[BACK] Madre Selva trails were mapped and a school agro-forestry project moved forward in May-June 2005, thanks to Quebec volunteer Olivier Drouin. Mr. Drouin also assisted with preparations for the OTS Amazon Ecosystems course in June, as well as contributing in various ways large and small to station and trail maintenance and biological/project monitoring activities. Hailing from Victoriaville, Quebec, Mr. Drouin is a biochemistry major at the University of Sherbrooke.

Among his activities, Mr. Drouin GPS mapped the trail system at Madre Selva and created the first accurate map of the trails - something that will be useful to students, researchers and visitors for many years to come. Getting accurate satellite signals under rainforest canopy can be a patience-testing endeavor, but Mr. Drouin persevered - the resulting map can be viewed in the Field Stations section of the website.

With the permission of the school teachers, Mr. Drouin assisted with an agro-forestry project with students in the Yagua Indian community of Comandancia. Students had lessons about the importance and many uses of trees, and then brought their own seedlings of trees useful for food, fiber, building materials and other purposes. These were planted near students houses in protected locations, with an incentive for students to care for their seedlings - keeping them weeded, protecting them from domestic animals, and so on.

The diversity of useful tree species that students brought to school to plant was quite astounding, with at least 25 different tree species represented. Most students were familiar with the names and uses of at least a couple of dozen trees.

Most residents of the Amazon rainforest take the continued availability of useful tree species for granted - there have always been more trees available! With growing populations and the end of nomadic lifestyles, however, many useful trees are becoming scarce or locally extinct near established communities. Our work with local schools is intended to encourage local people to view useful trees as a resource that can be planted, tended and harvested much as 'regular' food crops are. If children can be encouraged to tend to their future resources, then our goal will be accomplished. At left: Students enjoy seeing pictures of themselves planting trees on a laptop slideshow. A last quote from Mr. Drouin: "...the two months I passed at the station, the work I did at Comandancia, the people I met at Madre Selva, really succeeded in showing me a new aspect of the world and of myself. ... I will be grateful all my life for that - seriously!"

For more information on volunteer opportunities with Project Amazonas visit our Volunteer page

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