The Associação Ambientalista Copaíba has been working in the conservation and restoration of the Atlantic Forest since 1999 and more than 300 partner landowners have already had their areas transformed into forests. One of them belongs to the owner Bernadete Mosken, who already participated in the Verde Novo Project in 2016, again in 2017 and in the Raízes do Mogi Guaçu Project in 2021. , Bernadette aimed to transform the entire area that, until then, was exclusively for pasture, into a new forest, where she would call home. Years of watching the landscape of her land change and participating in every planting, every monitoring and maintenance, she wanted a bigger challenge. It developed its own project in 2022, with the aim of having 1,000 Araucaria trees on its property, receiving support from the Raízes do Mogi Guaçu program and its partner One Tree Planted. We couldn't help but talk a little more with her about the development of this project and her mission in restoration.

Copaiba: When you moved to Socorro, did you already have the Restoration of your property in mind?
Bernadette: I always wanted to have an area to reforest. When I came for a walk here, in Socorro, I fell in love with the city! I decided to buy a place with the aim of reforesting it, that was my idea. So I went looking until I found the place where I am today, in the Oratório neighborhood. It was love at first sight!

Copaiba: How did the idea for the Thousand Araucaria Trees project come about?
Bernadette: The idea of planting 1,000 araucarias, which became my project, started on a walk in the city of Curitiba, Paraná. Tour guides always talked about this species and highlighted it, informing its importance and concern about its possible extinction and animals that depend on it to get their food. Araucaria is a wonderful tree, right? So, I thought I already had several araucarias planted on my farm, from the restoration projects with Copaíba, but it occurred to me that I could have many more. At this time I decided to count this species and decided that I would have a thousand of them! That's how it happened.

Copaiba: Why Araucaria and not another species?
Bernadette: Here at the site, there are a total of 11,000 trees planted, including all the restoration projects, 1,000 of which are araucaria. I wanted to complete the 1,000 of this species, because I already had these other 10,000 that are also native trees of the Atlantic Forest.
It is a beautiful tree, but it is also difficult to keep it without loss because it requires care. This turned into a challenge for me and that's exactly what I thought: I want this challenge! I will be able to have and keep these thousand araucarias!

Copaiba: Who plants and who takes care of them? Have they all been planted? And how was the quantity controlled?
Bernadette: Well, the planting was practically done by me and there are two more people who help me here on the farm, but most of them, around nine hundred, I was the one who put them in the holes (laughs), I was the one who knelt down and filled each cradle with one of them. Here at the farm, there are two great people who help me daily, Luzia and Luciane, her daughter, and they both like to put their hands in the ground too, they help me with everything.
We started this planting of a thousand araucarias in October last year (2022), at the beginning of the rainy season to take advantage of this season. But even on rainy days we were there, raincoat and everything, there was no bad day!
The thousand trees have already been planted and now Luciane and I monitor their development, in order to have control and be able to avoid as much as possible that they do not develop. I know each area that lost seedlings, which were around 50, and they have already been replaced. All of them, the thousand, were numbered and received plaques with their identification numbers. The first araucarias, which are the largest, were planted in 2016, and now reach 4 meters in height.

Copaiba: Is there already a new project with the planting of trees or related to the environment that you have in mind?
Bernadette: Now I don't have any other project in mind, because I don't have more space to plant, right? (laughter). All the space I had here on the farm is already occupied with seedlings that are at the indicated distance, 2 meters by 2 and a half meters, that is, the space to plant is over.
When all these trees grow, it will really be a closed forest, and there will be no more space between the trees. Many are large, like the araucarias that are very tall. But they also have smaller ones, of small size, like pitangas. And that way the whole area will be full of trees.

Copaiba: Could you leave a message for homeowners who are considering restoring their properties but still have questions:
Bernadette: What I always say is that I am very satisfied with this restoration project on my farm, because it is very good for us to plant and see things happening, you know? Even with all the difficulty, pests, fungus, sometimes it dries up, sometimes a lot of water; but when things happen, when we look at the seedlings growing, beautiful, lush, the satisfaction is very great. The native trees that were planted a long time ago, and are growing, are already providing the animals with fruits and shelter, because there are many nests around here. Flowers attract bees, which are already many and easy to notice, this is very rewarding. And the water, right? We notice, and even the neighbors have already commented, that the amount of water has increased, precisely because of the trees.
In the old days, as soon as I moved here, when it rained everything turned into a river. From my property to the road, because brachiaria doesn't let water penetrate the soil and the water has to go somewhere, right? There were many breakdowns. Now it's different, with the trees that were planted, the water is going to the normal courses, to the stream, it's penetrating the ground, going to the water table. I think it's all a show! And I hope that more and more people are aware of the function of a tree, of the function of forests for the good of everyone. Be aware for us to maintain our world, right? Because if not, how will it be?