Recently, journalist Rodrigo Caballero visited the Carpinteros indigenous community and published an article titled “Carpinteros, the Place Where Avocado Saved the Forest” (Click here for the English translation) where he tells us how the Otomi community managed to balance planting avocados and the conservation of their forests. The people from Carpinteros managed to reforest more than 40 thousand trees in 2020 and 2021 alone thanks to support from Alternare and the local governments. Undoubtedly the support that MBF provides to Alternare every year to support reforestation is not only helping communities produce organic avocados but is also yielding lots of  positive fruits and benefits!

Board member Isabel Ramirez, visted the colonies to do her research and sent us the below photographs of the monarch colonies in Sierra Chincua. The butterflies are densely clustered around the oyamels and the pines. Stunning sight for sure!

       

 

The Environmental Alliance of Georgia in collaboration with Journey North runs the Symbolic Migration program every year. This program includes the “Beyond the Mexico” book project which distributes books and provides environmental lessons to schools near the monarch sanctuaries in Mexico.  MBF is a proud supporter of this effort and is happy to share their latest video with statements from schoolchildren and teachers who participate. Click HERE to watch the video and learn more about the symbolic migration project.

The overwintering season started a bit earlier this year! Since the last days of October, hundreds of butterflies could be seen from the roads around the MBBR flying towards the forests. This spectacular arrival continued for two more weeks and ended the weekend of November 13-14 when the colonies were already established. The colonies will be officially open to tourism until November 27 in Sierra Chincua, El Rosario, and La Mesa and Cerro Pelón will remain closed. In the photo below, taken in the Monarch Reserve’s buffer zone by Isabel Ramírez, we see some monarchs on Buddleia flowers making a last stop before heading to the overwintering sites.

 

We are incredibly proud to be a part of the #GivingTuesday movement. Help us make this day memorable by clicking here to support reforestation and Carlitos pictured below.

 

Carlitos, the boy portrayed in our GlobalGiving page is all grown up now and continues planting trees! You can read his thoughts about reforestation by clicking HERE