Conservation Projects

While the focus of this business is the pines and the carbon credits in the broadleaf parts of the property, G&M have also become involved in a number of conservation projects.  “Become involved” is intentionally vague, because what they, and the business, do for the various projects ranges from providing a helping hand when necessary, to becoming an important and vital part of some of the larger projects.  Because they own such a large tract of undeveloped land, the land itself is a valuable resource for some of these projects, and sometimes all that is needed is permission to track an animal, or release a bird, or follow some sort of wildlife across the property.  But, sometimes the farm provides more support.  As General Managers here, Tom and I are also able to get involved and help however it is needed – and we are excited to do it!

One of the projects we’ve been learning about is the orange breasted falcon tracking and captive release program.  The “hack site,” where the fledglings are released and where the researchers are based to watch the birds, is on farm property.  In addition, the farm provides a portable screen room so the researchers don’t have to sit outside in the sun with the bugs.  The farm freezer also hosts a big box of frozen quail, used to provide food for the fledglings until they can hunt on their own.  Some of this “work” for us involves socializing with the researchers and the sponsor of the project, and asking questions to find out what else we can do to support the effort.  So far we have found that the enthusiasm of the researchers is contagious, and we celebrate with them when the fledglings fly, and mourn when one of the birds disappears.

The jaguar research project here is slightly more labor intensive.  While the OBF project has the quail in the freezer and a few boxes in the storeroom, the jaguar project’s many trunks are a few floor to ceiling piles in the storeroom.  The farm also provides housing in one of the staff cabins for the researchers, and keeps the project’s truck when the researchers are not in-country.  The project has camera traps on the farm property, as well as other remote locations throughout the Mountain Pine Ridge.  Part of Hanna’s decision to ride around in the HVI off-road rally support vehicle a few weeks ago was to check out road conditions where she would be setting and checking the camera traps.  Between truck difficulties and very bad driving conditions due to excessive rain over the past few weeks, part of our job in supporting the jaguar project has been to help Hanna and Lori, the volunteer assistant, get out to set and check the 40 camera traps.

While in most cases this has meant nothing more than making sure their truck was running and they had everything they might need for an emergency situation, one day Tom and I were just getting back from getting unstuck while out doing our mapping project when Hanna’s distress call came over the radio.  She and Lori had driven out to check a couple of camera traps deep in the Mountain Pine Ridge, very near the big washout where we had decided to turn around during the HVI off-road rally, and had become hopelessly stuck.  They had spent two hours trying everything they could do to get the truck out, and had muscled it out of a couple of deep spots, but every time they thought they were out and going, they’d get stuck again.  They had finally ended up in a hole that wasn’t letting them go, so they radioed for help. 

Instead of heading back out for more mapping, Tom, G, and I headed into the Pine Ridge to find and rescue Hanna.  We successfully traversed the big washout that had turned us around during the off-road rally, using the loading ramps for the trailer, which Tom had the foresight to put in the back of the truck, along with shovels, a pickax, and the metal digging bar.  With all of these tools plus some muscle pushing the truck, we made it over that rough spot.  After a near miss with slick mud and a tree, we plowed through a few more deep spots, and were on the final downhill, approaching where Lori and Hanna had become stuck as they were trying to come up the hill.  We thought we’d have few problems going downhill and using gravity, but all the rain had gouged some very deep channels in the road.  Most of the time, we were able to get to either one side or the other or straddle the channel, but at one point the only way to get both sides of the vehicle on firm ground involved bumping through the channel…and we didn’t make it.  As we tried to drive out, the tire dug the hole deeper, and the soft mud from the side broke away and gave no traction.  We tried the ramps, we dug, we pickaxed, we pushed, we rocked the truck, but we were stuck.

G thought that Hanna and Lori weren’t too far down the hill, so we left the truck and started walking.  They were farther than we thought, probably a half mile away, and they were very stuck.  However, with three more brains and sets of muscles, and two more very good drivers, and the winch, we managed to get the truck out of that hole.  And out of the next one, which it fell in as Tom drove it up the hill.  And out of one more, before we came face to face with the other stuck truck.  We ended up not having to use the winch on that one, and a simple pull down the hill with the other truck did the trick, but G then had to reverse through the ruts and back up a good 200 yards up the hill to get to a place where he could get turned around without either getting stuck in deep mud off the side of the trail or going over the edge of the cliff.  After a couple of more deep spots, we made it out to a road that was in relatively good condition, and started the trek back to the farm.  By this time it was after 6PM, and the sun was setting.  We saw some beautiful sunset views from the ridgelines we traveled, and marveled at the mist wending its way between the hills as the temperature dropped, but had a fairly tense last ten miles back to the farm driving in the complete darkness.  Even though the roads were good by Mountain Pine Ridge Road standards, driving on muddy ridgeline roads that occasionally dropped off on either side in the pitch black wasn’t, shall we say, relaxing.  But it was another work adventure!

Less adventurous but also fun is the time we get to spend just getting to know the researchers.  We eat together, we have dessert together, we talk about what the researchers are going to do when they’re done with these projects, and we try to soak up as much knowledge as we can about what nature offers around here.  It’s as though we’ve suddenly been invited into a society where we were always on the outside looking in, and now we can actually help.  It may just be logistical support, but it’s help.  And we are looking forward to continuing to help these and future projects.