Blog
Let’s Celebrate World Migratory Bird Day in Belize!
Join BFREE in the great world-wide celebration of migratory birds during the entire month of March! Below are educational resources and additional information for you to use in your classrooms. We encourage celebratory events throughout the month of March such as educational presentations, cleanups, and other habitat restorations as well as bird walks, and creative…
Read MoreAiming for Conservation
Growing up in the south of Belize you develop a sense of uncertainty. I was raised in the Mayan subsistence farming community of San Pedro Columbia. This community has long-shared rudimentary hunting and fishing practices, that are now replaced by modern and destructive gears. A place where slash and burn is still practiced by most…
Read MoreRanger Training at BFREE
The new year started off on the right foot with a workshop for BFREE park rangers in Basic Navigation Skills. Dr. Rob Klinger, BFREE Board Member and Ecologist, spent a morning teaching concepts and methods associated with navigation using compasses. Because BFREE park rangers are required to patrol all areas within the 1,153 acre privately…
Read MoreDesigning a Chocolate Bar Package: Semester-long Project with UNCW
As an organization whose mission includes a strong focus on education, we are always excited for opportunities to collaborate with high school and university classes in semester-long projects. Last fall, we were privileged to work with a class of aspiring graphic designers at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, ART 360. Led by Ned Irvine,…
Read MoreIn Pursuit of Hicatee in Belize by Day Ligon
The Hicatee, as Dermatemys mawii is known in parts of its range, is truly a unique turtle. Although fossil records indicate that closely related species once occurred across Central America and Europe, Hicatee remain as the only living representatives of a formerly species-rich family of turtles. It is a large turtle, sometimes exceeding 22 kilograms.…
Read MoreMonkey River Watershed Association by Peter Essleman
BFREE is located in the headwaters of the Bladen Branch of the Monkey River, a large tropical river that discharges to the Caribbean Sea south of Placencia. Despite the pristine character of the headwaters the Monkey River watershed has been home to Belize’s banana industry for nearly 100 years, with particularly intensive cultivation since the…
Read More2019 Fall Hicatee Health Assessment
Biannual health assessments continue to serve two important purposes. 1) They allow us to check the general and reproductive health of all captive animals, and 2) they enable us to continue to gather growth data which is added to our long-term dataset on the species. Understanding whether or not our turtles and their environment are…
Read More3rd Annual Hicatee Awareness Month
TSA 2019 Symposium
17th Annual Symposium on the Conservation and Biology of Tortoises and Freshwater Turtles Each year since 2002, the Turtle Survival Alliance and IUCN Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group hold a symposium on the conservation and biology of tortoises and freshwater turtles. BFREE staff have participated regularly ever since the inception of the Hicatee Conservation…
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