Shortcuts:
Planet Drum Events
Green City
Bioregions Calendar
Contents/Search
Feedback
Green Jobs

Reports from Planet Drum Staff
Eco-Ecuador Project 2008

Index to 2008 Reports, Set 1 (Dec.17,'07-Jan.25,'08)

January 10,2008 Letter

Clay Plager-Unger
Field Projects Manager
Planet Drum Foundation
Letter: January 10, 2008   

Hi Everyone,

Things have been moving so quickly around here lately with the rains and the holiday season. I can't believe how far behind I've fallen with my reports already. Everyday I say I'm going to do one and then a dozen things come up and the day is gone. (Rewiring the electricity in the house, getting kicked out of the bodega by the landlady, getting Freddy, the muralist, settled, etc., etc.) My dad and sister are finishing up a short (8 day) visit which has added to the mayhem, but in a good way. My dad did a bunch of cooking for the house, it was great and they both have had an excellent time.

My knee is effectively better. I went on a 3 hour hike in Rambuche this past weekend without any problems. I'm at work everyday (machetes and hole diggers). I haven't tried carrying watering jugs because that hasn't been necessary, nor have I been playing sports or surfing yet. I'm still taking it relatively easy; I want to do another week or so of bicycling before trying to strain it like that.

Freddy (Fred Alvarado, the muralist from San Francisco, CA) arrived without any problems. Monday I got him going at the school. We met with the Director, got him hooked up with a class of kids (9 and 10 year olds), and bought supplies. It appears that he can do the job for under $60 of our funds. He's donating over $100 worth of 'nice' paints that he brought, plus his time obviously. He decided to only tackle a portion of that mural given his time. So far progress has been great and he's ahead of schedule. He starts painting with colors tomorrow.

I'm going to present the Eco-Mandato for immediate public changes to facilitate creating an eco-city to the eco-amigos at a meeting this afternoon @ 4. This is the meeting that was supposed to happen several weeks ago and got postponed. I'll let you know how that goes.

Eco-Noticias (Econews) has been very slow. One volunteer is going to work on an article about a new Saiananda jam that is being sold around town. I'm going to talk about this at the meeting as well and maybe find some outside collaborators.

Volunteer numbers have been good. There are two vacancies in the house right now, one of which will be filled by the end of the week. One girl seems to have flaked out on showing up, I'm still waiting for an email from her. The crew is great, some really hard workers, we've been digging holes like crazy for the past week. We have 659 dug so far. The volunteer schedule is packed through February and into March. Emailing has died down slightly recently, maybe because of the holidays/new year?

It's looking like we're going to revegetate with approx. 2200 plants this season. The sites are coming together very nicely. Water sources so far are ample and very, very close to the plants, which is going to be supremely critical for watering next dry season. If I can get one last site in Jorge Lomas (or that vicinity) I will be in excellent shape. I'll have a detailed report of sites soon.

Weather has been exceptional. Lots and lots of great rain. The really heavy stuff hasn't started yet, but most nights there's at least a drizzle, and often a heavy downpour. There's even been some daytime rain as well. Last year’s trees made it through the dry season strong and are taking off!  The sun finally came out yesterday after a week of clouds and rain. The soil has been penetrated about 6 inches deep with water, so we could still use just a bit more for planting, which works out well with our schedule. We've been opening the holes ahead of planting so that they collect some water before trees go in them, I think this will help with moisture as well. My goal is to have everything planted by the end of the month. I think we can do it.

         Atentamente,
         Clay

[Top]

<<<<><><>>>>

Report #1

Clay Plager-Unger
Field Projects Manager
Planet Drum Foundation
December 17, 2007– January 11, 2008

Note: Click on photos for larger picture

A New Year brings a new Rainy Season…

In the week before Christmas we were watering and keeping the greenhouse house operating at full tilt. All of the revegetation sites received their weekly dosage of water, 1/3 of a gallon per tree. 

For Christmas Eve we hosted a large dinner at our house and spent the next day at the beach relaxing. 

Christmas week, among the festivities, we watered the 2007 sites for what would be the last time. It is Planet Drum practice to water the trees that we plant for the first dry season that they have to endure to boost survival rates and help them get established. This is particularly important on land that has been completely denuded.

I did some more surveying of new revegetation sites for 2008 and volunteers began breaking trails at a couple of them. 

I took a ride out to the El Toro watershed with Don Pedro Otero to discuss the possibilities of starting revegetation on his land on the opposite side of the El Toro watershed from where we have worked in previous years. He is enthusiastic about the project and promises to work with us to secure a water source (tank) near to the site where we will plant. He will also contribute some fencing to ensure that cattle can't get into the revegetated area.

[To be continued…]

[Top]

<<<<><><>>>>

Report #1 Part Two

Clay Plager-Unger
Field Projects Manager
Planet Drum Foundation
December 17,2007 – January 11, 2008

Note: Click on photos for larger picture

Continued…

The New Year marked the beginning of the rainy season. After a couple months of signs of a changing climate: warmer ocean currents, more intense sun, and hotter days, the rains began. Our work routine changed completely. Instead of maintaining the 2007 sites with weekly watering we shifted our efforts to preparing 2008 sites. Trails need to be cleared, holes need to be dug and trees need to be transported before planting can begin.

At other sites, such as the one on the hills behind the greenhouse, there is some existing vegetation and trails need to be cleared through the brush so that we can plant our trees. The same is done at the Nuevo Globo site, located in the same watershed as the Don Pepe sites. It occupies the entire face of a large hill and horizontal trails are cleared from top to bottom at 3-5 meter intervals. The trails make planting easier and will be necessary for when we have to water during the dry season. GPS coordinates are taken at the sites to be able to calculate areas and design maps. 

In the greenhouse, trees continue to germinate and we continue to prepare for transplanting. 

In a grueling day we loaded up trees from the greenhouse for transport to the site in El Toro. 

As we drove along the dried river bed of El Toro deep into the watershed it began to drizzle and the dusty road immediately turned to slick mud. Nearly sliding off the road with every turn, the truck loaded with what will hopefully some day be a new patch of dry tropical forest pushed onward. Finally arriving at the land we were faced with the task of hand-carrying the trees the rest of the way to the site. This required crossing the same dried up river bed.

After a snack we began breaking trail at the site, machete-ing our way through the undergrowth.

And finally we tackled the most rewarding part of the process which is actually putting the trees in the ground. We commenced this year's planting at Ricardito's farm. 

Anita and Ramon joined up with us for the event. Trees were carried to previously prepared holes and planted with a booster of compost. 

[Top]

 <<<<><><>>>>  

January 25, 2007 Letter

Clay Plager-Unger
Field Projects Manager
Planet Drum Foundation
Letter: January 25, 2008   

I presented the Mandato (See Attachment Below) prioritizing changes to make a better eco-city at the first Eco-Amigos meeting of 2008.  The meeting appears to have been a bit of a rebirth.  At the session we elected a Coordinator and Vice-Coordinator, Ronald and Cheo respectively.  I want to add an official post for a kid to get in there as well.  There's a lot of representation from kids in the group, it's great.  There has also been a real opening up on Ronald's part.  He now shares a lot more information about what is going on and there's more access to the municipio.  And there are lots of new opportunities opening up for projects and events, especially for the kids.  I feel there is a lot more transparency with the Environment department now, for example with funding and funding opportunities Anyways, the presentation went over well, Ronald and the old representative of PMRC (who's head is really in the right place) were both present and got copies of the Mandato.  Right now I'm looking for more opportunities to pass the word out.  The next edition of Eco-noticias would be a great idea.  I'll see how I can edit a bit to get it to fit better, it's a little long right now for Eco-noticias.

About Eco-noticias.  One of the current volunteers offered to get involved and I sent him out to Saiananda to do an interview about the organic jams they are making (using a lot of local varieties of fruit).  So that's another article for the next edition.  In bigger news, it appears we will have a chance to get some funding for the project from Canton Sucre (money allocated for Bahia, but from a Canton level?).  Their meeting was supposed to be this past Wednesday but got rescheduled to next Wednesday.  I've attached my proposal.  It's in Spanish, but you'll get the idea.  Let me know if you have any suggestions for changes since there's still time to put them in.

About Revegetation 2008.  I've also included the Excel document I'm using to keep track of species inventory during the planting season (See Below).  It shows the sites we have and also includes a breakdown by species of the numbers we have at the greenhouse and how many go to each site.  There are different 'sheets' for each site, there are only 5 sheets right now (for the sites we've been working at so far).  It's a work in progress as we get trees in the ground.  You'll notice I still need to pin down a site for Jorge Lomas.

I had a mini-adventure this morning. There was a meeting with Don Eduardo, director of El Nuevo Globo newspaper, to go to his land and talk with some of the members of the community about land usage and some problems we've had with them planting crops in our sites.  Cheo came along for the ride and we happened to run into Don Eduardo at the entrance to the watershed. It was raining and he and his driver were wondering if they'd be able to drive in or not.  He cracked a joke about how Cheo and I were both in sandals.  We were able to drive in and then found the woman who previously claimed that we needed to have an ordinance to be able to build the fence we constructed for the 'Nuevo Globo' 2008 revegetation site, as well as the fellow who just planted corn for the second year in a row amidst the young trees at the Maria Dolores site (2007).  Fortunately none of the trees were harmed. Eduardo laid it out for the residents explaining that it was his land they were using (and claiming to have governance over) and that they had been using it without asking him permission.  The entire neighborhood there is constructed on his land and was a donation to the people.  There had been previous problems with some residents abusing his generosity.  We are meeting again next week to determine how to handle the issue of the baby corn that has been planted at the Maria Dolores site, but there shouldn't be any more conflicts in the future.  It was one of those times where things come together and several problems get resolved at once.  Also it was amazing to see Don Eduardo's deep passion for the projects we are doing on his land.

It's been raining for the past 3 days, a nice steady rain.  Perfect.

Clay

 Attachment:

  Perfil de Proyecto

Ecuador

22 de enero del 2008

Titulo del Proyecto:        Eco-Noticias, la difusión de noticias sobre Bahía Eco-Ciudad, los proyectos que existen dentro de allí y el medio ambiente

Solicitante:        Amigos de la Eco-ciudad

Organismo Ejecutor: Amigos de la Eco-ciudad y la Fundación Planet Drum

Beneficiarios:        Población de Bahía de Caráquez

Monto Total:        US$ 800 (2 años)  

I.  Marco de Referencia

Como Bahía de Caráquez es una Eco-ciudad es importante que la ciudadanía este informada de las actividades que se realizan, el municipio, los amigos de la eco-ciudad, las fundaciones y organizaciones a temas relacionados al medio ambiente.  En este proyecto habrán ocho publicaciones de los informes 'Eco-Noticias' durante dos años.

II.  Objetivos y Descripción

Objetivo general

Informar al público los eventos, actividades, y proyectos que se están realizando en la ciudad.

Objetivos específicos

1. Investigación de todas las noticias que tienen que ver con el medio ambiente y Bahía de Caráquez.
2. La publicidad de más que mil copias de un informe, una hoja de dos lados, cuatro veces al año por dos años.
3. Concienciar a los estudiantes, habitantes, y oficiales de la ciudad del trabajo que se están realizando el municipio, los amigos de la eco-ciudad, las fundaciones y organizaciones.

Costos (US$ dólares)

III.  Beneficios y Riesgos

Apoyaremos los habitantes de la ciudad con la difusión de las noticias que contribuyen al mejoramiento del medio ambiente en la ciudad de Bahía de Caráquez.  

[Top]

<<<<><><>>>>

Species Inventory Sheets:

Number 1: