The Jatun Sacha Foundation has established an innovative, community-based natural resource management extension program at the Bilsa Biological Station located in the highly-threatened forests of northwestern coastal Ecuador. The extension team, with various backgrounds, has been successful at promoting active community participation in developing and implementing conservation alternatives with resettlement communities surrounding the Biological Station. A diverse extension team—ethnically, professionally, and in gender and geographic origins—has been found to be most effective in dealing with dynamic target populations and community natural resource management problems.

Location

The coastal mountain range of the Esmeraldas province in northwestern Ecuador contains one of the last sizeable blocks of tropical wet forests found in western Ecuador. Within the Mache Mountains of this range, the Jatun Sacha Foundation established the 3000-hectare Bilsa Biological Station (0°21’37" N, 79°42’40" W) to serve as the heart of its comprehensive effort to save part of this endangered tropical forest. The Jatun Sacha Foundation is the only conservation organization in the area dedicated to a year-round program of community extension, scientific research, and forest conservation. The Bilsa Biological Station is the largest private forest preserve in coastal Ecuador.

The forests of the Mache Mountains are the most economically important natural resource of the area. The timber in this region is much sought after by national and international interests. High-value wood species, such as, Tangaré (Carapa guianensis), Sangre de Gallina (Otoba gordoniaefolia), Coco (Virola dixonii), and Guayacán (Tabebuia chrysantha) are being harvested from this region at an alarming rate without sufficient reforestation to compensate for the loss.

The watersheds are most valued on the local and provincial levels by the resident population. The Mache Mountains contain numerous upper river basins that are important for three major provincial rivers: the Cube, Aguacatal, and Dógola Rivers. Destructive timber harvesting and unsustainable agriculture are the main causes of damage to the watersheds.

The soils of the Mache Mountains, although nutrient poor, are crucial for the well-being of the local population which depends on the cultivation of coffee, cocoa, rice, and corn for their cash income once the forests are harvested from their lands. Unsustainable agriculture practices quickly deplete the fragile and shallow soils leaving the terrain sterile and unproductive.

The biodiversity found within the Mache Mountains represents perhaps the most valuable—but as yet untapped—natural resource. Preliminary biological inventories conducted at the Bilsa Biological Station indicate a high level of biodiversity. Over 2000 different plant species have been documented in the Bilsa Biological Station and tree diversity reaches 120 species per hectare. Many plant species that are rare, endangered, or endemic are found in these mountains. In the past four years, 25 species completely new to science have been discovered at Bilsa. More than 300 species of birds have been documented, among the highest totals for any western coastal forest in Ecuador. Endangered species found in the area include: the Banded Ground-Cuckoo, the Gray-Backed Hawk, the Long-Wattled Umbrella Bird, and the Baudo Guan. At least 24 mammal species reside in these forests, five of which are on international threatened species lists: the Jaguar, the Jaguarundi, the Oncilla, and the Giant Anteater. Troops of the endangered Mantled Howler Monkey, heard daily, complete this archetypal tropical rainforest scene. Insect, amphibian, and reptilian diversity, as yet unknown, are expected to be commensurate with the avian and mammalian levels of diversity.

The infusion of roads into the coastal region of Ecuador over the last 30 years has opened up the final opportunity for colonization in Ecuador’s once vast western forests. Marginalized farmers, mostly from the provinces of Loja and Manabí, come from their deforested and desiccated lands to the rich forests of the Esmeraldas province. Land speculators are selling off the remaining coastal forests to these desperate families. Quick money can be made by anyone selling the high-value wood to the timber companies when their timber extraction equipment enters the region during the brief dry season.

The process of deforestation is established in exactly the same manner as in the regions from where the colonists have just arrived. The immediate sources of income for colonists are their newly acquired tracts of mature-phase forest. Once the trees are gone, a system of short-cycle crops and cattle, destructive to the region’s fragile soils, is established. The nutrient-poor soil is quickly depleted and the cycle of deforestation repeats itself as the colonists pick up and move further into the forest to start again. This progressive deforestation has occurred repeatedly throughout Ecuador and leads to a permanent and profound poverty for the people living in forested areas.

The Bilsa extension team works in eight target communities (Viche, La Yecita, Luz de América, Dógola, Santa Isabel, Cube, Arenanga, and Descanso) delivering a comprehensive program in agroforestry and reforestation training, environmental education, health and nutrition, and community development. All of the resettlement communities are quite new—between 15 and 25 years old—and lack the organization and cohesiveness to accomplish community objectives. Occasionally, a few farmers will get together to form an agricultural cooperative to augment their buying and selling power, but the only community institution in which all have a vested interest is the local school. Thus, the Bilsa extension program works principally through local schools, which are the only institution where a majority of both men and women join together to make decisions on community issues. Not only are schooling issues dealt with at the parent-teacher meetings, but other community interests such as road/trail maintenance, various work projects, and social and sporting events are planned.

Social structure in this region is extremely volatile and complex due to the marked differences in living conditions, colonists’ geographic origins, and religious orientations. Those living farther away from improved roads have more forest which provides for better living conditions. The forest provides more protein and food sources, through wild game and plant products, and a more healthy and sanitary environment. The colonists come from all over Ecuador, principally the provinces of Manabí and Loja. Religions observed include Roman Catholic, Evangelical, and agnostic (not a true agnosticism, but rather just a lack of beliefs).

People in the region are mostly of "mestizo" (mixed Spanish and indigenous) heritage while a minority, approximately 10%, are African-Ecuadorian. Individual communities have fairly homogenous ethnic qualities. To the north of the Bilsa Biological Station are a few purely indigenous Chachi communities where the extension team is in the preliminary stages of expanding our program.

The Jatun Sacha Foundation, an Ecuadorian, non-profit, conservation organization, manages three forest reserves including: the 2000-hectare Jatun Sacha Biological Station in the Amazon Basin, which includes the Cabañas Aliñahui Ecotourism Lodge; the 1000-hectare Guandera Biological Station in the tropical montane forest of the northern Andes; and the 3000-hectare Bilsa Biological Station in the coastal forest of northwestern Ecuador. The Jatun Sacha Foundation also manages numerous other reforestation and community extension projects throughout Ecuador. Through all the established projects both in and outside each Biological Station, the Jatun Sacha Foundation works to:

• Develop extension models for community-initiated sustainable natural resource management,
• Protect endangered forest habitats of Ecuador,
• Preserve in situ populations of endangered plant species,
• Conduct applied research on the reforestation ecology and conservation of Ecuador’s tropical forests, and
• Offer education and health extension programs not otherwise provided.

With its inception in 1994, the Bilsa Biological Station upset the established system of colonization and deforestation in the Mache Mountains by being the first organization to actively promote conservation in the region. But, due to year-round dedication and presence, the Bilsa Biological Station is now accepted as an integral and contributing member of the community-at-large in the Mache Mountains. During the last three years the Bilsa extension team has been working side-by-side with colonist families in a participatory and comprehensive program in agroforestry, environmental education, health and nutrition, as well as farm and community development. The overall goal of the extension program at the Bilsa Biological Station is to build and enhance local capacities (both individual and organizational) through an integrated approach that encourages sustainable, community-based management of natural resources.

In 1997, due to the efforts of the Jatun Sacha Foundation, the Tercer Mundo Foundation, the international conservation community, and the Ecuadorian National Park Service (INEFAN), the Mache-Chindul Ecological Reserve was established to protect an estimated 50,000 hectares of this forest. In theory, this should offer a great amount of assurance that this forest will not be lost. But, in actuality, timber harvesting continues as before inside the Reserve’s boundaries. The lack of a budget for this new Ecological Reserve restricts INEFAN from establishing a management presence here.

This case study’s principal author, Tim Sulser, has worked with the Jatun Sacha Foundation over the last three years in various capacities. Since August 1997, he has been with the Bilsa Biological Station where his principal tasks are to develop new community extension projects and assist with the administration of the Station. Dr. Michael McColm is Vice President of the Jatun Sacha Foundation and the Founder and Director of the Bilsa Biological Station. Soraya Delgado is the Bilsa Extension Program Coordinator while both Carlos Aulestia, the Bilsa Forestry Engineer, and Gladys Aguinda, the Coordinator for the Plant Conservation Center at Bilsa, are members of the extension team.

Norman Myers (1988) first brought international attention to the conservation importance of the forests of western Ecuador. The largest remaining patch of coastal wet forest, in which the Bilsa Biological Station is located, is about 70,000 hectares in the Mache-Chindul Mountains of the Esmeraldas province. This is an estimated 0.8% of the coastal tropical wet forests that stood just 40 years ago according to Alwyn Gentry, John Carr, and Theodore Parker (1992) of the Conservation International RAP team. Myers (1995) has also declared Ecuador’s coastal forests one of the world’s top three conservation priorities. The forest will be completely cleared in less than 20 years at the current rate of harvesting (Dodson and Gentry 1991, Parker and Carr 1992, Tolisano and Howard 1997).

The Jatun Sacha Foundation, through the Bilsa Biological Station, established the first community extension program to foster community-initiated, sustainable natural resource management in the region. The principal task of the extension team is to change the destructive harvesting and agriculture practices of the recently arrived settlers.

Colonists, leaving their desiccated farms in the Manabí and Loja provinces, come to the Mache Mountains to exploit the vulnerable forest resources. With little other immediate sources of income, colonists are at a severe disadvantage and often have no choice but to sell off their timber at extremely discounted prices; a tree worth $5,000 on the world market will usually bring a farmer less than $25 when sold to timber company intermediaries. The timber companies, who have substantial forest reserves of their own for future harvesting, do not have a vested interest in ensuring a sustainable harvest from the small land-holders in this region.

If destructive forest harvesting practices continue, the natural resources of the Mache Mountains will be finished in very short order and the local colonist population will suffer the same destitute conditions that they had to leave behind in their former homes. Additionally, with the destruction of the forest, an alarming biological extinction would occur as the number of endemic, rare, and endangered species in this region is remarkably high.

At Bilsa, as at the other Jatun Sacha Biological Stations, the need to involve local communities in forest conservation is evident and imperative. The future of this priceless forest resource depends on the responsible, local community stewardship of the region’s natural resources.

Through the extension programs at its three Biological Stations and numerous other projects throughout Ecuador, the Jatun Sacha Foundation has defined its own model of effective extension work with communities living in forested areas. An extension team that is diverse ethnically, professionally, and in gender and geographic origins, has been found to be the most effective in dealing with dynamic target populations and natural resource management problems.

The process by which this extension model came about is not marked by any specific event or decision by Jatun Sacha administration, but rather, has evolved through the dynamic and participatory environment of the extension technicians, target communities, and foundation administration working side-by-side on conservation projects. Site-specific modifications to the Bilsa program continue to emerge through interaction and feedback with the target population and current exigencies.

The Jatun Sacha Foundation Vice President and Director of Biological Stations, Dr. Michael McColm, is principally responsible for the extension program at the Bilsa Biological Station. But the extension team itself has also been responsible (through active feedback with management) for its own development.

The key to the success of the community extension program at the Bilsa Biological Station is its diversity. The professional backgrounds on the extension team members include: forestry, wildlife biology, environmental education, health and nutrition, and administration. Ethnic heritages are equally diverse, including: Mestizo, African-Ecuadorian, indigenous Quichua, and North American. The extension workers come from both urban and rural settings of the three different regions of Ecuador (coastal, central highlands, and the Amazon Basin lowlands) and the USA. Also, the gender balance is equal to ensure a fair representation of all sides of community development issues.

At the Bilsa Biological Station, the extension team that is diverse ethnically, professionally, and in gender and geographic origins, has been extraordinarily effective in dealing with the dynamic target population and natural resource management problems of the Mache Mountain region. Preliminary results from our efforts in the Bilsa extension program show that the long-term effects on both the local population and their natural resources should be quite positive. In addition to the tree nursery at the Biological Station, over 50 community and family tree nurseries have been established and are producing trees for agroforestry and timber projects. In 1997 alone, the tree nursery at the Bilsa Biological Station produced and outplanted over 100,000 trees for projects both in the Station and the target communities. Demonstration agroforestry projects have been established in each target community through the cooperative work of the locals and extension workers. Over 50 local families have started their own agroforestry plantations.

Participation and community acceptance of the Bilsa extension program has been outstanding. At regular regional conferences, held both at the Bilsa Biological Station and in selected target communities, an average of 150 people attend with many folks travelling over 10 hours by foot on muddy trails and roads to participate in the activities. Families and individuals regularly visit the tree nursery at the Station to take fruit and nut tree saplings to their farms for planting. Informal friendships and exchanges in the last year have increased dramatically and suggest the acceptance of the Bilsa Biological Station and its projects as part of the community-at-large in the Mache Mountains.

Our extension program is evolving through the influences of direct feedback sought from the target communities, the innovative ideas of our expert and diverse staff, and the experience of the Jatun Sacha Foundation’s administration. Key lessons learned include:

• Communities, which are complex and mixed groups of people, relate much better to a diverse staff (rather than homogeneous one) including men and women from various disciplines, ethnic groups, and geographic regions;
• Locals are ready and willing to learn improved community natural resource management if they see established examples and can interact directly with extensionists, working side-by-side on community projects;
• Community members greatly appreciate that the extension staff make sacrifices by enduring the same conditions as the local population to deliver monthly programs through the wet season (ie. trudging the muddy roads for up to 12 hours on foot, as opposed to only working during periods when communities are accessible by motor vehicles); and
• Informal exchanges and friendships between extension staff and community members have been both vital to and indicative of our success and acceptance by local communities.

In many developing and transition economies throughout the world, a more enlightened approach to natural resource management has dictated that extension work must integrate both conservation and community development objectives to achieve permanent results. The dynamic nature of working to establish sustainable, community-based, natural resource management schemes makes a diverse extension team—able to respond to changing exigencies—necessary for a successful program. As every community, indeed each community member, has it own unique desires, problems, and interests, an extension team with a diverse background will be more likely to have the capacity to respond to these individual needs.

The population of the Mache Mountains in the area surrounding the Bilsa Biological Station is composed mostly of recently arrived colonists. Local organizations and a system for managing resources do not exist. Extension work with more established communities is markedly different due to existing resource management schemes and local institutions that govern (either formally or informally) issues and resources. Also, the volatility and complexity of established communities is often much less than that of recently settled communities. Although specific extension programs will differ according to local situations, the importance of having a diverse extension team remains.

Myers, N. 1988. Threatened Biotas: Hot-Spots in Tropical Forests. The Environmentalist. 8:187-208

Myers, N. 1995. Foreword. In B.J. Best and M. Kessler. Biodiversity and Conservation in Tumbesian Ecuador and Peru. BirdLife International. Cambridge.

Parker, T.A., and J.L. Carr (eds). 1992. Status of Forest Remnants in the Cordillera de la Costa and Adjacent Areas of Southwestern Ecuador. Conservation International, RAP Working Papers 2. Washington, D.C.

Tolisano, J. and A. Howard. 1997. A Programmatic Environmental Assessment of Proposed Phase III Activities of the Sustainable Uses for Biological Resources (SUBIR) Project. Biodiversity Support Program, U.S. Agency for International Development/Ecuador. Quito.