Diamante-Baru Biodiversity Corridor Restoration and Nurseries

This Ma Earth Round 3 invitation inspired our decentralized and cross-cultural team into a deeper round of collaborative prioritization across neighboring communities, encouraging us to move our regenerative mission forward with greater coordination.

What surfaced is the multi-site initiative described here: three land nodes that have each been building strong independent practices, now aligning around a single, mutually beneficial biodiversity corridor project. Through this project we cross a threshold, from somewhat siloed parallel work into shared activities across a watershed, a road, and a future.

The Proposal and the Plan:

Funds will be used to increase local tree and plant nursery capacity, expand free roadside food forests, and stabilize a mountainside through trail building and native species rewilding. • 200 trees planted and 500 seedlings raised at the $5,000 funding threshold; 700+ trees planted at full activation • Restoration across a 1-hectare nursery, a 1-acre community garden, and 4 hectares of degraded cattle land on the commons • Nursery facilities expanded from one site to three including an additional roadside location • Stabilized trail opened to the riverside conservation zone and Abuela waterfall in former cattle pasture (cows relocated) • Ten additional fruit trees planted at the community garden, tended for 5 years toward free-food production access • 4 dedicated project leaders; 3 organized activities per month; hours scaling from 4/week at the floor to 15/week at full activation

The Place and the Purpose:

The Cuenca Baru (rio Baru watershed) flows through the Brunca territory, ancestral to the Boruca peoples and within the Corredor Biológico Paso de la Danta which links Central Pacific forests to our southern coastal region. Significantly deforested and under pressure from overdevelopment, the region runs mountain to sea, holds 5% of the worlds biodiversity, and has long drawn experts in water science, agroforestry, permaculture, and bioregional coordination for its care and protection.

The Project and the People:

This project spans three pueblos along a dusty road into degraded cattle pastures being restored from roadside to river’s edge. Three places along the way, with interdependent resources and needs, working together: Abundant Eden near Tinamastes, the Las Tumbas Community Garden where the Diamante crosses the valley road, and eartHeart & Coliazul on the Commons at Diamante Luz in San Salvador.

Together they connect in reciprocity a children's program with a cultural center, value the contributions of elders, and weave respect for nature into daily rural life.

Desiree Wells, permaculture educator and bioregional pioneer, brings decades of ecological expertise and a nursery full of rare and essential native plant species.

Arthur Favrot, bridges neighboring communities through 15 years of volunteer leadership at roadside food forests and the Salón Comunal, soccer field and playground in Las Tumbas.

Tim Brahier stewards a land trust with 4.2 of 13 hectares granted to the commons. He leads construction, planning and maintenance of common pool resources with integrity and care. 

And I, Danibelle, cofounder of the DBC, cotrustee of Diamante Luz, facilitate governance protocols that bring the voice of nature to the tables where prioritization, allocation, and accountability sit down to make decisions together.