BFREE Support Leads to Discovery of New Sedge Species

Robert Naczi, Curator of North American Botany, New York Botanical Garden On the morning of 7 January 2008, my students from Delaware State University and I hiked from BFREE to the savanna in Deep River Forest Reserve. Our goal was to establish plots and identify all sedges within these plots in order to test hypotheses…

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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…

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Hicatee Awareness Month in the News

Hicatee Awareness Month in the News! HCRC Manager, Thomas Pop, Field Course Leader, Nelly Cadle, and Science & Education Fellow, Jaren Serano had the distinct honor of being interviewed about BFREE, the HCRC, and all things Hicatee on news outlets thoughout Belize during October. We are thrilled that the media helped in bringing positive attention to work…

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International Herpetological Symposium 2019 in Belize

Next June, the International Herpetological Symposium (IHS) will held at the Best Western Plus Belize Biltmore Plaza in Belize City.  The mission of the IHS is to provide a forum for the dissemination of information and results of such research pertaining to the natural history, conservation biology, and captive management and propagation of amphibians and reptiles. Each year…

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Soaring with Solar

After 23 years of BFREE being an off-the-grid solar powered field station, nothing has changed, except now we have a centralized 7.5 kw state of the art solar system which is 7 -10 times more productive and has energy storage capacity more than 20 times what was on-site before. The system also has a backup…

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Stakeholders Discuss the Future of the Cacao Industry in Belize

On  20th July 2017, the Belize Foundation for Research & Environmental Education (BFREE) along with Ya’axché Conservation Trust hosted the first Belize Cacao and Agroforestry Forum, entitled “The Future of the Cacao industry in Belize,” at the Church of the Nazarene Medical and Education Center in the historic village of San Pedro Columbia, Toledo District.…

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Cacao-based Agroforestry Handbook

Now in its 3rd year, the Belize Cacao-based Agroforestry Project (BCARP) is on the path to broadening its reach by producing an illustrated guidebook to be distributed around the country.  The BCARP seeks to expand habitat for over-wintering neotropical migratory birds and other wildlife by converting environments such as farmland and secondary growth forest to…

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First captive bred Hicatee Turtles hatch at HCRC

Six months after a clutch of eight Hicatee eggs was found buried at the waters’ edge at the Hicatee Conservation and Research Center (HCRC) in December of 2014, hatchlings began to emerge from their eggs.  These are the first hatchlings in the captive breeding program established by the Turtle Survival Alliance (TSA) and BFREE at…

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Oecologia article considers the winter ecology of Wood Thrushes

Emily McKinnon, bird biologist and Research Affiliate in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Manitoba, conducted a significant portion of her doctoral field research at the BFREE field station. In her May 27 blog post, “Jungle life is not always easy for Wood Thrushes,”  McKinnon summarized her research and announced the resulting Oecologia article.…

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