I can vouch for this; I did this internship in August-September 2011. These folks at 3M Alliance are great folks to work with, and if you plan your project well, you will learn a lot. I might also add that if any scientists are interested in cataloguing the biodiversity of this little-explored bioregion, I have it from Jerry Toth himself that he would be interested in hosting such an expedition. Recently, a herpetologist discovered two new species of frogs there.
Jason Hernandez Returned 3M Intern ________________________________ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 16 Jan 2012 16:32:15 -0500 From: =?ISO-8859-1?Q?Gerald_Toth?= <jerryt...@hotmail.com> Subject: Tropical Conservation, Permaculture & Research Internship in Ecuador A few years ago, a few of us – ecology, economics, and business graduates – founded a nonprofit organization called Third Millennium Alliance. We raised some money and bought a lot of land in a critically-endangered rainforest and established an ecological reserve. There was a small patch of previously-degraded land right in the middle, where we have built an innovative and surprisingly comfortable research station out of bamboo, by hand. Immediately surrounding the house we are designing/growing/building a living laboratory of sustainable resource management (i.e. permaculture). Our goal is 100% food self-sufficiency within 10 years. So far, we’re maybe 20% of the way there. Likewise this is a testing ground for appropriate technology, such as off-the-grid renewable energy, water treatment and management, organic pesticide production, etc. We are also in need of various biological research projects and inventories. Priorities for the Spring Internship include: • Forest mammal inventory with photo trap cameras (on-going project) • GIS mapping of the reserve • Organic pesticide research and development (on-going) • Forest succession research • Entomology (insect) inventory (even if it’s just a partial inventory) • Mushroom propagation system • Implementing of a small-scale aquaculture system If you would like to learn more, please visit our Internship page on our website, where you can download a PDF file which includes a detailed program description, at: http://www.3malliance.org/index.php?id=320 After reading the PDF file, if you would like to apply, send an email to the address listed in the program description. We hope you work with you! Sincerely, Bryan Criswell, Isabel Dávila, Jerry Toth Directors, Jama-Coaque Reserve Third Millennium Alliance Jama, Ecuador www.3malliance.org ------------------------------
