Trésor Rainforest

Trésor Foundation Utrecht

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photo Renske Ek

The Trésor project

In 1995, 2464 hectare of rain forest was purchased in Northern French Guyana under the management of the Trésor Foundation. This area (Trésor), has been granted the status of voluntary nature reserve by the prefect of French Guyana in 1997.

From the University of Utrecht, the Dutch business community and Dutch people, the Trésor initiative has arisen out of the idea to contribute to the preservation of the rain forest, especially in the Neotropics. So far, the Trésor project can be called successful in several ways.

Large parts of the area consist of nearly undisturbed primary rain forest, which enclose a number of unique and also undisturbed and therefore rare, wet savannas.
Traces have been found of the tapir and jaguar and recently two new (bird) spider species, Ephebopus cyanognatus and Ephebopus rufescens have been drawn up.
A certainly not complete inventory of occuring birds (183 species) was recently finished (Menseau et al., 2002)
After the flora of the Trésor reserve a number of studies have been done so far by researchers of the National Herbarium of the Netherlands, department Utrecht, Physical geography (UU), the Natural History Museum in Paris and the IRD (Institute for Developmental Research) in Cayenne.
Furthermore, several specialists from the United States, France and the United Kingdom have also done research after various aspects of the flora and fauna. The absolute unique character of this area shows from these research results (a.o. Cremers et al., 1996; Ek et al., 2000; Poncy & Martin, 2000; Ek et al., 2003; ter Steege et al., 2003; Ek et al., 2004)

For the Guyanas, the area shows due to a special combination of geological and climatological factors a remarkable high degree of botanical diversity among which a striking number of rare and endangered species with an endemic nature.
Due to its special qualities, the Trésor reserve can be seen as a valuable part of possible activities as part of the Guyana-shield initiative.

photo Renske Ek

Through the reserve status hunting is prohibited and many occuring disruptions elsewhere are no longer present in this area.

After the purchase of the area the Foundation (nominated for the National Future price) could pay the interest and repayments of the loan, thanks to the sponsors and the Foundation Doen. The control and the management of the area, especially thanks to some thousand private contributors, could also be realized. To that end must also be counted for the educational facilities in the form of the construction and maintenance of a botanical trail and the building of an information centre for which also a contribution was received by the French government.