Reforestation & Tree Planting Day at Playa Linda

Elly King, Research Technician at The Sloth Institute

Last November, The Sloth Institute was contacted by residents of Playa Linda with concerns of deforestation in the area and consequently how this would affect the wildlife. Our team immediately went to assess the situation and quickly realised how detrimental the loss of habitat would be to not only sloths, but many other animals. The cutting of so many trees would result in a severe lack of food source, as well as loss of canopy coverage and connectivity. This would leave sloths without suitable resting spots and hinder their ability to climb to new areas for resources they need to survive. Initially we installed our Sloth Speedways in the area to help with the connectivity between the trees and soon after a partnership was formed to start a tree nursery. In January of this year, we started growing almost 900 trees of different species, including Cacao, Beach almond and Cecropias.

Cecropias are an incredibly important tree for the brown-throated three-fingered sloth here in Costa Rica. This species of sloth will often be found foraging and feeding in these trees as the leaves and fruits make up a substantial part of their diet. Cecropias are an incredibly fast-growing species of tree and would quickly restore a large area of land. Due to these factors, we believed it was important and beneficial to begin the project by reforesting with this specific species of tree. Therefore, when we had enough young Cecropias in our nursery ready to be planted, the next step was to get them in the ground.

And so, on the morning of Saturday 18th May, it was release day for our saplings as we had our first tree planting event on private land with Cecropias from our nursery. The team at The Sloth Institute along with many volunteers from the community of Playa Linda came together to get our hands dirty, digging holes and planting. With lots of sweaty work and enthusiasm from all, in just a few hours we had successfully planted almost 200 trees. We have been monitoring their progress and our hope is that sloths in Playa Linda will benefit greatly from the reforestation within the next year or two, and in just 6 months the trees will have grown enough so that The Sloth Institute can start cutting leaves for sloths being rehabilitated in a nearby rescue centre.

Reforestation efforts through projects like this at The Sloth Institute have only just begun, we plan to continue planting thousands more trees in a variety of species that are vital to sloths and other wildlife in Costa Rica. If you have been inspired by our tree planting day and have land or property that would benefit from reforestation, please contact us via email at: [email protected]. We are continuing to give away trees for free from our tree nursery as we live up to our motto: Save a sloth, Save a tree, Save a forest!