The finca consists of four plots with a total area of 38 ha. Consisting of secondary forest, pastures and around 10 hectares of primary forest in which Papa Loco, a large
Ceiba tree. There are several springs and a simple little house on the finca.
4 hectares of this finca are fully buildable.
Ideal for a lodge, a hotel, a tourism project, for a development with houses.
A little about the history of the finca, as it was conveyed to us by the owner.
In 1983, we acquired the first 11 hectares of pasture land and began to breed dairy cows. In 1987, we bought two additional small adjoining pasture plots in addition to the 11 hectares.
In order to feed our growing herd, we needed more land.
In 1991, we bought a 20-hectare plot of land on the opposite side of the road. This consisted of 50% primary forest, in which Papa Loco, the large Ceiba tree, is located. The rest of the property consisted of pastureland and secondary forest.
Over the years, we saw what intensive livestock farming does to deforested land and decided to stop livestock farming on the land and let the forest regenerate.
2000 were accepted into the FONAFIFO program and we received a small $ amount annually as compensation for not using the finca. https://www.fonafifo.go.cr/es/
After just two years, we were amazed to see how quickly the forests had returned, how large the trees had grown in such a short time and how many wild animals had returned. This was so inspiring that we started giving guided tours of the new forests and explaining to visitors how quickly this had happened. We were also amazed at how quickly the tropical forests had recovered.
That was the birth of the La Reserva Forest Foundation.
In 2004, we founded a non-profit organization in Costa Rica and
2009 also a 501 C 3 in the USA.
This allowed us to receive donations directly and through Global Giving to reforest portions of farms in the region, focusing primarily on connecting isolated forests left after logging for cattle grazing. Not only did we grow all the trees in our own nursery (we collected the seedlings from the existing forests) and then planted them on the landowner’s land, but we also maintained them for five years and paid the farmer a small amount each year for the planted area.
We acquired a number of corporate sponsors,
In 2011, we won the Ford Environmental Award and flew to Berlin to plant some trees in a park there and hold a small event.
By 2014, we had planted over 100,000 trees in northern Costa Rica, about half of them with the Maleku in Guatuso.
We have created a beautiful tree corridor along the Rio Sol that passes through their 3 palenques.