History

In 1990, Lovett Science teachers Connie and Bob Braddy traveled to Ecuador to study cloudforest ecology. While passing through Santa Rosa, a village within the Andean cloudforest of Northwest Ecuador, they found the town's local school in desperate need of repair. The teachers pledged to assist the community with rebuilding the school. Within a year, Lovett's Ecology Club raised funds, and the village fathers built the school, establishing a bond between Santa Rosa and Lovett. Extending its link to the cloudforest community, Lovett purchased primary cloudforest in 1991 to create a protected preserve and to establish a research center to support conservation education. The Ecuadorian government declared Lovett's property, Siempre Verde, a "protected forest," ensuring that its 520 acres of upper montaine cloudforest will be held in perpetuity. Located on the Siempre Verde Preserve, the research center offers U.S. and Ecuadorian students an opportunity to learn conservation methods through conducting research and exchanging ideas.