Reforesting a Costa Rican Community
The Impact of the Small Change, Better World Grant
By: Isabelle Lee
This past Spring Break, I had the immense privilege of travelling to Costa Rica with 15 other UCI undergraduates as well as 2 UCI Staff Members through UCI’s Costa Rica Program. Created in 2012 by Jennifer Gamble, the Costa Rica Program is an alternative break program that “allows students of all academic levels and backgrounds to experience a global sustainability and cultural immersion program designed to foster cultural competence and global leadership.” From sleeping in the middle of a primary rainforest one night to to visiting a carbon-neutral coffee cooperative to being given the chance to stay with homestay families, these enriching experiences allowed us to be touched by the beauty of Costa Rica.
Halfway through our trip to Costa Rica, we stayed at Finca Siempre Verde, an ecolodge that focuses on sustainable education, in the rural village of Mastatal. Every year, each Costa Rica cohort focuses on a community service project that depends upon the needs of this community. During our time in Mastatal, the 2019 service project focused on creating a nursery filled with seedlings of trees native to Costa Rica since the region Mastatal is in — Puriscal — is considered to be one of the most heavily deforested areas in Costa Rica. What made this project personally special for me was that the funding from this project was through UCI Blum Center’s Small Change, Better World (SCBW) grant. The SCBW grant provides up to $3,000 in funding for “one-time, limited scope projects that address a specific need” twice a year.
Through the funding received from the SCBW grant, our program coordinators were able to not only provide funds to create the structure which would house the endangered tree seedlings, but also were able to get the materials needed to plant the tree seedlings in.
For the service project specific to our cohort, we were split into completing two tasks: (1) compacting bags of soil that would house endangered tree seedlings in the future (seen below) and (2)creating barriers out of wood on both sides of the housing structures that would keep the compact bags in place. After working for a couple of hours, our team was able to not only create both barriers and clean the area around the structure, but also compact over 200+ bags with soil.
Within the next couple of months, when the rainy season hits Costa Rica, participants from partner universities such as the University of Washington will begin to plant seedlings our cohort found in the compact bags we created during our time in Costa Rica.
Being able to first-handedly see the effects of the SCBW grant on an international level was something that touched my heart and left me without words. Because of this grant, the community of Mastatal will now have access to free seedlings of native, endangered trees, which will help allow this area to be reforested. It touches my heart to know that even within a year, this tree seedling nursery will begin to produce its first saplings, which will be planted all over this region. Thank you to the Blum Center for giving the Costa Rica Program the support to help this project become a possibility.
Pura Vida!
For more information on Small Change, Better World, please click HERE.
*The next round of SCBW applications are due on May 25th and if you have any questions, contact the Blum Center at blumcenter@uci.edu.
For more information on the UCI Costa Rica Program, check out more information HERE.
Isabelle Lee is a double major in Psychology & Social Behavior and Social Ecology with a minor in Civic & Community Engagement. She currently serves as one of the Student Assistants at the UCI Blum Center. Her passions include of mental health advocacy/awareness, poverty alleviation, sustainability, and social justice. Contact her at isabel3@uci.edu.
