My name is Laura Carriker. I have been a documentary filmmaker (for 25 years) and a single mother. My daughter, Bella Carriker, is a 16 year old high school student at the Lakeside school in Seattle.
Our ultimate goal is simple and will have an enormous environmental impact:
We are raising funds to save an entire rainforest mountaintop in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta region of Colombia, South America.
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It is a rainforest where our family has deep roots and history.
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We are also creating a feature length documentary film
about this land and our work to save it.
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Click here to contribute to Bella's student campaign
WHY save this mountaintop?
Did you know...
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Officially, Colombia has the most bird species ON EARTH: 1,871 different species, or 1/5 of all bird species
known on earth. This is why
my American grandfather traveled there to study birds in the first place, fell in love with my grandmother whose family grew coffee, and stayed a lifetime. He spent half a century in the region, discovering and documenting the wildlife, because of this rich density of birds in Colombia.
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The Sierra Nevada de
Santa Marta mountain range has the highest concentration of endemic birds on the planet. The reserve is recognized by over 60 conservation
organizations worldwide through the Alliance for Zero Extinction: WWF, World Land Trust, American Bird
Conservancy, The Nature Conservancy, etc and is recognized as a UNESCO Biosphere site.
- ONLY 1/8 of the area is
currently protected.
It is still at a high risk of deforestation, property
developments and invasion of non-native plant species. The potential loss could be devastating. The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta has one of the
highest concentrations on the planet of globally threatened birds, amphibians,
and plants. Many of the species of
birds my ornithologist grandfather first discovered and studied there will become extinct due to destruction of natural habitat if nothing is done.
- The opportunity to drive significant conservation change in Colombia in particular is immense and the time is now: There is an intense
environmental awareness building among the people and government of Colombia.
Protecting the wildlife of the Sierra Nevada de
Santa Marta region will increase ecotourism, help stabilize the region
economically and in turn, politically. Helping the birds helps everyone! Together we can make a difference!
What will the film be about?
The feature film documentary will bring awareness through a gripping and entertaining character-driven storytelling style, including interviews with a variety of colorful, fascinating, important and sometimes humorous people with links to the nature reserve and Colombian history.
Because of our personal legacy, this film will have heart and bring an intimacy to the complex subject matter of environmental preservation.
Telling this story will weave the important geopolitical and environmental issues together, generating further awareness to conservation efforts and their role as a catalyst for promoting peace and sustainable development, while generating a healthy tourism trade around this reserve in Colombia.
Its groundbreaking approach can also serve as a model for private environmental efforts in other regions in the world.
WHAT makes this story unique?
OUR FAMILY HISTORY IN COLOMBIA:
The Carriker Bird Sanctuary![]()
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We have an intense history with the birds of Colombia. My grandfather, Melbourne (Meb) Armstrong Carriker, Jr. (1879-1965) was one of the renowned naturalists of his time, working extensively with the Smithsonian, the Carnegie Museum; the American Museum of Natural History; the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia; and the Peabody Museum as an ornithologist throughout South America, covering Costa Rica, Trinidad, Venezuela, and Curacao Island, and canvassing Peru, Bolivia, and Colombia almost entirely.
- During his career Meb was responsible for the description of two new families, four new subfamilies, fifty three new genera and subgenera, and eight hundred sixty-six new species and subspecies. Between 1940 and 1959 he produced thirty-three papers.
- Due to the extensive naturalist work my grandfather accomplished before his death in 1965, and to honor his scientific legacy in the region, Colombia has named a wildlife sanctuary after him called "THE CARRIKER BIRD SANCTUARY".
Click here for Carriker Bird Sanctuary News Article
and visit ProAves for more info about the Sanctuary!
COLOMBIAN
COFFEE:
A love story for the land
A LITTLE FAMILY HISTORY ON THE ORIGINS OF OUR COFFEE GROWING DAYS IN COLOMBIA:
Our family was one of the first to grow coffee in this region and had three of the largest Colombian coffee plantations of the early 1900's: Hacienda Cincinnati, Quinta Bolivar and eventually Vista Nieve.
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It began in 1898 with Orlando Lincoln Flye, my great grandfather, and Eva Florence Adelaine Blanot Flye, my great grandmother, who first created the coffee plantation Hacienda Cincinnati, spanning 4,780 acres supporting a total of some 700,000 or more coffee trees in the San Lorenzo range, connected to the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountains. In recognition for his efforts as an engineer, and in building up the Colombian coffee industry, Orlando Flye was made an honorary citizen of Colombia.
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Over the years, Orlando developed Hacienda Cincinnati into a first class plantation. He masterminded and built the mill, maintained the roads up the mountain with equipment he designed himself, imported steel to build bridges across rivers and reservoirs, and created a small chapel called Capilla de San José de Cincinnati with an adjoining chapel cemetery for the family and over 100 workers. Orlando even installed a plantation store with tokens minted for workers to buy much-needed items rather than going into town, a seven hour trip by mule down the mountain to Santa Marta.
Orlando eventually consolidated the plantations into the famous Santa Marta Coffee Company, Inc in 1927 and became a founding member of the Federacion Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia.
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Today, Colombia Coffee is known and promoted throughout the world by the image and brand of "Juan Valdez." This famous symbol of Colombian Coffee was created by my great grandfather and other founding members of the Federacion, to help promote their coffee. |
Hacienda Vista Nieve:
From coffee plantation to wildlife sanctuary
When Meb Carriker, an already renowned ornithologist, first traveled to Santa Marta, Colombia in 1911 to study birds, he needed a base of operations in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountain range to set up his research.
At the US Consulate, Meb was introduced to my great-grandparents Orlando Flye and his wife Eva Florence. Being generous people, Orlando and Eva Florence promptly offered to host Meb on Hacienda Cincinnati.
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It was while carrying out his research trips from this plantation that Meb fell in love with Orlando and Eva Florence's eldest daughter, Carmelita, and the rest is history! Meb and Carmelita, my grandparents, were married, and raised a family (including my father) on their own coffee plantation, Vista Nieve, while continuing bird research in the mountains together.
It is this plantation (no longer in operation), which has become the Carriker Bird Sanctuary, where we intend to support and extend ProAves groundbreaking land preservation efforts in the El Dorado Bird Reserve, which also incorporate land from the other two plantations La Victoria and Hacienda Cincinnati.
Click for Smithsonian Article about Carriker Family History in Colombia
Click for Smithsonian Archives: Ornithology Research of Melbourne Carriker
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We have set TWO FINANCIAL GOALS
Our first minimum goal is USD $185K:
100K of this initial amount will FIRST be used to expand the size of the existing Carriker Bird Sanctuary through ProAves. It seems
reasonable as our minimal goal BECAUSE our first priority is to secure and protect land.
The next 85K of this initial amount raised will then ensure that production and post-production costs for the shooting of a feature
film documentary are financed. The purpose of the film is to document the
journey, generate awareness, entertain and inspire others, and help ensure
the second financial goal - raising 1.5 million for land preservation in partnership with Rainforest Trust and fully expanding the Sanctuary on the mountain -
is achieved.
I will be working with my experienced
film crew. We have all been working together in various capacities for over 20 years.
(FrenchDogFilms.com)
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The film budget also includes the cost
of appropriate security, as needed, in taking the journey into the mountaintops of Colombia where there is still some threat to humans as well as wildlife. RIMI Corporate Services
Note: We have chosen the flexible
funding option. If money raised is short of our minimal goal, our solution is simple. We donate all net funds short of USD$100K to ProAves to buy land to increase the size of the protected area. We will work hand in hand in ProAves, on the ground in Colombia, to be sure money raised is used to buy land to expand the sanctuary, no matter what level we reach, if under 100K.
Indiegogo has allowed us to create GREAT
PERKS!!!! to help us thank you for your efforts in supporting us! See the
second tab on this campaign for photos of goodies and adventures!:) Check out
all the very thoughtful, delicious and meaningful gifts we offer to say THANK
YOU SO MUCH!!! We care that YOU care!
Why do it? You can tell your kids you
saved a beautiful mountaintop. Your name will be in the film. You can come to
Colombia to visit us! Birds are beautiful. This cause is the real deal.
Real people. Real story.
Our track record: We have
already created two successful kickstarters for
the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (The Big CLIMB) that were both fully funded. These projects have helped to raise record amounts
of money for LLS in Seattle. We have also raised record amounts of money
through our film work for various schools in Seattle such as Lakeside school
and Villa Academy.
An example is on the LLS website for The
BIG CLIMB 2013 which cost USD $11K and helped runners raise USD $1.76 million in
one day.
See:
The Big Climb and
The BIG CLIMB Kickstarter update
I have also directed my film team globally in extreme post-catastrophe conditions (e.g. Haiti, Peru,
Bangladesh, Dadaab Refugee camp etc), shooting over 3,000 hours of documentary footage. We know how to handle
ourselves in almost any condition to deliver the story.
We have a top security team recruited
from Tier One Special Operations units to insure the safety, as needed of our team and
you, if you care to join us.
Our comptroller, Stephen Mettler,
who has an MBA from Kellogg School of Management,
will be managing the production funds from the USA (Connecticut) as they are
donated through Indiegogo, to help guide us financially in the most prudent and
efficient manner. Your generous donations will be carefully managed in order to
reach our goals.
Our second goal, in partnership with RAINFOREST TRUST is to raise
USD $1.5 million total:
100% will be used to
preserve the rainforest mountaintop of the Sierra Nevada de Santa
Marta. We wish to raise money to return all of the land on this
mountaintop to ProAves within our lifetime, in order to protect the birds and
wildlife of the region that our family knew so well.
If we are able to generate the USD$1.5 million
level of support, we will host an event in Colombia, providing security so that
all participants in this campaign who are willing to travel to Colombia, can
witness the ribbon cutting event and celebrate their personal connection to
this specific area of the world and it's natural habitat. If there is a donor who wishes to offer this generous donation to the birds, their name can be added to the Reserve in their honor, AND they can donate directly to Rainforest Trust to receive full tax benefits (501c3 status). Please see click here for more information on our partnership with Rainforest Trust and contact us directly for more details.
There are so many efforts
out there to support the rainforest but THIS ONE IS DIFFERENT. WHY?
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For us, this is personal. My father was born on this land. My grandfather studied birds
and was one of the greatest ornithologists of his time. Many of the species of
birds that he first documented and studied will soon become extinct if nothing
is done. We take this work and our success personally.
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We will go down and
document the work with cameras. We will show the
land being bought and the work being done. You will see your funds hand
delivered in full and the work completed to secure these lands, through our
documentary effort. The film will also extend your
contribution beyond your generous act of local preservation to visibly encourage a wider environmental activism
and awareness.
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You can go visit the work
you created. If we are successful with our stretch
goal of USD$1.5 million, we will host an event in Colombia, so that you may see the land you worked to preserve, firsthand.
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ProAves is a group with a
sole purpose: to
support the land in this area and protect the birds. This smaller not for profit organization has incredible
credentials and an impeccable track record. ProAves has dedicated 12 years
to saving the most endangered habitats and species in Colombia. Their
science-based targeted actions have saved 627,773 acres across Colombia,
including the direct acquisition of over 50,000 acres of forests at imminent
risk of destruction, now protected forever. They are saving the planet's most
imperiled biodiversity. They work with poor rural communities to develop
sustainable economies and improve livelihoods. When you support ProAves
you are supporting real conservation actions.
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We will follow up with our efforts for a lifetime and over generations to continue to offer all we can to this
mountaintop. We have a history and a legacy there. It is a tribute to the work
of our ancestor, Melbourne Carriker who worked his entire lifetime - over 80
years - in the region to study and understand the birds there.
My daughter will be the 5th generation to witness the beautiful nature
of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, and is committed to supporting the conservation
efforts in the area.
GREAT, I AM IN! WHAT NOW?
Pick your price and your perk.
Remember our stretch goal. After we reach our first goal of USD$100K for the initial land preservation, we
aren't finished. We still need 85K to create the documentary that will help us raise the 1.5 million and bring awareness. Do what you can.
Every bit helps - big and small donations. It all adds up. You will be helping
the birds and a fragile habitat firsthand. Please help us get the word out. Put
this on your facebook page. Email it to your friends and family. Ask people to
help. Put it on your company website or your blog, or any other place where you
can spread the word.
If you are interested in participating at an Executive Producer level, please contact us directly.
If you feel this campaign would
be exciting for a corporate sponsor, and can help us on that front, please
contact us directly to further support the cause.
If you and/or your company would like to contribute a perk and align yourself with our cause, please contact us directly.
If you are a journalist, please help us get
our story out to the world. We aren't shy because we want this to happen. Help
us make this a reality!!! We want to save a rainforest in Colombia. It's a big
effort, kind of intense and even a little dangerous. It's a woman and her
daughter with a big heart and a lot of history there. Can you help us make a difference?
