcia for the delicious, nutritious food!
If you are looking to bring a group to Puerto Rico, don’t hesistate to get in touch with Bernardo or Jorge at Vamonos.
https://www.vamonostours.com/about-us/
26-29th July 2021: Thanks to this intrepid team of teens who worked with 3t clearing the overgrowth on our main drive from the gate, and also work in the nursery. This team spent three nights with us. Thanks to Magha Garcia and Milly Santiago for the cuisine that kept the team well fed.
Big thanks also to Global Works Trip Leader, Eric Uslander, and to the staff who stayed with us: Lindsey Storm, Talia Santos, and James Palma Harrera.
Global Works provides service trips for teens and school travel programs with community service, cultural exchange, language immersion, and adventure. They make sure that teens have an unforgettable experience abroad, make friends for a lifetime, have lessons in leadership, and make impactful change!
For more on their programs: https://www.globalworkstravel.com/
We have been collaborating with Global Works since 2003, and we really value the long-term relationship with staff and the teens who return as young aduts to continue a relationship with our project.
25th July 2021: This team of 25 teenagers and three staff spent a day at Las Casas de la Selva helping with cement-work on our library roof, led by Andrés Rúa, and clearing the homestead of overgrowth with 3t, particularly behind the workshop, where the vines and bamboo had really become wild. Many hands make light work, and this team worked hard all day in rainy weather. Thank you!!! Thanks to Magha for the delicious cuisine.
Big thanks also to Global Works Trip Leader, Eric Uslander, and to the awesome staff: Jorge Flores, Fabricio Ochoa Serrano, Katie Kelly, and Penelope Benscome.
Global Works provides service trips for teens and school travel programs with community service, cultural exchange, language immersion, and adventure. They make sure that teens have an unforgettable experience abroad, make friends for a lifetime, have lessons in leadership, and make impactful change!
For more on their programs: https://www.globalworkstravel.com/
We have been collaborating with Global Works since 2003, and we really value the long-term relationship with staff and the teens who return as young aduts to continue a relationship with our project.
13th July 2021: Thank you to this wonderful team of teenagers, who helped with clearing and digging drainage ditches on our main drive and trail this July for one day.
Big thanks also to Global Works Trip Leader, Eric Uslander, and to the awesome staff: Victor Pachas, Jasmine Van Maldren, Fabricio Ochoa Serrano, and Penelope Benscome.
Global Works provides service trips for teens and school travel programs with community service, cultural exchange, language immersion, and adventure. They make sure that teens have an unforgettable experience abroad, make friends for a lifetime, have lessons in leadership, and make impactful change!
For more on their programs: https://www.globalworkstravel.com/
We have been collaborating with Global Works since 2003, and we really value the long-term relationship with staff and the teens who return as young aduts to continue a relationship with our project.
In early 2021 Tropic Ventures Research & Education Foundation partnered with Naples Botanical Garden in Naples, Florida, to prioritize efforts to conserve on-site species most at risk from extinction through seed banking, multiple off-site backup collections, development of propagation protocols, assessment of extinction risk for the IUCN Red List, and out-planting on the site. The Association of Zoological Horticulture provided a grant towards this endeavor. AZH is a non-profit membership organization dedicated to the advancement of horticulture in zoos, zoological parks, botanic gardens, and aquariums.
Architect David Henebry, who has been volunteering his time and building skills at Las Casas since 2018, designed the nursery, and in March 2021 arrived on a 10 day trip, and with a team effort including 3t, Axel Rúa, & Diego Marvel, a strong, hurricane-resistant shade-tree nursery, and a small soils shed came into being, along with a 10’ x 10’ seed nursery, which is still in progress.
As a result of this partnership, the Botanic Gardens Conservation International via the Franklinia Foundation, & the Global Tree Campaign have started a new collaboration with us to survey for endangered endemic trees of Puerto Rico. We are over the moon about this.
BGCI is a registered charity and company in England and Wales, and in the U.S. as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. www.bgci.org
Chad Washburn, Director of the Naples Botanical Garden, will join us in the field later in 2021.
EARTHDAY BOTANICAL EXPEDITION
at Las Casas de la Selva, 22nd April 2021
On Earthday 2021, a team of intrepid plant experts will spend the day in the Las Casas forest on a major survey, to scout for rare and endangered endemic species, and to identify everything along the journey. The team will identify trees, shrubs, lianas, grasses, bryophytes, fungi, fauna, and whatever else they find!!
Las Casas de la Selva is collaborating with Botanic Gardens Conservation International via the Franklinia Foundation, a private foundation established in Switzerland. BGCI is a registered charity and company in England and Wales, and in the U.S. as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. www.bgci.org
Chad Washburn, Director of the Naples Botanical Garden in Florida, USA. NBG is working with the team at Las Casas de la Selva throughout the process, and will join them in the field later in 2021.
In January 2021, Las Casas de la Selva successfully applied for a grant through Naples Botanical Garden to build a shade tree nursery at the project. The Association of Zoo Horticulture, (AZH), provided this grant.
See the video of this Earthday Botanical Survey 2021, at Las Casas de la Selva, Sustainable forestry & Rainforest Enrichment Project in Patillas, Puerto Rico. https://youtu.be/i2t4ISqMbIk
Conserve Magazine Pages 16-20 https://www.naplesgarden.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Conserve.pdf
The Global Tree Campaign has partnered with Eye on the Rainforest, in Puerto Rico, with the aims of conserving tree species most at risk of extinction by increasing the technical capacity of project partners and improving the conservation status of these tree species. https://globaltrees.org/projects/securing-the-conservation-of-endemic-trees-in-puerto-rico/
Botanical Team Bios
| Thrity (3t) Vakil serves as President of Tropic Ventures Research & Education Foundation at Las Casas de la Selva, a 1,000 acre Sustainable Forestry & Rainforest Enrichment Project in SE Puerto Rico, established in 1983, as a demonstration project to encourage similar practice in the Caribbean and globally, and as a contribution to economic development, that encourages local protection and sustainable management of secondary tropical forests. 3t has worked on tree planting, tree-id, selective harvesting, milling, and wood-drying operations for two decades, and has led sixty Earthwatch research teams into the forest, observing, measuring, monitoring, and planting, hundreds of trees. 3t directs endangered species conservation & recovery within the Tropic Ventures forest, propagates trees, and is currently surveying the land with a team of world-class botanists to locate critically endangered species in a collaboration with Botanical Gardens Conservation International. From a background in theater design and scenic art, and an Associate of the Institute of Ecotechnics since 1990, 3t has hands-on experience in a range of fields: ecology, expeditions, event management, arts, performance, and theater. On a major coral reef research expedition in the mid 90’s, 3t served three years as Assistant to the Expedition Chief, diving on remote coral reefs in the Red Sea & Indian Ocean, on the Institute’s Research Vessel Heraclitus, also crossing the Atlantic and Mediterranean Oceans. In 2015, 3t co-founded Puerto Rico Hardwoods, Inc. with Andrés Rúa, and from 2017 pioneered efforts in Puerto Rico to save hundreds of downed valuable hardwood trees after Hurricane Maria, that were destined for landfill. 3t is a Fellow of the Linnean Institute, a Fellow of the World Academy of Art & Science, and an accomplished artist. In 2021, 3t won an Innovation award from Yale University’s International Society of Tropical Foresters. |
| Steve Maldonado Silvestrini studied Architecture at the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus. Currently, he is an independent researcher on Neotropical Botany, Ecology and Taxonomy focused on the insular Caribbean, at the UPRRPR Herbarium. His studies aim to develop data on coastal plant communities, coastal habitats, and exotic species being introduced to the Caribbean. He is mixing both professions on what he proposes as non-anthropocentric or post-anthropocentric architecture, architecture for non-humans or not centered on human needs, but on an ecologically inclusive approach. |
| Roberto Enrique Bello alias Roqui, was born and raised in Puerto Rico. He double majored in Zoology and Anthropology at Michigan State University, and completed a Master’s in Integrative Biology at the University of California, Berkeley. Passionate about natural history and exploration, he worked or interned at various institutions such as the Museum of Zoology at MSU, the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at UC Berkeley, the National Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian, the Marine Biology Laboratory in Woods Hole MA, and the Organization for Tropical Studies in Costa Rica. Before settling back in PR he embarked on a personal sabbatical through 13 Latin American countries visiting nature reserves, archaeological sites, research stations, animal rescue facilities, etc. Upon his return to Puerto Rico, relevant job opportunities were scarce but he saw an opportunity in ecotourism. With the help of friends, he designed and developed an ecotourist enterprise in 40 acres of leased land in the Mameyes River drainage of Luquillo and adjacent to El Yunque National Forest. He managed this land and enterprise for almost a decade, until the hurricanes of 2017 turned the page and finished that chapter. Today Roqui is 46 years young and works as an independent environmental consultant on various projects concerned with natural resource management and biodiversity conservation. |
| Eugenio Santiago Valentín formally trained in botany at the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) in Mayagüez and at the University of Washington in Seattle. He is a Full Professor in the Department of Biology at the UPR in Río Piedras and is the director of the Herbarium of the UPR Botanical Garden. He has taught courses in biology, botany, plant taxonomy, ethnobotany, island biogeography and evolution. His areas of study include plant systematics and taxonomy, biogeography, plant conservation, history of science, and ethnobotany. His work focuses on the island of Puerto Rico and the insular Caribbean, where he has developed local and international collaborations. He has also participated with government agencies and non-for-profit organizations in initiatives for the recovery of threatened plants, for the public dissemination of scientific knowledge, and for the launching of activities to link science, nature, and the humanities. |
| Alejandro Cubiñá, President and owner of Reforesta, Inc. in San Juan Puerto Rico. UPR-RP graduate from the Masters in Science program under T. Mitchell Aide. Obtained a BA from Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida. Conducted extensive research in tropical forest restoration in Dominican Republic, Colombia, and Puerto Rico. Has led the biggest wetland restoration projects in challenging environments such as freshwater-forested wetlands on the island of Puerto Rico. Currently, Reforesta has the biggest privately owned native tree nursery in Puerto Rico and continues to add new species into its stock of over 8,000 trees. In addition to the ecological restoration work, Alejandro has conducted numerous flora and fauna surveys, wetland delineations, and prepared restoration plans. These surveys have led to the discovery of new populations of plant species such as Goetzea elegans, Ottoschulzia rhodoxylon, Myrcia paganii, and Libidibia monosperma. |
| Dr. Pedro Acevedo-Rodríguez (Ph.D., City University of New York, 1989) is a researcher and curator in the United States National herbarium at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC. He specializes in phylogenetic studies of the neotropical members of family Sapindaceae (Maples), especially of tribes Paullinieae (with ca. 500 species of climbing plants) and Melicocceae (ca. 75 species of trees and treelets); floristics of the neotropical lowlands, especially of the West Indies; diversity and floristic studies of neotropical climbing plants (lianas and vines, with about 700 genera); and botanical history in Puerto Rico. He has over 30 years of experience collecting and recording plants in the field, and numerous publications in his areas of expertise, as well as a website on West Indian botany and Lianas and climbing plants of the Neotropics. |
| Octavio Rivera Hernández is an agronomist graduated from the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus (UPRM), where he completed the Agronomy and Soil Sciences programs respectively. Octavio has worked as a researcher at the UPRM and the Pennsylvania State University. There he contributed and collaborated on topics such as nutritional value of crops, post-harvest management and mycotoxin-producing phytopathogenic fungi. In 2018, he was the recepient of the Luis de Celis Prize, an award given by the Agro-environmental Sciences Department at the UPRM. Currently, he gives farmers recommendations and orientation regarding conservation practices, fertilization and pest control. Octavio also participates in the documentation and identification of native and introduced plant species in Puerto Rico. |
| Magha Garcia Medina is an eco-farmer and environmental activist in Puerto Rico. She is a member of Organización Boricuá, a grassroots group of farmers, environmentalists and other allies who advocate for agroecology, agroforestry, and the protection of natural resources. She is a collaborator at Las Casas de la Selva, the project that inspired her to find land and contribute with the restoration and the protection of local forests. In the last ten years, Magha had dedicated herself to the development of Pachamama Forest Garden on the west side of Puerto Rico. Her main activities involve research, rescue, and propagation of native and novel crops, as well exotic plants of the humid tropic region. Magha’s interests focus on agroecology/agroforestry/food sovereignty/human rights/seed saving/botany. |
| Amelia Merced is a plant biologist working with bryophytes, (plants that includes mosses, liverworts and hornworts). She is interested in diversity and distribution of bryophytes, the role of bryophytes in Puerto Rican forests, and how these plants respond to anthropogenic and non-anthropogenic disturbances. She works for the USDA Forest Service International Institute of Tropical Forestry, and collaborates with the Herbarium of the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras, where she works with the bryophyte collection. She is currently surveying the bryophyte flora of the island, and preparing guides to common bryophytes of PR, including El Yunque National Forest, and community and urban forests. Other projects are to assess the distribution and current status of the peatmoss Sphagnum in Puerto Rico, and habitat preferences of bryophytes in the Luquillo Experimental Forest. Amelia Merced-has a BA in science and MS in biology from the University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez and a PhD in Plant Biology from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, IL. She was a NSF GK-12 fellow in PR and IL working with schoolteachers to integrate inquiry activities in science classes of schools rural areas. She was a mentor and role model for the PBS Kids show ‘SciGirls’ filmed in PR and was featured in the Nat Geo web series ‘I Can Science’. Dr. Merced has 14 peer-reviewed publications, research awards recognitions, and has trained and mentored undergraduate students in various bryophyte identification and ecological projects. |
| Kurt Miller is a Washington native with a background in agriculture and tropical fungal taxonomy. He has collaborated with several prominent mycologists, including recent Distinguished Mycologist Award recipient, Dr. Jean Lodge at USDA’s Northern Research Station in El Yunque, and his work with Harvard mycologist Lawrence Millman can be seen in Fungi Magazine. Kurt received a BFA from Western Washington University and studied agriculture at the University of Puerto Rico in Mayagüez. He served in the US Coast Guard for 5 years as a Marine Science Technician fulfilling the Marine Environmental Response mission in Puerto Rico, eventually certifying as a translator. During and subsequent to his service, he has documented over 200 macrofungi in the Caribbean region, many of which are unreported in previous surveys. Several of these new taxa are currently being cultured and assessed for their culinary and commercial viability in Huerto Rico’s laboratory. Kurt has also led several educational and outreach events to teach school groups and the community about the importance of fungi in the environment. |
| Carlos Laboy holds an Associate Degree in Biology from the University of Puerto Rico in Humacao. His best attribute is a keen and instinctive knowledge of the natural world. He has the honor of having a fungus named after him. Laboy has worked for both state and federal conservation agencies in Puerto Rico (DNER and U.S. Forest Service). With DNER he collected data on the behavior and reproduction of wild parrots to assist in the development of techniques to increase parrot productivity, fertility, and survival. He also participated in the Rio Abajo parrot suitability study. In addition, duties included collection of samples on the lagoons, sanctuaries, and estuaries throughout the Island. At El Yunque, with the Forest Service, he continued management work of the wild and captive parrot populations. During his time in the rainforest, he rediscovered unaccounted populations of listed plants such as Palo de Jazmín (Styrax portoricensis), chupacallos (Pleodendron macranthum), and numerous other rare species. Since 2007, Carlos has worked with Reforesta, Inc. in the implementation of wetland restoration projects across Puerto Rico, and conducting flora and fauna surveys as well. |
| Christian Torres Santana is the Forestry Partnerships Leader for Latin America for Terraformation and consulting botanist and arborist. With an MS in Botany from the University of Hawaii, a BSA in Horticulture from UPR Mayagüez, a Nonprofit Management Executive Certificate from Georgetown University, he is currently completing an Executive MBA from the Inter American University, PR. Christian has worked extensively with rare and threatened plants in Hawai‘i and the Caribbean. In 2014, after nearly a decade as a botanist with the US FWS and the US Forest Service’s International Institute of Tropical Forestry, he became the director of the Doña Inés Park Arboretum in San Juan, PR. He led research, education, and conservation efforts for the native plant collection. Over the past 15 years, Christian’s work has specialized in pollination biology, forest health, biodiversity conservation, particularly on rare plant conservation, conservation horticulture, and environmental education. He recently received the Marsh Award for International Plant Conservation from Botanic Gardens Conservation International and the Kittleman Scholar for Aspiring Public Garden Leaders from the American Public Garden Association. He is a certified international Arborist, a Professional Horticulturist, and a Licensed Agronomist in Puerto Rico. |