Documenting Our Living Heritage

What is a tree worth to you?

As caretakers of the land at Rainforest Healing Center, we’ve embarked on an effort to document the trees on our property for conservation, sustainable use and harvesting, and for propagating their species on the land and elsewhere.

Recently we received a useful document detailing native and local tree species in the Peruvian Amazon. Seeking to restore and rehabilitate cleared lands from previous owners, we asked Pedro, our shaman and center foreman to help identify which species currently exist. Pedro has a lifetime of living in the jungle, amongst its tower trees and powerful vibrations, and also has training from a school in Iquitos for identifying plant species. Armed with this information, Omar and Pedro walked the RHC property identifying and documenting which species currently exist on the farm.

In addition to our Replanting Ayahuasca Project, we’ll be mapping and marking these trees for conservation and replanting efforts, both on the farm and for other surrounding communities to help reintroduce lost species and help reclaim the forest that is quickly being dismantled all around Iquitos, Nauta and beyond.

Trees are extremely important to the ecosystem of the Amazon. They help seed rain clouds with their heavy evapotranspiration. They retain water, protect the clay soils from direct exposure to desiccating solar rays, and provide immense shelter and habitat for the millions of creatures and understory plants that depend on them.

We’ll post more as our Replant Ayahuasca Project efforts continue and advance. We’re in the process of replanting pioneer species of leguminous trees and fruit trees near our newly constructed kitchen and communal space. Can’t wait to share those photos as they come in from the field!

Existing Trees at Rainforest Healing Center