Our Blog
Trouble in paradise: threats facing the world’s rainforests
This is the fifth and final blog in our Las Piedras guest blog series, written by Catherine Carney-Feldman and David Feldman, who were inspired by the rainforest when they had the chance to visit the Las Piedras region of the Peruvian Amazon. Today, there is trouble...
Salt of the Earth: sustaining macaws in the Amazon
This is our fourth blog in the Las Piedras guest blog series, following the adventures from the WildFF Friends and Family trip. Check out David’s journey to the Las Piedras Amazon Center to learn more about the group's arrival at this jungle paradise. Why do macaws in...
Eat or be eaten: the role of apex predators
Jaguar, Tom Ambrose © The rainforest produces at least three quarters of the precipitation it depends on. Every day, water is released through the leaves, rises in the air and forms clouds. When rain clouds hit cooler air they release their water in the form of rain....
Our journey to the Las Piedras Amazon Center
This is our second blog in the Las Piedras guest blog series. Check out Catherine’s layers of complexity to learn more about the design of the rainforest canopy. After several hours, we saw the sign to our destination from the river. On our journey, we passed...
Layers of Complexity: Secrets of the Rainforest Canopy
In January, my husband David and I had a rare opportunity to spend almost two weeks in the remote rainforest of the Las Piedras region of South-eastern Peru during the height of the rainy season. It took Liz Feldman - WildFF founding board member and our daughter - a...
Our Future Leader exhibits impact of mining on rainforest
We first met Pavel Martianez at our Future Leaders Summit in 2012, where he was a participant and aspiring photographer. Earlier this year he contacted us with an exciting prospect: to support his photo exhibition showing mining conflict in the Amazon for the Congress...
An hour with Ana Amable: entrepreneur, innovator and Future Leader
At the beginning of the year, the Future Leaders gathered at the Las Piedras Amazon Center for the last time as part of the pilot program. For the past five years, we’ve been working to up-skill and empower 50 young leaders in the Madre de Dios region of Peru, to...
Una hora con Ana Amable: emprendedora, innovadora y proponente de la sostenibilidad
2018 fue el último año del programa piloto Innova Madre de Dios. Hace cinco años, WildFF estableció el programa con la meta de ayudar, entrenar y empoderar a 50 jóvenes líderes en Madre de Dios, Perú, para lograr un futuro más sostenible para la región conocida como...
Protecting vulnerable forests in the Las Piedras region
It is with great excitement that the NGO Junglekeepers Peru announces it has officially protected a 2,780 acre (1,125 ha) Brazil nut concession in Peru’s Las Piedras watershed. This increases the amount of protected rainforests in the middle Las Piedras River to...
Moringa, the gift of miracles
The past year has been witness to a whole new program within our Native Seeds Project. As hundreds of thousands of families from South Sudan began pouring into Northern Uganda we began to ask ourselves: what can we do? It’s a humanitarian crisis so vast that sometimes...
Five years, 50 leaders connected
FIVE YEARS, 50 LEADERS CONNECTED: THE FINAL YEAR OF OUR FUTURE LEADERS PILOT PROGRAM IN THE AMAZON RAINFOREST ‘The program has allowed me to learn from the experiences of other local leaders, and has taught me that nothing is impossible if you work together’ - Cecilia...
Creating networks for sustainable development in the rainforest: our five year journey
2018 is the last year of our 5 year pilot program: Future Leaders. What began as a dream to protect a strategically important piece of forested land in the Las Piedras watershed in Peru, has grown into a network of like-minded professionals working to draw attention...
Planting Trees One Farmer at a Time
Opoka and his fellow farmers remember that the parish of Atiyaba in northern Uganda was once forested. This mosaic landscape of savannah-like grassland was punctuated by great swathes of tropical forest expanding out from river ways and swamps. Tree cover was the norm...
Sowing Native Seeds as a Path to Resilience
We're proud of the work that the Native Seeds project has done. To donate directly to Native Seeds, visit their Global Giving page.
Community Makes Conservation
Involving people in conservation and development at LPAC The vision behind LPAC was to build a place in the Peruvian Amazon where people would come to study and connect with the incredible rainforest ecosystem while supporting the protection and sustainable...
El viaje de una Innovadora: desde el Amazonas Peruano a un ‘Fulbright’ en la Florida
También puedes leer este articulo en ingles. Durante el mes de enero del presente año la Red Innova visitó con entusiasmo la región Madre de Dios, los jóvenes participantes desde entonces han...
The Story of our World
This is the story of our world: For the first time ever, more than half of all people live in cities. Cities are simply something that didn’t exist for most of the human era – indeed, what we now mean by city has scarcely existed for a hundred years. For the first...
Catching up with Tania Romero Bautista
How a first-year Future Leader made her way from the Peruvian Amazon to a Fulbright in Florida You can also read this article in Spanish. Since our Future Leaders Summit back in January our...
Mother, farmer, agent of change
Hi all, I’d like to introduce you to someone. Her name is Oromo Jenet. She is a mother of seven, and she makes her modest living as a farmer and traditional healer, growing crops for subsistence and providing health care and healing to her community. She is at once...
Future Leaders Summit 4: Why Place Matters
This is the 4th post in our Future Leaders Summit 4 series. Read the previous posts: 1. Future Leaders Summit 4: Growing the Network 2. Future Leaders Summit 4: Hopes and Dreams 3. Future Leaders Summit 4: Wilder than Ever! Inspiring environmental action by connecting...
Greening Africa: The Practice and Purpose of Sowing Native Seeds
We often think of landscapes as stagnant and unchanging. Covering vast terrain and spanning many countries, the Sahara Desert seems immutable and eternal, yet its boundaries shift like extremely slow-moving tides. This process of fluctuation is natural but has been...
Are YOU the Next WildFF Board Member?
Wild Forests and Fauna (WildFF) is an international nonprofit based in Seattle, Washington committed to protecting and restoring globally important forests. Our vital work is growing beyond the executive board’s capacity and thus we are seeking professionals of all...
Future Leaders Summit 4: Wilder than Ever!
This is the 3rd post in our Future Leaders Summit 4 series. Read the previous posts: 1. Future Leaders Summit 4: Growing the Network 2. Future Leaders Summit 4: Hopes and Dreams Our 4th Future Leaders Summit was a great success, better and wilder than ever before!...
Future Leaders Summit 4: Hopes and Dreams
This is the 2nd post in our Future Leaders Summit 4 series. Read the previous posts: 1. Future Leaders Summit 4: Growing the Network Our new participants “A better quality of life, one that values identity, culture and biodiversity” - one Future Leader’s dream for the...
Your Gift Changes the World!
Thanks to you, this year more than 11,000 acres were protected, over 300,000 native trees were grown and grassroots leaders around the globe were empowered. Thank YOU! Recently, I planted dogwoods and redbuds with Veterans, a local business (ArborZen) and college...
Native Seeds Team Returns to Uganda
WildFF’s Native Seeds team has landed in Uganda for our second phase of restoration and capacity building with our partners, the Wise Women, Mon Ma Ryek of Gulu. Right after landing on the ground in early October, our team had face-to-face meetings with agency and...
Future Leaders Summit 4: Growing the Network
This is the 1st post in our Future Leaders Summit 4 series. We are currently preparing for our 4th Summit (an exciting time here at WildFF!), which will take place on January 7-13, 2017 at the Las Piedras Amazon Center. This year’s rainforest retreat is set in a...
Creating Forests for the Future
As October rolls around and we begin to witness the subtle changes of the seasons in the US, so too are we in the Native Seeds Project preparing for changes and growth here in Uganda. If you were following the COP21 meetings in Paris last November, you might recall...
Future Leaders: In Their Own Words
We are proud to show you this new video about the Future Leaders program in Madre de Dios. It includes interviews and voices of many past participants who speak directly to the value of this program. Special thanks to our video editor and Future Leader since 2014...
Mimic Forests of the Past to Create Forests of the Future
As September rolls around and we begin to witness the subtle changes of the seasons in the US, so too are we in the Native Seeds Project preparing for changes and growth here in Uganda. If you were following the COP21 meetings in Paris last November, you might recall...
ARCAmazon: Reforestation Updates
Thanks to our incredible supporters at WildFF, we have been able to sustain a long term partnership with Peruvian-based, nonprofit ARCAmazon. ARCAmazon works to find solutions that promote the conservation of biodiversity and the sustainable development of the Las...
Jam in the Trees Supports WildFF
Thanks to the thousands of supporters and incredible lineup of artists, Jam in the Trees was a fantastic weekend experience in Asheville, NC that brought together so many music and nature fans in support of community and forest conservation. We have to thank our...
Protecting Big Trees: Three Paths Cross
Nestled in the mountains of Appalachia, three nonprofit organizations are following different paths toward the same goal of forest protection, with a particular focus on restoring and conserving native forests. These groups embody innovation and action, traits wholly...
LUSH Cosmetics to Support Future Leaders Program
We are excited to announce a new partnership in the Peruvian Amazon with LUSH Cosmetics! Combatting regional deforestation, especially in the remote area of Madre de Dios, requires innovative and multi-faceted approaches. Wild Forests and Fauna is invested in...
Healing in Community: Three Acholi Plant Medicines
“Plant medicines have been used by humans for millennia - generations reaching back to the origins of the human species. If they weren’t effective, we wouldn’t be here today.” - Dr. Beatrice Odongkara Smiling, Dr. Beatrice Odongkara, comfortably stands with a foot in...
Greetings from Acholiland!
Greetings! Or, as they say in Acholiland, Apwoyo! To start, we want to thank you for your gracious support. You may think that a small donation is just a drop in a bucket, but without these drops, our work wouldn’t be possible. Your support is integral to the success...
Jam in the Trees Benefits WildFF
Wild Forests and Fauna is proud to partner with the producers, artists and hosts at Pisgah Brewing Company for Jam in the Trees taking place August 26th and 27th in Asheville, NC! *Featuring The Wood Brothers, The Del McCoury Band, Junior Brown, Willie Watson, Chatham...
Inspirations from Future Leaders Summit III
We’d like to share with you just a few of the thank you letters that we’ve received from our 2016 Future Leaders. These are small reminders that we are making big differences in their future paths. To know that we are inspiring young people to envision Madre de Dios...
ARCAmazon & Round River: Inspiring Future Generations
Being an intern is rewarding, hectic, challenging, and most certainly a learning experience. One of the most remarkable things I have learned during my time as an intern for WildFF is that we are not alone, and that we play our important role in big-picture...
Reforestation and Traditional Healing in Uganda
"To plant trees then, is to restore the homes of the ancestors. To plant trees is to make vibrant again the available connectivity of the people and their belief system. It is reforestation, and it is ecological restoration, but it is also cultural restoration." Visit...
Future Leaders Summit III
Thanks to the many donations during our IndieGogo campaign and a matching grant from our partners at Kiwi Energy, at this year's Future Leaders Summit, we were able to take 15 participants and 4 instructors into the Amazon for training, community building and...
ARCAmazon Conservation Research Grows
Las Piedras Amazon Center (LPAC) is getting ready for a busy summer as a new wave of visitors make their way to the Peruvian Amazon. Several volunteer groups and researchers are heading down to this special part of the world to learn, relax, and provide some...
The Trees of Acholiland
A quick glance at Northern Uganda and you might think that it’s another Serengeti. It is a home to rolling savannah, to vast horizons seen blurred through the dust-heavy air. Sunrises and sunsets are red giants rippling mirage-like, and indeed in the region’s...
Kiwi Energy Supports Future Leaders in the Amazon
KIWI ENERGY SUPPORTS FUTURE LEADERS IN THE AMAZON Energy Supplier Backs Youth Leadership Program in Conjunction with Local Peruvian University UNAMAD New York, NY -- (ReleaseWire) -- 04/05/2016 --As a clean energy advocate, the team at Kiwi Energy understands the...
The Oldest Tree in the World
According to an article published in the National Geographic website, the oldest living tree in the world has been discovered in Sweden. This tree, which is approximately 13 feet tall, has been alive for 9,550 years and has been growing on the side of a mountain at an...
Pinchot Alumni prove that business can protect the Amazon
Contrary to popular belief, the rainforest wasn’t actually saved in the 80s; it is actively being destroyed before our eyes by mining, logging and agriculture. But Wild Forests and Fauna (WFF), a non-profit founded by three Pinchot alumni, is working to protect this...
The Rest is Up to You
For all the criticism millennials may receive, the underlying truth is that we will be the generation to hopefully tip the scales. The stereotype of the technology addicted, socially awkward, unconnected, and lazy group of young adults is not what I see when I look at...
The Forest Online, Part 2: Journey to the Jungle
February 17, 2016: McDaniel College article Deep in the Peruvian rain forest over Jan Term, 12 McDaniel students made the discovery of a lifetime. Disconnected from their cell phones and internet, not a mirror in sight, they found themselves. It’s as simple and...
Can Conservation and Development Coexist?
Imagine a small Peruvian farming community where people still live as their ancestors have for countless generations. Now imagine the change that would come from placing a busy international airport directly next to this town. Each morning, instead of farm animals...
Wild Forests and Fauna Announces New Executive Director
Release on January 12th Ben Colvin appointed as new Executive Director Contact: Ben Colvin, 205-915-1800, [email protected] Asheville, NC (January 12, 2016) - Ben Colvin has joined Wild Forests and Fauna (WFF) as the new Executive Director, leading community-based forest...
A Forest for the Trees – Uganda
For most who know it, shea butter evokes exuberant health, youthful skin, and perhaps a faint trace of connection to the African continent. At home in many a bazar in Europe, Asia, and America, shea (Vitellaria paradoxa, family Sapotaceae) is also widely consumed in...
ARCAmazon Update
Laughter and music break through the cacophony of the jungle. The soft lights of candles and lanterns illuminate the faces around the circle, catching the crinkles of eyes mid-laughter and flashes of gold that shine from sharp, joking smiles. It is a night of...
Puerto
I can hear them start to pass us just before they zoom by, Jason’s laugh echoing as he whips his head around, his face lighting up in exhilaration. I clutch the vest of my moto-taxi driver, unaccustomed to the speed as we race through the streets of Puerto Maldonado....