Todd Borgie reporting from Ecuador: A visit with Jatun Sacha.   Jatun Sacha, meaning Big Forest, in the Quichua language, is doing everything it can to preserve the big forests of Ecuador. Deforestation and destruction of endangered habitat is a pervasive problem throughout the world, but is very acute in Ecuador. Ecuador has one of the highest rates of deforestation in South America. One of the causes of this high deforestation rates resulted from a development plan implemented by the Ecuadorian government in the sixties, this policy is referred to as "colonization". The policy offered people the opportunity to own land if they would go into the forested areas and develop them, much like the homesteading act in the United States. Unfortunately, development included cutting down the many virgin forest trees and changing the forests into agricultural fields. On one hand this sounds like a good practice, however, we must be careful to maintain our forested areas. A balance needs to be created between forests and development, otherwise deforestation can lead to erosion, climate change, destruction of species, and ultimately less productive farmlands. This practice of “Colonization” was used for more than thirty years, only recently having been revoked. The resulting actions of this policy led to near extinction of humid forests on the Ecuadorian coast and massive deforestation around the country. This policy and over logging has presented Ecuador with some serious environmental challenges for the years to come. Focusing their efforts in Ecuador, Jatun Sacha is establishing biological stations and reserves throughout Ecuador. Knowing that education is the key to sustained change Jatun Sacha has also created and implemented many programs  targeting environmental education, community development, reforestation, agro-forestry, and natural resource management. Currently, Jatun Sacha’s efforts have allowed them to care for and manage almost 7,000 hectares of primary forests. In the future Jatunsacha is working towards a significant reduction in deforestation rates in Ecuador, a strict national compliance to the new forestry laws, a more efficient management of native forests owned by native communities, and a widespread society consciousness of environmental problems