Dear Friends,

This winter has been a busy season season with two Earthwatch Groups and many visitors and volunteers coming to the rainforest project. Big thanks to all the Earthwatchers who worked diligently in very rainy conditions.

Check out the Frog Study on the website for information of this research under the guidance of Patricia Burrowes and Rafael Joglar of the University of Puerto Rico, who we thank for their unflagging enthusiasm and involvement at our project.

Earthwatch December 2004/January 2005

Rain and mud were the order of the day, especially for our second Earthwatch group who battled diligently through some very slippery wet forest. Once again our two winter Earthwatch groups carried out an amazing amount of work in spite of adverse conditions. We continued our investigations of the melodious coqui and the common coqui, carrying out four night time studies during which 1,500 specimens were recorded.
The teams also helped to revisit, after three years, some of our mahogany study plots to see how they had progressed and take careful measurements of the slope gradient. We also revisited and remeasured our hardwood study plots and created a new hardwood study plot using Moralon, Cochlea pubescent.

Everybody is a Volunteer
Many thanx to everybody for volunteering their time, talents and good energy at the project. This season much time has been spent on cleanups around the homestead, at the sawmill location, tractor shed and upgrading the interiors of the main building.

Marie Harding, Artist and photographer spent 2 weeks at Las Casas in November 2004, and worked tirelessly on all kinds of cleanups around the project after Storm Jeanne, and upgraded our office by making a new wall desk and helped us utilize the space more efficiently. Marie is the President of Tropic Ventures, and the Manager of Synergia Ranch, Center for Innovation, in Santa Fe, NM.

Freddy Dempster, Systems Engineer for Global Ecotechnics was also at Las Casas for two weeks, with Marie, and literally lit up our lives by boosting our electrical source. Involved in all kinds of clean ups, Freddy also spent time upgrading plumbing and climbed into the big black water tank to clean it out! Thanks so much Marie and Freddy, for so much energy and input, exactly when it was needed most

Antonio and Berto. These wonderful characters arrived on the Las Casas scene last fall and were invaluable in helping Sierra to clean up after tropical storm Jeanne and prepare for future hurricanes. Antonio and Berto are both excellent musicians and woodworkers and have teamed up to bring wonderful music into our lives and continuously offer us help in so many ways, fixing engines, building shelters, they are truly part of the Las Casas family, our very own "Buena Vista Social Club".

John Dolphin Allen, Chairman of the Biosphere Foundation, and co-founder of Las Casas de la Selva, visited in Dec 2004 for 5 days providing inspiration and invaluable overall consultation on ongoing and future projects at the site.

Mark Nelson, Chairman of the Institute of Ecotechnics, spent time at the project this season and worked with the Earthwatchers out in the field.

Reka Komaromi is spending 6 months at Las Casas and hopes to be spending more time there over this year. Her special interest is in medicinal plants and herbs. She has traveled the world’s ocean’s on the RV Heraclitus, and is an accomplished coral reef researcher, diver, sailor and Reiki Master. She is taking care of the nursery and is planting a wonderful vegetable garden. Reka has partaken in the tree research and frog studies over this season. Reka is also developing the education programs for local schools at Las Casas.

Priska Komaromi, is Reka’s 13 year old daughter who has also traveled the world on the RV Heraclitus. Priska is being homeschooled and you can access her writings and see her painting in the Green Gallery. Priska has been an enthusiastic team player in all aspects of the project.

Molly Robertson returned for several weeks and assisted Sierra in all aspects of the Earthwatch Team Management, as well as putting her irrepressible energy and spirit into whatever needed doing.

Robert Townsend spent four weeks at Las Casas, and helped to overhaul the hydrostatic sawmill and engine, getting it ready to sell. Robert also worked on upgrading the electrics to the cabins, a step towards getting them ready to rent.

Jody Taparauskus is spending over three months at Las Casas, invaluably assisting in all areas, and co-chefing with 3t on the Earthwatch sessions. Jody is a Gourmet pastry chef and has been getting out into the Patillas and Guavate mountainside neighborhood, selling her delicious wares.

We were delighted to host Frank Salisbury, renowned plant physiologist, and Mary, his wife for a day and night. They filled the place with engaging stories of their lives and work, and Frank shared some of his plant knowledge with us. Their visit was all too short –we hope to see them again soon.

Scotty Deterville, Joe Sarquilla, Karin Howland and Kari Crist spent time at the project in December and January assisting in all kind of crew activities, including pathmaking, gardening and building a concrete drain on the corner of the main house.

Evie King, artist from LA, visited for ten days, and was an invaluable part of the cast for a fundraiser dinner at Las Casas.

Eibes, Captain of the RV Heraclitus over many years, is spending two months at the project. From The Coral Reefs to the Rainforest!

Santos, extraordinary local artist, stone and rock sculptor, among many other talents, thank you for the genorosity you have shown towards us. We appreciate you very much.

Maria Benedetti, our wonderful neighbor continues to help us out with translations, publicity and advice in many areas from how to get rid of mould to how to conduct our public outreach in Puerto Rico – What would we do without you Maria?

Omar Collazo artist, sculptor plans to move up to the location at the top of the road where the sawmill is, to create an atelier, for sculpting and painting workshops, and one of his first exciting projects will be carving a totem pole out of a huge Mahogany log, that was felled in a hurricane.

SONGS of the FOREST/CANCIONES de la Selva
A delicious gourmet dinner with a splash of song and dance...
Reka instigated a fundraising dinner and by evening of the 22nd of January 2005, the entire dining area was decked out in leaves and flowers, drapes and lights, and beautifully dressed tables. The kitchen area served as backstage, with Jody cooking a gourmet dinner and dessert in amongst everything going on. Antonio gave us an expertly improvised musical score. Sierra played the Old Witch of the Rainforest and served as the narrator for a tale filled with Evie, Jody, Priska, Reka and 3t, playing developers, bulldozers, tree planters, researchers, trees, dancing frogs, old colonialists, stars and musicians.

See 3t's latest paintings from the rainforest, in the Green Gallery.

SAWMILL FOR SALE
Bought in 1988, and in good condition, our 128 Mobile Dimension Hydrostatic Saw is up for sale.
Email 3t for more details.

Sustainable Forestry Project Needs You!
Las Casas needs woodworkers. Make furniture at Las Casas for sale locally and through the website. We have an inventory of primo wood and 'waste' wood from the mahoe harvest. Are you good with wood? Would you like to make something from our beautiful Mahoe hardwood, or create an enterprise at Las Casas making rustic furniture using the wastewood? Come spend some time at Las Casas and find wood heaven!

Always happy to receive your news and any comments on the website. All newsletters are in the archive
big hugs... Sierra & 3t ssilverstone1@cs.com 3t@synergeticpress.com

Photo Credits: Pictures tell the story.
Thank you for sending and sharing with us your images from your stay at Las Casas de la Selva.
Evie Eve, Marie Harding, Reka Komaromi, Molly Robertson, Sally Silverstone, Robert Townsend,
3t Vakil, Jane Vine.

COME STAY...Anything could happen in the jungle!!
www.eyeontherainforest.org