Footprint Expeditions in South America

Destructive slush and burn is taking a serious toll on habitats across the Tropical Andes hotspot, eliminating native vegetation and filling the air with smoke and pollutants.

Monterosa project is the first of its kind to address restoration in the Lucumayu valley within the buffer area of the Machu Picchu Historical Sanctuary home of one of of the most impressive natural environs.

The forest around were progressively deforested to place tea farms instead. Tea farming being the most common activity in the area and is responsible for the constant degradation of the natural habitats of many bird, plant and mammal communities.

Tea farming is still the main income.The production of industrial and artesanal tea requires a constant supply of firewood for the large ovens use to process the tea, causing serious deforestation that causes extensive degradation.

This project is focus on ecological restoration and reforestation in one selected area, developing a model of how best to implement Peru existing but largely ignored laws about this topic.

The project is decided to reforest with native species that are looking to rebuild natural habitats and protect against erosion therefore landslides, leading to improve the conservation of the forest  of Machu Picchu Historical Sanctuary buffer zone.

The area subject of this project shows incredible bird life including endemic species such as the Inca Wren a specie threatened thanks to habitat lost, the Green and White hummingbird, specialties such as Undulated antpittas, quetzals and many more believe to be found only in the  Urubamba Valley parallel to this one.

The sustainable use of the reforested areas will help alleviate pressure from the remaining pristine forest and also provide an important long-term benefit for both the community and the reserve, future use of other ways to process the tea will be a great acid to stop the cutting of the forest and make the reforestation and restoration of this beautiful valley a reality.

MAIN OBJECTIVES

• Reforestation of 50 hectares (123.50 acres) with 18 species of trees, mainly native.
• Promote the taking of conscience in the population on environmental issues.
• Extension of the project to all the municipalities in the area  and to stimulate similar activities in zones with the same  characteristics, being taken as it bases the acquired experiences
• To institutionalize the continuation of the project.
• To promote a sustainable handling of the natural resources in general.

Our Plant a Tree Project was started in 2006 with its only mission to react to problems caused by massive and increasing levels of deforestation worldwide, we want to raise awareness of environmental issues and the role forests play , for us, for the animals that make this their home,  take action against climate change, educate children on these vital issues and to Plant More Trees.

Most of Cusco native forest is pretty much gone due slush and burn a practice use by peasants for centuries, causing severe soil erosion where natural areas have been cleared for agriculture and cattle.Considering the magnitude of deforestation weve taken action buying a piece of land of 100 acres in the Lucumayo Valley, province of La Convencion, one of Cusco snorth western tropical valleys where the problem of deforestation is quiet severe, here people have been clearing the remanent tropical cloud forest for  farming, the areas destruction started back in the early 1900 when farmers started tea plantations s a new economical income, clearing the forest at a rate of 20 acres per day to established the tea plants as well as cutting trees for fuel. For this our project started late 2006 with the plantation of 300 trees of the Erytrhina sp, one legume that used to be abundant once, source of food for many organisms like birds,mammals and insects,  weve planted 2000 trees more this past year all of this native to the area with the sole purpose to recreate the forest  that used to occupy the area , the plans are to keep on planting trees and hope to expand  the project to nearby communities and educate the children in the local schools about the importance of the preservation of this valley.

Our project has been named Monterosa, the name of  beautiful tree that used to be quiet abundant in the area once, but now very few are left, our project is aimed  to combat climate change, planting trees to absorb carbon, allowing us to make a difference at a personal level, try to bring the forest back and contribute to its restoration and the subsequent preservation of the different animal communities that inhabit the area a well as securing the water supply in the area through reforestation, for the number of communities assemble at the lower part of this valley.

VOLUNTER!! WE NEED YOUR HELP NOW!!

We are aware that this is a long term project but we are optimistic about it and we feel that peoples attitudes will change soon towards this very important issue, unfortunately lack of education has been the reason why a lot of natural areas in the world are disappearing at a speed that is alarming, and scary but to be able to get to the people we need to educate them, with examples, make them understand that the use of this forest can be sustainable and that they can leave it for their children, for this WE NEED YOUR HELP, we consider this a worthwhile cause so you can help us in different way, help us educate the children in the local communities of Alfamayo, Inkatambo, Amaybamba, Huyro through lectures about the importance of preserving the forest for their own good, help us to establish tree nurseries to be able to grow more trees and make the local communities participate in their plantation  specially the children, to teach them to properly manage  their waste, the establishment of  organic farms this will help them to improve their life conditions so we ca n leave this place for the future generations and they can still admire the beauty of this forests with its the birds, flowers, and  rivers.

We can help you organize your internship or if you wish to volunteer for a few weeks we can assist.MonteRosa is currently working with the local municipality of Huamanpata in the establishment of proper tree nurseries where we are successfully growing a number of native species to make an adequate reforestation with the species that used to be abundant in this area.

There are other ways to help!!

In addition to your time, donations of any kind are more than welcome, anything that can help us to reach our goals will be more than appreciated.

For more information about volunteer or donating please email us at: monterosa@fpexpeditions.com