Las Casas de la Selva
Patillas, Puerto Rico – Las Casas de la Selva (meaning Houses of the Forest) property is managed by Tropic Ventures and Tropic Ventures Educational & Research Foundation (a Puerto Rico non-profit corporation). This area provides a protected habitat for Puerto Rican native flora and fauna as well as a long-term study site for research and limited public and student familiarization in the areas of ecology, botany, forestry, horticulture, soil, ethnobotany and other related environmental disciplines.
Since 1984, on this 1,000 acres of land, 40,000 valuable hardwood trees have been line-planted within 230 acres, while maintaining the ecosystem’s biomass and biodiversity. In July 2003, 1,000 board feet of Mahoe, Hibiscus elatus, was harvested from the Tropic Ventures plantation as its first experimental program to produce a sustainable and economically viable timber crop. As part of Tropic Venture’s ongoing sustainable forestry program, more Puerto Rican hardwood trees are being planted at the project.
Read Recent Articles
Ecotechnics Award Winning Sustainable Forestry Project, Heavily Damaged by Hurricane Maria
October 22, 2017 PATILLAS, S.E. PUERTO RICO—Award Winning Sustainable Forestry Project, Heavily Damaged by Hurricane Maria, Works to Rebuild and Rescue Valuable Fallen Hardwoods. On Sept 20, 2017, the eye of Hurricane Maria passed directly over the Las Casas de la...
Tropic Ventures Sustainable Forestry Project in Puerto Rico
Tropic Ventures Education & Research Foundation was incorporated in 1998 as a non-profit corporation in Puerto Rico to support the project’s research and education activities." An exploration into silvicultural techniques developed at Las...
A Tale of Two Forests: Community Engagement in Vermont and Puerto Rico
On the first Saturday of each month there is a themed community forest walk. Here, Vermont historian Bob McCullough tells community members about the 1832 Thompson House, a unique feature of the Jericho Forest. Equally important to the management of a...
Volunteer with Las Casas de la Selva
Watch a short video and learn about volunteering with Las Casas de Selva. This 3 min video was produced by Ben Zenner, a volunteer of Las Casas de la Selva in April of 2013. Ben is a videographer and graphic designer, and is in the process of...
