Program Component Agroforestry: Advancements September 2007
Conservation of Neotropical Migratory Birds in the Sierra de Chamá. Phase II.

Program Component Agroforestry

The objectives of this component were:
• establishment of a zone of reduced burning around the forest (Sacranix),
• soil conservation in order to stabilize agricultural plots (Sacranix),
• generation of income by planting cash crops (Sacranix)

Objectives were achieved. A total of 648 participants planted a belt of 190 ha of fruit and hardwood crops with reduced burning around the primary forest area (190 ha planned). The first fruit were harvested and plantations are in a good shape due to training of participants. A yearly income of $607,945 per year is expected for participants in the project area from planted trees. This amount will stabilize local economy and take off pressure from the primary forest. It also justifies the investment done. In order to further boost productivity, PROEVAL RAXMU joined forces with Heifer / FUNDAMENO in order to adopt animal husbandry and lumbricompost techniques and thus be able to fertilize tree crops.

Conservation objectives and achievements:

Vanilla plantation.

1. Establish at least 200 plantations with 150 participants in at least five new communities. Only 108 plantations were achieved with only 110 participants in five new communities (Semesché, Chitap, Temal, San Isidro, Catalji). Communities were different from the proposed ones, due to that PROEVAL RAXMU gave preference to communities which approached us for collaboration. 3,682 fruit trees and 12,100 hardwood trees were planted. Plantations have a total area of 22 ha of cash crops and of 41 ha of soil conservation and farming without burning.
   
   
2. Establish plantations of new crops: 538 Participants planted 30,665 fruit trees in 538 plantations with a total area of 37 ha and a total of 186 ha of farming without burning. Crops used were strawberry, blueberry, vanilla, walnut, clove, allspice, lemon "persa", liquidambar and some tropical hardwoods. See map below for location of Sacranix fruit tree plantations.
   
   
3. Train 30 participants in the Yalijux area and 400 participants in the Sacranix area. 648 participants (among them 54 from the Yalijux area) were trained in how to influence harvest time, how to harvest and select fruit. As a consequence, 648 plots of mature well cut-back fruit tree plantations were achieved. Packing and selling of fruit was not subject of training yet. PROEVAL RAXMU joined forces with Heifer / FUNDAMENO in order to adopt animal husbandry and lumbricompost techniques. Applying organic fertilizer to trees will allow to harvest bigger and better fruit. This will allow us to market fruit in urban centres.
   
   
4. Incorporate environmental education themes. 648 participants were familiarized with topics of environmental education.
   
   
5. Trips to private demonstration plantations.

See details:
List of communities and number of participants and planted trees.
Map of communities and primary forest.
List of planted tree species and number of trees.
List of different trainings and number of participants.

Program component: Land ownership

Objectives:
• Help establish land ownership in order to make owners conscious and responsible of forest properties (Sacranix)
• Identify primary forest areas whose owners are willing to sell for conservation

Most objectives were achieved, some surpassed. Land legalization achieved greatly motivated farmers to care for their tree crops and plant more. Land titles allowed us also to get forest easements for some communities.

Conservation objectives:

1. Define priority properties according to primary forest cover and possibility to catalyze ownership process (first year).
   
2. Accompany at least 5 properties: detect obstacles to land ownership, supervise land survey, dismember parts of poor infrastructure and valuable forest cover in order to buy them for conservation, contact government institutions for loans, and establish management plans in order to pay back loans after land acquisition (first and second year).
   
3. Combine meetings with environmental education.
   
4. Offer three primary forest properties for sale for conservation purposes (first and second year).

Program component: Forest Management

Objective:
• Provide incentives in order to motivate forest owners to protect their properties against fire or invaders (Sacranix, Ik’bolay and Yalijux)

Forest easements for conservation of primary forest areas were elevated from only $8.8 per ha, distributed over five years, to up to $2000 per ha, distributed over five years. This sum appears has been very attractive for forest owners and we have witnessed a rush of landowners to inscribe their forests. All the same, in the future these incentives may not continue and we continue to opt for other ways of giving a value to primary forest.

Nursery of broad leaf trees.

Conservation objectives and achievements:

1. Help 5 primary forest owners of the Chamá corridor to apply for government funds to protect their primary forests. For 16 landowner forest easement projects were proposed at INAB (National Forestry Institute). PROEVAL RAXMU developed the forest management plans and legal aid.
   
2. Conduct an inventory of tropical hardwoods in areas of established ownership and feasible infrastructure.
   See a list of local tropical hardwoods and the results of an inventory.
   
3. Establish at least one pilot management license. Establish at least 5 ha of reforestation of tropical hardwood and extract timber. Combine activities with environmental education. In Temal an area of 18.3 ha was reforested with about 20,000 trees of 18 different tropical hardwood species. Growth will be monitored and different species compared in order to give economical and ecological suggestions to future reforestation projects. There was a license obtained in order to extract Juglans guatemalensis, the Guatemalan Blacknut. Offers from international buyers were much less rewarding than expected and dimmed our hopes to establish a viable sustainable forest management based on hardwood sales in the near future.
   
4. Establish indicator bird species in order to monitor ecological impact of forest management. According to results of our biomonitoring program, populations of Myadestes unicolor (Slate-coloured Solitaire) are very sensitive to changes in forest canopy. Monitoring this species may help guiding sustainable forest management.