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Project - Jocotoco Tree Preserve |
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Jocotoco Ecuadorian Amazon
jocotococonservation.org/
 The primary purpose of this project is to prevent the extinction of rare and threatened species of trees. After decades of deforestation throughout Ecuador, many trees that were once dominant canopy species have almost disappeared from the landscape. The services they provided, including food for other wildlife, have also nearly disappeared, altering the ecosystems that depend on these species of trees.
 This project will serve communities that live near the Tapichalaca Reserve in southern Ecuador and the Canandé Reserve in northwest Ecuador.
To implement this project, multiple species of native, endemic, and threatened trees will be propagated and replanted in the reserves. This includes a recently discovered magnolia in the Tapichalaca Reserve, and two magnolias in the Canandé Reserve, among other species. The goal is to plant at least 400 individual trees within one year. The work includes monitoring and seed collection visits to mature.
 The project contributes to the overall mission of conservation in Ecuador, especially recovering threatened species from the brink of extinction.
One of the tree species that will be propagated - the magnolia - has only eight known mature individuals, all within the reserve, but all in distant and not easily accessible parts of the reserve. This tree was likely once more abundant and contributed significantly to the forest ecosystem. Forests outside of this reserve have mostly been cut, so it is believed that the population of this magnolia is relatively small and threatened.
In the Canandé Reserve, two of the species that will be propagated are also magnolias that only exist in the reserve itself and in the immediately surrounding forests. Because of ongoing efforts, one of these magnolias was downlisted in 2024 from critically endangered to endangered. The other magnolia is still considered critically endangered.
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