Our Experience as Tree Inventory Volunteers in the Atlantic Forest

We’ve only stayed at IPBio for a short period, just one month, but this blog-post aims to share some of our experiences from that perspective, and talk about the general process of sorting out a Volunteering stay here in Reserva Betary.

Firstly, what’s the place like. We’ve done similar types of programmes in different parts of the world and we can safely say that the accommodation and ease of arrival is the most comfortable we have experienced. And fortunately for potential volunteers, this is only going to get better. During our stay in May 2017, construction was under way for a new and bigger house to expand the Volunteer program. The setting is idyllic if you like the natural state of things, as the Reserve is in the heart of the remains of the Mata-Atlantica in the modern state of Sao Paulo, with the rustling of trees, the rushing river and bird calls being the sounds of the day.

Foremost IPBio is a research facility aimed at documenting and evaluating the biodiversity of the area directly surrounding the main centre and living facilities, and so each volunteer arrives with a pre-determined understanding of the projects they are going to be involved in. This was great as the most important thing is volunteering with an actual purpose, and contributing positively to ongoing projects, no matter what the intensity of day to day activities are.

Our project was the tree inventory and phenological mapping of the trees along the trails of the reserve, which aims to be a concurrent project associated with the opening of a bird release centre opening nearby. Most days we’d be out in the forest along the Reserve trails identifying, measuring and taking bark/foliage samples of all the trees marked for the inventory. Despite neither of us being from a forest or biology background, we enjoyed this immensely, learning and doing lots of new things and practices along the way.

Aside from the project, what we enjoyed about the Reserve and the whole experience was the friendliness of the staff here was that we could learn about all the projects taking place, and see some in action. Also, picking up lots of things that we didn’t think would be part of any volunteering experience in the forests of Brazil. For example, we’d never put much thought to it but all the wildlife documentaries, pictures and videos that we see, all need serious photographers behind the lens. At IPBio the resident biologists are also professional photographers, going along with them on hikes and just asking them how they filmed that monkey eating the bananas, or how the mushroom in the forest is so tiny but in this photo, it is so large, enabled us to learn a lot about photography and film that we never knew before. Click the video below to see some monkeys in action (the video may not appear directly but if you click it will appear):

Despite our short stay, we managed to get a feel for the reserve and leave with a greater understanding and appreciation of the significance of the diversity of tree species and how every part of a tree can permeate and preserve our everyday lives. As a volunteering experience, it is one that we would recommend for any budding biologist who wants to get some field experience, or general persons that enjoy the outdoors and would like to contribute to conservation activities.

                                                                      

Ate mais!

Written by: David  (volunteer from the UK) and Hanan (volunteer from Brazil)