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MAZAHUA
INDIGENOUS COMMUNITY
In 2001, the La Cruz Project expanded its range of plantings to
include a large tract of land in the southern part of the Monarch
Butterlfy Biosphere Reserve. Having been motivated by a local priest,
the Mazahua Indigenous Community who owns the land has already planted
240,000 healthy trees. The community women, ranging from age 5 to
seventy and organized into working groups, lead the planting efforts,
with the men helping on the weekends. The community had been devastated
by mud and landslides and realized that reforestation was the only
solution to prevent further damage and to assure that their water
supply remained uncontaminated.
Jose Luis Alaverez and his team were greeted enthusiastically by
this community, whose need is great and whose commitment to reforestation
is strong. They do not want to harvest any of the trees, and have
a dream of planting 5 million more to restore the mountain and protect
the 15 major springs that sustain the people and the other life
there.
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