This machete grows trees!

Dear Friends,

I am writing to send you a quick update on forest restoration efforts related to the #MacheteProject and general habitat restoration efforts. You should know that your gifts to Paso Pacifico are making a difference for people and forests.

This dry season, we are working with several tree nurseries to source tree seedlings for reforstation areas in El Salvador and Nicaragua. All together, we will plant 1000 native trees at the start of the rainy season (500 in each country). We have selected fruiting tree species to provide maximum benefit to wildlife and people through agroforestry. In Nicaragua, we are working with a tree nursery that we helped to start in 2007. It is now run by the son of the nursery's manager, the late Miguel Rastran. It feels meaningful to know that a tree nursery started fifteen years ago, is still producing native plants that are restoring the landscape. The 1000 trees we will plant this year will be planted at farms and along riparian forests thanks to your support, and that of the B-corp Offset Alliance.

The #MacheteProject digital platform continues under construction by the SoftServe Inc. volunteer team based in Ukraine. Dedicated programmers have built the login page, the page to record notes and profile for the farmers, and page for the teams of youth who will visit with the farmers. We inching closer to a prototype which can be used in Tepic, in the state of Nayarit, Mexico in a few months. We have chosen this location because many young adults in this industrial city have ties to the rural countryside and travel to their hometowns to discuss forest growing is feasible. This pilot will help us to work towards "forest growing", in an independent and organic way that could spark a reforestation movement based on farmer knowledge. 

We are so grateful to you for your support for tree planting and forest growing with community partners.

Thank you again. 

Sincerely,