Ralmar Ecoforestry Corporation - Ken Gallatin - in March 1987 the Peace Corps sent him to Costa Rica to serve as a Forestry Extensionist

Peace Corps Online: Directory: Costa Rica: Peace Corps Costa Rica : Peace Corps in Costa Rica: Ralmar Ecoforestry Corporation - Ken Gallatin - in March 1987 the Peace Corps sent him to Costa Rica to serve as a Forestry Extensionist

By Admin1 (admin) on Saturday, June 30, 2001 - 10:13 pm: Edit Post

Ralmar Ecoforestry Corporation - Ken Gallatin - in March 1987 the Peace Corps sent him to Costa Rica to serve as a Forestry Extensionist



Ralmar Ecoforestry Corporation - Ken Gallatin - in March 1987 the Peace Corps sent him to Costa Rica to serve as a Forestry Extensionist

Ralmar Ecoforestry Corporation - Ken Gallatin - in March 1987 the Peace Corps sent him to Costa Rica to serve as a Forestry Extensionist

Ralmar Ecoforestry Corporation

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Resume of Ken Gallatin

Kenneth Raymond Gallatin received his degree in Forestry and Timber Management from the University of Missouri at Columbia in December of 1985 and enrolled in the Peace Corps in 1986. In March 1987 the Peace Corps sent him to Costa Rica to serve as a Forestry Extensionist and he was assigned to work in the rural mountain community of San Jerónimo de San Pedro de Pérez Zeledón where poor farming practices and forest fires were causing the degradation of the area's ecosystem and of the land's agricultural production capability.

During his two and a half years as a Peace Corps volunteer he taught local farmers basic tree nursery management (seed collection and care, seedling production methods, pest and disease control) and timber management techniques (species selection, outplanting procedures, control of competing vegetation, stand thinning and pruning) and their applications. Through this work farmers began learning the value planted trees have as firewood, timber, windbreaks, watershed protection, etc.

Mr. Gallatin also worked to interest local farmers in fruit production (i.e. orange, avocado, apple) and cultivation techniques as an alternative to destructive cattle ranching to generate income. He organized the Committee of Forestry and Fruit Cultivation of San Jerónimo which managed a small rotating fund (raised from donors in the United States) that was used to make loans to farmers who wanted to start forestry or fruit cultivation projects.

Some of the other accomplishments during his Peace Corps service: became fully bilingual (english/spanish); attained regular medical attention for San Jerónimo and the construction of a community health post; educated farmers on correct usage of pesticides; introduced organic fertilizer production to the area; established a school vegetable garden to teach students gardening methods; and helped to organize fund-raising fairs for community road and bridge construction.

In 1989, at the end of his Peace Corps service, he and three other Peace Corps Volunteers founded the Compañia de Reforestación Lomo de Osa, a Costa Rican corporation dedicated to establishing and maintaining a sustainable timber plantation to produce marketable wood.

After the Peace Corps he passed nearly a year in the United States before returning to Costa Rica in 1990 to take over the management of the Lomo de Osa corporation and its plantation. Currently, he is the corporation's forester and administrator. This corporation has a thriving native and exotic species timber plantation that is now entering its seventh year.

Mr. Gallatin accepted a post as consulting forester on a project (Fondo de Desarollo Forestal) to create native species timber plantations in the Peninsula de Osa, Costa Rica in 1991. For over a year he provided technical consulting for forestry nurseries and plantation establishment, developed the management plans for the plantations and inspected and evaluated plantation sites.

Since 1992 he has done various small forestry consulting jobs while also managing the Lomo de Osa corporation. He still lives in San Jerónimo and is very active in the community where he produces apples, organic vegetables and organic fertilizer. He is also a coordinator for a children's environmental group, Niños Guerreros Ambientalistas; a member of a natural resource protection committee,Comité de la Protección de los Recursos Naturales de San Jerónimo and a member of San Jerónimo's Health Committee.

In 1996 he founded the Ralmar Ecoforestry Corporation. He is Chairman of the Board, President of the corporation and is presently managing the corporation and its current project while continuing his other activities. As President, Mr. Gallatin administrates company business in Costa Rica and as Plantaion Manager he plans and executes all field operations in the timber plantations.

Read Some Articles

Illustrated Description

A Word About Costa Rica

Deforestation - What Can Be Done?

Ralmar Ecoforestry Corporation

Plantation Design and Operation

Current Operations - The Corporation

Resume of Ken Gallatin

Articles



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This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Costa Rica; Forestry; Business

PCOL3556
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By cindy (200.122.159.52) on Thursday, June 09, 2005 - 6:48 am: Edit Post

what can i do?
I will donate or provide art work( coloring books etc.w/ reasons .I will recieve help from writer of university of FL. My fee is only a small % to cover
supplies, printing + 100 HOURS @$2.00 an hour for artist. Proffesors fee of$ ? which the nature lover she is will be very workable,
We will need endangerd, threatend, near extintion etc.info. all rights and proccedes will belong to costs rica wild life foundation, and hope we can make a difference.


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