Healing the scars of mining, tree by tree

Land once ravaged by gold mining is contoured and planted with acacia trees as a first step toward forest restoration. (Photo by Luis Gonzalo Moscoso)

Hiking through a Colombian woodland on a sweltering afternoon, Víctor Morelos paused at a stream to splash water on his face. This would have been nothing out of the ordinary if it weren’t for the fact that Morelos has helped bring the stream to life. Two decades ago, the surrounding land had been exhausted by cattle ranching and devastated by gold mining. Now it is a forest in recovery. The area had been part of the family farm, but once Morelos’s parents were gone, it was too much for him to manage. So Morelos sold the degraded land to a group of buyers who had a vision of a once and future forest. Luis Gonzalo Moscoso, a Medellín-based forestry engineer who led the buyers... Read more →