Mission
Our mission is to preserve and restore biodiversity through the creation and protection of vital forest ecosystems. By safeguarding the ancient and diverse Lebenskraft Forest, we aim to connect this critical habitat with the Tapanti National Park, fostering a thriving corridor for wildlife. We are committed to cataloging and preserving century-old trees, promoting global sponsorship, and ensuring the continued vitality of this unique environment for future generations.
Vision
Our vision is a world where biodiverse ecosystems are preserved and thriving, interconnected through protected corridors that allow for the free movement and recovery of wildlife. We aspire to inspire a global community of forest guardians dedicated to conserving the Lebenskraft Forest and similar vital habitats, mitigating the impacts of climate change, and fostering a deep appreciation for the natural world.
Foundation Brief
We stand for biodiversity preservation and restoration. The Lebenskraft Forest is our vital force, our continuous strive to survive (Lebenskraft literally means in German “vital force”). Our seedling project is located in the high mountain range of the pristine forest of the Cerro de la Muerte (Death Massif) in Costa Rica at an altitude of 2,500 meters. This is an area of exceptional beauty, superb but cold climate, and incomparable nature and wildlife.
The project begins with a land plot of 34 hectares, 28 of which are a primary high-altitude tropical cloud forest that dates back thousands of years. This forest is home to many species of extremely old and tall trees and a growing population of wildlife that is ever more visible and fortunately in the process of successful recovery, mainly due to the efforts of our family to preserve this area ever since we acquired the farm around 25 years ago.
Based on the encouraging results obtained thus far, our current objective is to extend these results concentrically and be able to connect this forest to the Tapanti National Park, the Quetzales National Park, and the Cerro Vueltas. Our first phase consists of connecting the Tapanti National Park to the Lebenskraft Forest. The Tapanti National Park is actually not far from our farm but is unfortunately disconnected due to open and exposed land plots that were either deforested years ago and now have been abandoned as unproductive grasslands or are being considered as targets for real-estate development. If this fate were to occur, then the objective of connecting the Lebenskraft Forest to the Tapanti National Park and creating a biodiversity corridor would become almost impossible. It’s a race against time that we hope to win via Forest Guardians.
How do we intend to achieve our objective? Our Lebenskraft Forest already has thousands of centenary and millenary trees that have an extremely high value for the preservation of the biodiversity of this region. The Forest Guardians Foundation will create a detailed inventory by specimen in a highly detailed manner and compile it into a web-based catalogue that can be accessible to anybody around the world. We hope that people who share the same passion as us, in these times troubled by climate change, will find interest in sponsoring the preservation of these trees for generations to come, literally making them their own and even having a chance to visit the trees each individual has sponsored.
Lebenskraft Forest map
