Land Stewardship
Skills and Actions

The Cloud Forest School campus is a 52 hectare (106 acre) mosaic of decommissioned pasture land, primary and secondary tropical cloud forest, gardens and buildings – all of which serve to provide our students with the most distinctive learning environment in the Monteverde area. Unique not only to Monteverde, the CEC was the first private organization in the history of Costa Rica to receive a conservation easement (also known as a land trust), which protects our lands in perpetuity. The National Wildlife Federation designated the CEC as the first Schoolyard Habitat in Central America, and we are the only school that has membership in the Costa Rican Private Reserve Network.

As the caretakers of our precious property, all CEC students participate in quarterly land stewardship projects of their choice led by the land manager and/or the environmental education coordinator. The goal of these projects is to give students weekly hands-on, practical experiences with conservation actions such as reforestation, native plant propagation and landscaping, organic vegetable gardening, and trail maintenance. Our teachers play a vital role connecting the student’s “outside” work with what happens within the classroom’s four walls. Reducing solid waste, recycling, and composting become topics of class meetings as we strive to understand and improve our relationship with, and actions towards, the natural world.

Click here to read more about our Special Places program