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It is central to the Junglekeepers ethos to employ and train local and indigenous community members in the active protection of land that is ultimately theirs.

Forest Rangers monitor our concessions, maintain trails and report any illegal activity occurring on the land being monitored. Rangers also track wildlife to contribute to broader scientific datasets in the region.

For local Peruvians, our Ranger Program also offers an employment alternative to protect the land rather than being forced to participate in harmful activity due to economic pressure. Our current and past rangers tell us this work is a great source of pride as it empowers them in the stewardship of their homeland.

SMART Ranger Program

Our rangers are trained in SMART (Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool). This tool is an open-source system of best practices including data collection software created by conservation scientists. The SMART system allows for more efficient and timely response to illegal activity, amongst many other benefits including more comprehensive, integrated data on the condition of land and wildlife.

CPR Certified

Georgia CPR, LLC delivered comprehensive training in CPR, AED, and choking response, ensuring our team is well-equipped to handle emergency situations—an essential skill set, especially in the remote and challenging conditions of the Amazon rainforest. Additionally, their generous donation of essential first aid equipment demonstrates their unwavering commitment to our cause.

Our Rangers
Adolfo

Bringing the Shipibo-Conibo knowledge to conservation

Adolfo is from the Shipibo-Conibo indigenous community located along the Ucayali river, a major tributary of the Amazon river. Like other indigenous communities in the Amazon, the Shipibo-Conibo people are being threatened by outside influences such as logging, agriculture and mining. 

With the lack of job opportunities in the area and the influence of the external pressures such as the timber trade, Adolfo worked 4 years with a logging company and 1 year in slash and burn agriculture in the Peruvian jungle. When given the opportunity to become a ranger in February 2020 he left the logging world and deforestation to work in protecting the land along the Las Piedra river. Passed on from his culture, Adolfo brings knowledge in the fauna and flora of the jungle including medicinal plants. He hopes to work and share this knowledge of the forest and conservation with his and other communities.
Dash

Jungle adventurer devoted to protecting biodiversity

Dash loved the jungle adventure since he was 14. He used to help his dad transport wood and wanted to protect the forest. He studied ecotourism and became interested in protecting the forest and conservation. 

He worked in several lodges in the Puerto Maldonado area until he heard about a ranger opening with Junglekeepers in 2018. He hopes to help establish the Junglekeepers Ranger program in Las Piedras as a known organization which protects an important area of biodiversity in the Amazon that affects all of us.
Eliz

A guide dreaming of studying the biology of the rainforest

Being the daughter of a logging dad, Eliz always accompanied her dad on work trips during every school vacation. Seeing what her dad went through to make sure that she could continue her studies, Eliz learned the importance of work. More than anything, she learned to value the forest and that’s where her passion for taking care of the jungle was born. When she finished high school, Eliz decided to study as an official tourist guide since she could not study biology, a career not offered in the schools of Puerto Maldonado. She practiced her trade as guide firstly to show the attractions in her region and secondly to teach others that the jungle in the Madre de Dios area is unique. Eliz still has the dream to study biology and learn more about mammals, birds and plants.  Working with jungle keepers she feels that she is contributing a grain of sand for conservation
Ignacio

Reforestation & animals champion

Ignacio was born in Miaria and is part of the Yine indigenous community found in the Amazon. In 2015, Ignacio went with his uncle to Monte Salvado, a Yine community along the Las Piedras river, just down river from the Reserva Territorial Made de Dios. 

While in Monte Salvado, Ignacio worked primarily in Brazil nut harvesting and transporting wood. In 2019 he worked in the control post to protect the area from possible conflict with people living in voluntary isolation. He has several stories to tell! Ignacio, looking for a different opportunity, joined Junglekeepers in December 2020. He brings with him deep knowledge of the jungle we are protecting. He is interested in reforestation, animal research and working with his community.
Llasmani

From logger to protector of the rainforest

Llasmani Quio Trigozo is 37 years old. He is native to the Ucayali region located in the Peruvian Amazon and close to the district of Madre de Dios, where junglekeepers operates. The Ukayali river is one of the main headwaters of the Amazon river.
His father worked as a farmer, logger and hunter while his mother had to stay home and take care of her 9 children. When Llasmani was 20 he went to Puerto Maldanado for work as a brazil nut harvester and then as a logger.
Before Junglekeepers, Llasmani worked as a wood dispatcher for the Chinese Maderyja, who is seeking the wood from the Madre de Dios region including iron wood trees that are being logged at an increasing rate.
Llasmani started working as a ranger for Junglekeepers in February 2022, where he monitors and protects concessions along the Las Piedras river.  He realizes how important it is to take care of the fuana and flora and maintain nature’s balance and beauty.  He is learning a lot about species in the natural habitat and is grateful to be working towards protecting the jungle.

Manuel

From working in lodge to protect the rainforest

Manuel graduated from tourism and loves to travel and learn about places in the Peruvian Jungle.  He has worked for several years in lodges to gain knowledge in the tourism filed.  For a long time, Manuel’s family was dedicated to logging and that made him become dedicated to conservation.
Raul

He grew up on the river he is now protecting!

Raul was born in Atalaya and when he was 3 years old his family came by foot to the native community of Puerto Nuevo. Both of his parents are from Puerto Nuevo and his mother is Yine and his father is Ashanika. Through his maternal grandmother’s influence he learned to understand and speak a little Yine. His father was a logger and Raul started to help him carry the cut wood at the age of ten during his breaks from school. 

When he was young he liked to make replicas of boats to play with. He would have competitions with his cousins to see who make the best tiny boat from wood. He also liked to play volleyball soccer and archery. 
When he was eleven years old he moved to Pullcalpa until he was thirteen. After this he mostly lived in Puerto Maldonado but would occasionally go back to his community to live as well.  

At first he was not so interested in studying after secondary school but he decided to study forestry engineering because it is a job that can be used to help his community. During the breaks from school, he would either work as a logger with other people from his community or in construction around Puerto Maldonado. He started to study forestry engineering in 2017 but had to take a break due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He liked the classes he was taking about nature and wildlife.

When he left the university, he started working in construction in the city of Puerto Maldonado. He was primarily living in the city working and helping his younger sister out while she continued her studies. Through the community projects that Junglekeepers partners with Raul heard about a possible job with Junglekeepers through his brother, who is the president of the community. He talked to a couple of people in the Junglekeepers team and when a position was available they contacted him for an interview. 
He is hoping to learn more from the Junglekeepers team that he can also use to help his community. In the future he is interested in cooking and baking with local ingredients!
HOW TO HELP

Ranger Program Costs are largely centered around Ranger compensation (salary, food and board). Additional costs for the program include trail maintenance, communication and reporting systems, boat transport, fuel and other minor expenses. The program also requires a one-time expense of a shelter construction and initial trail clearing per concession.

Our focus is to create an uninterrupted, protected conservation area stretching along the Las Piedras River.

This threatened ecosystem is incredibly diverse, pristine, and home to some of the last isolated tribes on earth.