By JIMMY LAWTON

POTSDAM – After working for two years in a Costa Rican rainforest, a 2006 Potsdam Central School graduate is hoping the area’s four colleges will participate in a study-abroad program focused on reforestation.

William Trithart said the valley he worked in was settled only 60 years ago and already the effects of deforestation there were devastating and it’s not just the forests that are affected. He said many of the forests areas are destroyed in order to raise cattle, leading to river pollution.

Trithart said his life was changed after he studied for a month in the southwestern Pacific region of Costa Rica while attending SUNY Binghamton. He visited the country through a study abroad program that focused on reforestation and forestry education.

Trithart worked with the Tropical Forestry Initiative, a non-profit organization that owns a 350-acre preserve in Costa Rica located between San Isidro de General and Dominical. The group uses the land to educate natives and students about the effects of deforestation and what can be done to combat them.

TFI attempts to show locals more sustainable ways to live, he said.

Trithart said another Potsdam graduate, Trevor Ellis, also participated in the program. Trithart said both students eventually worked for TFI, following graduation from SUNY Binghamton.

“When I graduated in 2011, my professor offered me a job to manage a site,” he said.

He said the organization works with small villages to establish sustainable agriculture and reforestation of the area’s woodlands. He and others maintained nurseries and introduced new plants to the locals that could be grown year round because of the tropical climate.

“We try to educate and set an example for them.”

Trithart said the visit was enlightening because the culture of Costa Rica 1s vastly different than the United States. Aside from learning to communicate in Spanish, he also began to view the world from another point of view.

“All I can say is that it’s life changing,” he said. “There is so much wildlife, you could actually have a jaguar show up in your backyard.”

Trithart said he didn’t come across any of the wildcats himself, but said he saw a wide array of animals and a very diverse range of birds.

Although Trithart returned to the United States in April, he said his work with TFI is still underway. He hopes to gain a spot on TFI’s board of directors and is encouraging the area’s four colleges to consider using TFI’s program for students looking to study abroad. He said he is also working to educate people about the need for reforestation.

Ellis, who returned from Costa Rica in August of 2012, hopes to stay in a related field by pursing his education.

“We are both staying in related fields. Trevor is looking into graduate programs in conservation biology and I am staying in the area, managing a family woodlot and doing edible landscaping,” Trithart said.

To find out more about the Tropical Forest Initiative visit http://www.tropicalforestry.org/.