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Fundacion
Jatun Sacha

Ecuador

JATUN SACHA NATURAL RESERVE
Established in: 1985, it was the first Amazonian field research station

Located at: the southern bank of the Upper Napo River, at an altitude of 450 meters above sea level, at 1º 04' S, 77º 36' W, in the Napo Province of Ecuador.

Extension: 2500 has

Forest type: Tropical rainforest

ECU Jatun Sacha Map.jpg (54289 bytes)

 

For information on the other reserves and how to support them
go to the Fundacion Jatun Sacha web site

www.jatunsacha.org

 

 

ABOUT FUNDACION JATUN SACHA - in their own words: 
www.jatunsacha.org

The Jatun Sacha Foundation is an Ecuadorian non governmental non profit, private organization. It was leagally established in 1989 by Ministerial Agreement No. 270 from the Ministry of Agriculture, published in the Official Record No. 238 on July 21st 1989.

Our first conservation project begun in 1985 with the creation on the Jatun Sacha Biological Station and Reserve, in the ecudorian Amazon.

The Foundation is a self-sustaining institution with great impact in the line of private conservation initiatives through 5 different models of private reserves with community projects in rural and urban areas.

The lines of action are mainly: the conservation of biological and cultural diversity through different models of private conservation, environmental education and promotion of research and productive projects that help improve the quality of life of people living in areas of influence of its activities.

The Foundation has an integrated system of institutional development procedures that ensure the quality of their services. We have a national and international prestigous image, confidence and credibility for having helped position Ecuador in the field of conservation of natural and cultural resources, and for having influenced the creation of other NGOs based on its mission Institutional.

Our Mission:
Promote the conservation of the Ecuador's biodiversity, through technical training, scientific research, environmental education programs at national and international level, community development, sustainable management of natural resources and the training of leaders with greater ethnic and gender participation to improve the quality of life of the communities.

Vision:
For the year 2014, Jatun Sacha will continue to promote the conservation of forest and aquatic ecosystems of Ecuador, and improve the quality of life of the community. It will be a self-sustaining institution with great impact in the line of private conservation initiatives across different models of private reserves, 7 Biological Stations and new research and education programs, community projects in rural and urban areas. Our vission is have a system of integrated institutional development procedures that ensure the quality of our services.

ABOUT THE JATUN SACHA NATURAL RESERVE / AMAZONIA - in their own words:

The Jatun Sacha Biological Station is a center for field research and education in the tropical rainforest region of the upper Napo river in the Ecuadorian Amazon. The station includes a reserve of 2,000 hectares, of which 70% is primary forest and the remainder is secondary growth.

The name “Jatun Sacha” means big forest, in Quichua, the native language of the majority of the people surrounding the reserve. In 1993 The International Children's Rainforest Network declared Jatun Sacha the II Children's Rainforest of the World.

The original reserve of 200 hectares was formed by land acquisitions conducted from 1989 to 1991 from donations by several conservation organizations concerned with the rapid loss of the tropical Rainforests in the Amazon and the world. In 1993, further additions to Jatun Sacha’s land holdings were made possible through donations from the International Children’s Rainforest Network.

During the first years of the Jatun Sacha Biological Station, scientific research has focused on collections and inventories of the biota. Checklist of the following flora and fauna groups are available: reptiles and amphibians, birds, trees, vascular plants, fungi, butterflies, and mammals. Ecological research has included multi-taxonomic monitoring and silvicultural trials. The Jatun Sacha station has also hosted a number of field-related biology courses directed at national and international students. The courses include medicinal ethnobotany, dendrology of Amazonian Ecuador, ecology of populations, Amazon jungle biology for ecotourism guides, and Save the Rainforest seminars for US high school teachers.

Studies have demonstrated that there are 250 different species of trees in one hectare, and close to 1,500 species of plants in the same area. Out of more than 1,000 species of trees catalogued by Neill & Palacios, in the Ecuadorian Amazon Basin, 17 new species were found within the reserve.

Besides these, the Jatun Sacha Reserve has yielded many new species to science, just to mention a few: in 1997, Michael Schwerdtfeger descried a new species of Passiflora, naming it P. Jatunsachensis; Gregory O. Vigle lists more than 112 species of reptiles and amphibians. So far 222 species of orchids have been collected by various persons.

Numerous bands of saddleback tamarins (Saguinus Fuscicollis) are seen often. 51 species of mammals inhabit the reserve, including large cats as puma and jaguar, demonstrating how well the area has been preserved.