Details
A visit to Odielca's model farm.
Note: Yale School of the Environment (YSE) was formerly known as the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies (F&ES). News articles and events posted prior to July 1, 2020, refer to the School's name at that time.
Summary
Odielca Solís is a young, single mother cattle rancher who is also a founding member and acting secretary of the Association of Livestock and Agrosilvopastoral Producers of Pedasi (APASPE). Odielca has been a co-facilitator of ELTI's field courses for years sharing with others what she has learned and achieved in her own model agro-silvopastoral farm in Los Asientos. Odielca aspires to be a pioneer in demonstrating sustainable ranching and agricultural systems in her community to spark positive changes in ranching practices.
The objective of this project was to protect riparian areas in Odielca’s farm and to develop a demonstration area that illustrates economically-sound methods for reestablishing forest cover. The intense degradation of riparian areas due to free roaming cattle and the lack of tree cover results in contamination of the stream.
The motivation behind this project was to show the importance of maintaining large buffer areas to capture sediment, agrochemicals and nitrogen runoff from the pastures. As the forested buffer grows, it will showcase how natural forest regeneration can be a successful strategy for restoring degraded riparian areas.
The established demonstration buffer will be integrated into visits during ELTI field courses. ELTI supported Odielca with the purchase of fence posts and the technical assistance to design the riparian restoration initiative.