ESPAÑOL ABAJO EN EL ENLACE: ESP - Crowdfunding Finca Chita

Protecting a living rainforest corridor through presence, storytelling, and education.

My name is Ernest Minnema, a naturalist and educator with over 20 years of tropical field experience. In 2024 I bought a piece of regenerating rainforest in Costa Rica’s Turrialba Valley—a fragile frontline against deforestation. My vision: protect it not with fences, but with presence, and grow it step by step into a nature education center for local children, students, and visitors.

This forest, now called Finca Chita, has been regenerating for over 20 years. It already shelters frogs, snakes, rare birds, peccaries, and more. But the pressure is real: nearby forest is being burned for monocultures, and parcels are being cleared for development. And the best protection is not barbed wire—but living here, being visible, connecting with neighbors, and giving the forest a voice.

By supporting this project, you help keep this rainforest wild, visible, and valuable. Not just on a map, but in the hearts and choices of those who pass through, visit, or learn from it. This is about more than preservation: it is innovative education, building community connections, and creating a sense of belonging that ensures lasting protection. Lessons learned here will spark a ripple effect—protecting the surrounding corridor and influencing how people care for their land wherever they go.

Together, we can grow something larger. Finca Chita is a seed of change: protecting a living corridor, inspiring a new generation, and giving this forest a voice.

Read the full project document here:

ENG - Crowdfunding Finca Chita

ESP - Crowdfunding Finca Chita

NL - Crowdfunding Finca Chita

– "Let’s build something small, so something big can grow." –