We are thrilled to report on a very successful few weeks of planting trees with diverse members of the community, and now we will be focused on growing them! As always, these planting and growing events centre around environmental education. Likewise, the community has been the most integral part of this process, and will continue to be.

We celebrated a recent land acquisition of 10 hectares that connects an existing Finca Cántaros project called “Bosque Mágico” (Magic Forest) with a neighbouring family’s conservation project “Bosque Micelio” (Mycelium Forest). With numerous sectors of the community, including the Bosque Micelio’s owners, the Women Committed to the Earth, staff from the local Bank of Costa Rica branch, plus the special participation of cousins visiting from Canada, we started planting the missing piece for greater biological connectivity! We also worked with university students participating in different Organization for Tropical Studies courses also helped plant different sectors of Finca Cántaros land while learning about the importance of community in forest landscape restoration.

Finally, our work with the Women Committed to the Earth ties to our “Conserva Aves.” Conserva Aves is an initiative led by the American Bird Conservancy, Audubon Americas, BirdLife International, Birds Canada, and RedLAC, with support from the Government of Canada. Restoring forests means restoring bird habitats… and also supporting women as they become stewards of the landscape. Our Women Committed to the Earth program shows that when women lead restoration, ecosystems are regenerated and communities become more resilient. We are grateful to Conserva Aves for recognizing that birds connect us across landscapes and inspire us to collaboratively protect and restore their critical habitats, alongside local communities.