What are the avenues by which forest owners in Costa Rica, especially "small" producers cooperate? Is anyone aware of cooperatives or trade associations that are populated by forest owners of CR?
Minnesota (USA) is the proud home of the Community Forestry Resource Center (CFRC) http://www.forestrycenter.org/ who have made available a new eddition of the Universitey of Wisconsin guide titled "Balancing Ecology and Economics: A Start-up Guide for Forest Owner Cooperation." The guide describes the formation and use of forest owner cooperatives to promote sustaible and productive forests. The guide appendix has several examples of newsletters from such cooperatives in the area that I have enjoyed.
Speaking of CFRC, they put out an excellent weekly news summary of forest related news and workshops from around the world. It arrives in my e-mail every week and always has at least one link that is facinating. Try them out.
Oops, perhaps I should also mention that Finca Leola S.A. works with the tree owners around Monterrey where we are located to get them a good price for their trees and to advise them on how to thin, etc.
We do this for free for the Costa Ricans and for a nominal fee for others.
Also, because of the website, I get inquiries from all over the world about reforestation which we answer to the best of our abilities.
