Volunteer at a Costa Rican Wildlife Sanctuary

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About Kids Saving the Rainforest

Location:

3790 El Camino Real, #206, Palo Alto, CA 94306, US

Mission Statement

Kids Saving the Rainforest was founded by two 9 year old girls in 1999 for the purpose of educating people around the world about the ecological importance of the rainforest, to set-up programs to preserve and protect the rainforest and its wildlife. KSTR, a U.S. 501 (c)(3) non-profit, encourages awareness of the critical importance of saving rainforests in general for the survival of our planet and encourages all who participate to take part in sound ecological practices in their homes, schools and communities as well. We are incorporated in both Connecticut and California and maintain tax deductible, non-profit status with the U.S. I.R.S. We are governed by aboard of directors who meet regularly to plan strategy and make budget decisions.

KSTR invites participation by schools, children’s organizations and individuals throughout the United States and abroad who further the purpose by learning about the rainforest, doing projects that raise money to donate to KSTR and spreading the message further through educating others. KSTR reaches out to kids, teachers, parents, rehabilitation specialists, primatologists and others around the world.

KSTR has a variety of dynamic and successful projects including our Rescue Center, Wildlife Sanctuary, Monkey Bridges, Volunteer Program, tours, reforestation, Kids Camp and projects by schools and other groups and individuals who want to help save the rainforest worldwide.

Description

Kids Saving the Rainforest has different projects on biodiversity conservation and research, and we have created a training/volunteer program that allows any animal or forest lover to join us, learn with us and work with us. We believe that we are all capable of changing our attitude towards nature. We believe that through hands-on training we can achieve it and live sustainably.

Our current projects:

Tropical Wildlife Zoo Keeping: Kids Saving the Rainforest has had a wildlife rehabilitation center since 2005. In 2010 we opened a Wildlife Sanctuary and Zoo to keep those animals that cannot be released back into the wild. Some of the animals were pets and are used to humans, some were circus and research animals, and others are too injured to survive in the wild. The volunteers will learn the basics of zoo keeping in a tropical environment with tropically native species. This may include maintenance of facilities (cleaning, repairing, building and enriching cages, trails, etc.), diet preparation and enrichment, behavioral observations, health monitoring, and training. Also the volunteers will learn about tropical biodiversity and the natural history of some tropical animals.

Sustainability: In KSTR we believe that sustainable development and living are very important, and we are constantly researching the best ways to adapt and adopt sustainable practices in all we do. We have chosen permaculture as a way of restoring degraded land with two purposes. One will be to restore and preserve the original forest of the area, while producing most of the food for volunteers, visitors, and animals in the sanctuary in our organic gardens. The volunteers will help us maintain and expand these gardens, as well as help with composting, planting trees and maintaining a nursery, among other tasks. We strive to implement the principles of sustainability by using permaculture in all we do.

Monkey Bridges: One of the long-term projects of KSTR is to provide safe connections between patches of forest to tree-dwelling wildlife, also called bio corridors. By providing these 'bridges’ we reduce the monkeys’ use of electrical lines and human infrastructure. This reduces electrocutions, which is one of the most common injuries seen in animals we receive at the rescue center. Volunteers can accompany the maintenance team and take valuable natural history, geographic and behavioral data while the team works on the bridges.

Kids Camp: KSTR offers local kids a fun alternative for Saturday morning learning about biodiversity, conservation and sustainability for a better world. Volunteers can help set up everything concerning the Kids Camp, from the lesson plans to detailed logistics, which include announcements for the camp. Kids Camp volunteers may also spend some working hours at the KSTR store at Mono Azul Hotel in Manuel Antonio, where we sell products, tours, adoptions, and teach the public about KSTR. All the profits in the store go to our projects.

Basic Research: We believe that a successful project of any nature should be backed up by science, and that is why we try to include basic science projects in all our activities. We are also open to new research and activity project ideas, from volunteers who would like to design their own project. We can also help you design a project that you can submit as an independent study and get credits for.