Last year, FCEA was incredibly grateful to all the generous people who helped support more tree growing in our Children’s Forest of Coto Brus, part of our forest landscape restoration pillar. This year, we hope to continue counting on your generosity to further expand the Children’s Forest in 2025!

Your donations will go directly to not only planting trees, but to helping us organize activities in which the kids who planted the trees come back to reconnect with them, and steward them with organic composts (prepared by the Women Committed to the Earth group at Finca Cántaros), pictured above.

As I have discussed in many e-newsletters and social media posts over the years, Finca Cántaros focuses on tree growing, and not just planting, because planting is but one step in a lengthy process of helping to restore a forest. We focus on the before, which includes where to source appropriate native species of trees, and the after, which includes keeping the invasive pasture grasses
cut back constantly to avoid them overtaking the young trees.

Tree growing at FCEA is also about environmental education and community engagement as much as it is about restoring a forest. While we have space that could be planted immediately, we deliberately put more time, effort and resources into organizing programs in which different audiences in the community, especially women and children, can engage in the process.

In 2025, we plan to do a much better job at connecting and collaborating with Indigenous communities in these processes as well. 

When you donate to our Giving Tuesday Tree Growing Campaign, you are not only helping to put trees in the ground. You are also supporting the most critical part of conservation: collaborating with the community over the long-term.