Silk Grass Farms + Wild Earth Allies: Partners to Expand Rainforest Conservation

Above: Bellucia grossularioides (Melastomataceae, melastome family) (Photo: Luis Peña)

In a project that has the potential to transform rainforest conservation, researchers with Wild Earth Allies, with support from a three-year grant from the Cabot Kjellerup Foundation, are surveying underrepresented habitats and completing a comprehensive inventory of Belizean tree species. That work will complete a Trees of Belize research project led by Wild Earth Allies botanist Steven Brewer, Ph.D., assisted by biologist Luis Peña, a Conservation Fellow with Wild Earth Allies in Belize. In December 2023, Brewer and Peña did preliminary research and stayed at Silk Grass Wildlife Preserve’s newly renovated field station.

With results from the Trees of Belize project, Brewer hopes to put critical conservation tools in the hands of more people to strengthen forest management. Of the 1,300 species of trees in Belize, only about 10% are known, he said, and most cannot be identified, even by botanists. “Our goal is to create a digital app for Belizeans and other researchers in Belize to identify tree species and their biology,” Brewer said. “With this knowledge, it will be possible to figure out which ones are rare, which ones are common, and which ones are threatened — information that will lead to better management of forests and trees in general.”

In addition to collecting specimens and photos for enhancing the Belize National Herbarium as a resource for future Belizean botanists, the project will describe in detail the biodiversity of the tree canopy within the boundaries of the Silk Grass Wildlife Preserve to inform future management planning. The work is part of the Preserve’s broader mission to provide opportunities to gather scientific data about the biome and learn how to protect it — all while preserving the natural surroundings where the Silk Grass Farms agribusiness thrives, increasing productivity, nutrient value, flavor, and resiliency of food crops.

Wild Earth Allies Conservation Director Adam Henson said the partnership with Silk Grass Wildlife Preserve is strengthened by the organizations’ shared mission to build biodiversity knowledge in Belize and protect its natural resources for the long term. “Wild Earth Allies believes in locally led conservation,” he said. “With Silk Grass Farms being the first B Corporation in Belize, and with its focus on conservation, we are proud to partner with Silk Grass on this initiative.”

In the Q&A that follows, Brewer, Henson, and Peña share more about the project and the partnership with Silk Grass Farms.

SB: The first surprise for me was that there are tree species typically found in high elevations in the Maya mountains, but they’re down around 100 to 200 meters in elevation — whereas the backbone of the Maya mountains is around 1,000 meters and the flora is very different. People had questioned my comparisons of tree flora on acidic rock on a different substrate versus limestone, which typically has a lower elevation. They offered an alternative idea that the difference was due to rainfall — but this just reinforced what I see in the field, which is that the soils are probably the first determinant of the flora. Elevation has something to do with it, but the soils are very different.

LP: I had never been to that type of habitat previously, and I was surprised by the forest composition at the Preserve. I saw species similar to those in Mountain Pine Ridge, but there was also a different composition in terms of other plant families. I found some Melatomes completely unique to that type of habitat that I had not seen elsewhere. 

We also discovered a Marcgravia nepenthoides that has a flower in the shape of an umbrella, which functions as a little cup holding the nectar. It was very interesting to learn the strategy that they use to pollinate their flowers — they are pollinated by bats. So the bats go and get the nectar, and in doing so rub themselves with the flowers above, and then move to other plants and distribute the pollen. So that was really interesting.

SB: We also discovered a legume, Barbiera pinnata, which we believe to be only the third on record for Belize. It is extremely rare, and the fact that we saw it just in that short time was very exciting.

How did the Great House on-site field station support your work as a homebase for your explorations in the Preserve and surrounding areas? In what ways did you make use of the facility?

SB: There are very few accessible wild places that have a field station. Those that do are difficult to visit at certain times of the year. Most of the other field stations are in pretty disturbed or second growth areas — so, not as pristine. To be stationed right there near the Sittee River Forest Preserve and Silk Grass Farms and the creeks — that is just fantastic. 

LP: Exploration in remote areas is very tiring. At the end of the day, you still have to process your material and have a good rest so that the following day you can be active again. The fact that we had this field station and the facilities — it was so very comfortable being there with the equipment, the accessibility, and the space. Normally when we are doing field work, we tend to just gather information, and then that information piles up! But having access to the internet meant we could work at night and advance some of that work and also figure out immediately some of the interesting findings from the day. The facility was a huge help for us.

What have you learned so far to support management planning and conservation action priorities for the Preserve? 

SB: It's cliché, but you can't manage something you don't understand. What species are there? Are they rare? Are there problematic species? Are there species that need to be protected and are there areas that need to be patrolled more often than others, because they might have timber species that could be attractive to illegal logging?

There is a great deal of hurricane damage in the Stann Creek Valley where Silk Grass is located. The cohune palms established there are very good at withstanding hurricanes because they're flexible, whereas hardwoods and other trees are falling down and dying. It gives that palm an advantage — so it is taking over big parts of the Stann Creek Valley and at least part of the Silk Grass Farms property. They need to make sure to not let that get out of hand, because once a palm takes over a place it just expands and outgrows everything.

Fire can also be a big problem in tropical forests, especially in northern Central America, which is very seasonal. This particular substrate that makes the flora unique also means that it’s subject to fire because the soils are pretty poor. There's not a lot of organic soil, and if fire does burn through there it can burn off all the organic soil. The only thing that can colonize there are Tiger ferns — they're actually flammable when they're dead, and they promote fire. But they also can survive the fire because their roots basically were derived rhizomes.Having some way to either prevent or treat fire will be important for the Preserve.

A core value of Silk Grass Farms is training, education, and learning. How can the partnership between Wild Earth Allies and Silk Grass Farms build in-country capacity and provide opportunities for training and mentoring?

LP: The partnership not only opens up significant opportunities for collaboration but will provide us with resources such as the Silk Grass facility, which we can use to offer training. As part of my fellowship program, I hope to share my knowledge so that our community can increase. The number of individuals who do plant identification in Belize is very small. At the end of the day, conservation is collective work, so if we have more individuals with more capacity, we can do better forest management.

I believe that this collaboration with Silk Grass and other Belize conservation organizations will revolutionize the way we do forest management in this country. In the future, we won’t have to make decisions blindly, without the correct knowledge. If we're able to figure out what is in the forest and the composition, we can protect the wildlife and rainforest resources, and we can safeguard very important ecosystems.

AH: A key element of the Trees of Belize project is training and mentoring. The research findings and data from this work are useful, but only if they're used and applied to improve conservation in biodiverse areas such as Silk Grass Wildlife Preserve. The project relies on combining learning and application in the field — where active research is happening, bringing more people into this realm of botanical exploration and conservation. And ultimately, the goal of this work is to improve the management of Belize’s extremely valuable, diverse forests — which are globally important. A huge thank you Silk Grass Farms. This is what partnership really looks like!