Past Accomplishments

Magdalena Valley Rainforest, Colombia
WLT-US worked  with our partner in Colombia, Fundación ProAves, to protect almost 9,000 acres in the 700 mile-long Magdalena lowland rainforest. The area has an exceptional diversity of endemic plants, birds, mammals, amphibians and other groups, with many threatened species. These include the critically endangered Blue-billed Curassow ("Paujil") and the Magdalena Spider Monkey (Ateles hybridus) , one of the rarest primates on earth. WLT-US will continue to be involved in the protection of this priority forest and various other ProAves appeals in Colombia. Click here to read more.

Amarakaeri Indigenous Reserve Zone, Madre de Dios, Peru
WLT-US began this project in 1996 to support the Centro de Desarollo del Indigena Amazonica to title land to forest-dwelling indigenous peoples living along the Alto Rio de las Piedras, to the north of Manu, in order to create a 994,170 acre indigenous reserve. This was finally declared on May 9, 2002. This will provide significant local benefits to indigenous peoples, and the former for ecotourism, as well as being of immense conservation value by protecting this immense area. Support is continuing to assist the management of this area.

Critical Bird Sites, Ecuador
We worked closely with Fundación Jocotoco on its program to purchase critical habitats of highly range-restricted bird species. These habitats fall outside of national parks and private purchase and protection is needed. We have provided over $500,000 to buy land to protect unique and critically endangered birds such as Pale-headed Brush-finch, El Oro Parakeet, and Jocotoco Antpitta. WLT-US continues to raise money for Jocotoco's critical network of threatened bird and wildlife refuges.

Machiguenga-Megantoni Reserve, Peru
We helped to provide the funding needed in 2000-2004 for CEDIA to initiate management of the 500,000 acre Megantoni Communal Reserve, which comprises the 540,914 acre Machiguenga Communal Reserve and 533,748 acre Megantoni National Sanctuary of pristine rainforest in Amazonian Peru. This project conserves the cultural heritage of the indigenous Machiguenga communities while protecting an ecological treasure of biological diversity in untouched montane forest zone in the ecological transition between the subtropical and tropical regions.

Cosanga Valley Cloud Forest, Ecuador
We assisted in the protection of more than 5,000 acres and create a major forested connection across Ecuador's incredible Cosanga Valley. This protected area now links neighboring reserves by way of a wide swathe of flat montane forest. In conjunction with the Napo Andean Forest Foundation, WLT-US assisted in the protection of lands that are covered by Andean cloud forests, which host many endemic, rare, and/or endangered species.

Matses Communal Reserve, Peru
We are assisting CEDIA  to develop a proposal to create a National Reserve beside the Matses Indigenous Reserve in the northeast Amazon of Peru. This pristine area of inundable rainforest, covering 1,039,390 acres, was finally declared in 2009 and announced by WLT-US.

Misiones Province, Argentina
Misiones Province, located in Argentina, is one of the most critically endangered ecoregions in the world, with only 7% of its once vast original forest remaining. Two properties,totaling 9,301 acres, were identified and purchased for protection and low-impact sustainable tourism development by FuNaFu and Fundación Biodiversidad thanks to support from WLT and WLT-US.

San Rafael, Paraguay
San Rafael, located in southeastern Paraguay, is considered to be the most important tract of Atlantic Forest remaining in Paraguay. While San Rafael is a national park in name, the Paraguayan government lacks the funding to support its conservation. Guyra Paraguay helped create the San Rafael Conservation Alliance to halt the deforestation. Since 2002, with support from WLT and WLT-US, Guyra has purchased properties for conservation at San Rafael. In total, Guyra Paraguay has declared for conservation in perpetuity a total of 15,320 acres of pristine habitats within San Rafael.

Alto Rio Piedras, Madre de Dios, Peru
From 1996 to 2000, WLT-US worked with CEDIA to title land to forest-dwelling indigenous peoples living along the Alto Río de las Piedras in order to create a 700,000-acre indigenous reserve. Our support provided the detailed documents and analyses required by the government of Peru to officially establish this area. Titling will provide significant benefits to the indigenous peoples and facilitate ecotourism while ensuring better protection of the area's biological diversity.

Reserva Vida Silvestre Uruga'i, Argentina
We supported Fundación Vida Silvestre in acquiring land and establishing a trust fund to create a 6,250-acre private reserve along the Uruga'i River. These forests protect endangered Atlantic forests, of which less than 10% remains.

Murici Reserve, Brazil
We supported BirdLife Brazil in its efforts to conserve the Murici Reserve in Brazil's Atlantic Forest. This reserve protects a number of critically endangered species in a region that has already lost 98% of its forest cover. The 7,500-acre forest at Murici is considered one of the most important areas in the world for endangered bird species, as it provides habitat for twelve restricted range species and is the only known site for two species. Its conservation is essential to protect the birds and many other endemic plant and animal species that depend on this forest ecosystem.

Cani Araucaria Reserve, Chile
We provided the funds to Fundación Lahuen to purchase 1,001 acres of pristine araucaria forest to create the Cani Araucaria Reserve, with support from Patagonia and Esprit companies. The reserve protects a threatened ecosystem with the most ancient tree species on earth, the araucaria pine. It also promises to be a model for education and the development of a conservation ethic in this region of Chile. WLT-US has also supported Ancient Forest International and Fundación Lahuen on forest conservation activities in Chile's southern Valdivian rainforests.

Bladen Rainforest Sanctuary, Belize
Though small, Belize harbors as many species as the Eastern United States. We established an endowment of over $100,000 working with the Belize Audubon Society, which allowed the Belize government to create a 97,000-acre Bladen Rainforest Sanctuary. This reserve protects pristine humid rainforest along the southern flank of the Maya Mountains, protecting the highest biodiversity region in the country. The endowment provides for the continued management of this and other protected areas managed by Belize Audubon Society, conserving spectacular species and a wealth of biological diversity.

Sierra de las Minas Biosphere Reserve, Guatemala
We purchased the initial 11,000-acre tract of land at $4 per acre to create a protected area at Sierra de las Minas, one of the largest cloud forests in Central America. The purchase through Defensores de la Naturaleza catalyzed the creation of the entire Sierra de las Minas Biosphere Reserve of 600,000 acres. This cloud forest is critical habitat to many rare and endangered species of birds, plants, and amphibians, several of which are found nowhere else on earth. Beyond its biodiversity value, the reserve protects the watershed for dozens of streams that feed downstream agriculture and that require forest conservation to continue providing essential benefits to local communities.

Punta Laguna Reserve, Mexico
We supported ProNatura Mexico's educational campaign to protect a community-owned reserve at Punta Laguna, Yucatán. This now federally protected conservation area protects spider monkeys and other rare species, and contains relict patches of old-growth forest unique in the Yucatán State.

La Cangreja Protected Zone, Costa Rica
WLT-US supported Fundación Ecotropica's initial land purchase that created La Cangreja Protected Zone protecting the last virgin rainforests in the county of Puriscal.

Llanos, Venezuela
WLT-US accepted a 40,000-acre donation of land in the state of Cojedes and transferred it to a Venezuelan land conservation foundation, Fundación Hato Pinero. This protected a large area of forest and savanna in the llanos ecosystem of Venezuela from logging and hunting. This area lies in a transition zone between the high and low llanos, and harbors a rich diversity of species including the Giant Anteater, Tapir and Jaguar, along with over 300 bird species.

Pampa de Achala, Argentina
We catalyzed efforts by FUNAM to create a major new park for the Pampa de Achala, a biologically significant area of grasslands with ten endemic species or subspecies of birds. This work lead to the 1996 creation of the 91,427 acre Pampa de Achala National Park.

Yanacocha, Ecuador
The Black-breasted Puffleg is one of the world's rarest and least known birds and depends on a specialized habitat found on a narrow elevational zone in the temperate forest and Andean scrub of Volcan Pichincha. With funding from WLT-US and the Simpson Foundation, Fundación Jocotoco purchased nearly 1,000 acres of elfin polylepis forest, which represents a major portion of the Puffleg's remaining habitat. Conservation groups such as CECIA are working with the local indigenous communities to educate them about the hummingbird and to find an alternative to cutting its limited habitat for charcoal production.