Bosques Yungas

During a walk in the forest, we found these “tiger wing” butterflies (Mechanitis lysimnia) emerging under the leaves of chilto (Solanum betaceum).
Their caterpillars feed on different plants from the "Solanacea" family; in the Yungas, they are often linked to chiltos plant, where

The chilto (Solanum betaceum), is a native species that grows in the understory of the Yungas forest. This means it develops beneath the canopy of taller trees, forming part of the lower layers of the forest. Its presence is key to enriching the structure of the ecosystem, adding

In our latest Tree-Nation Reforestation Stories, we talk with Paula Bellsola from Bosques Yungas—a family-led project restoring Argentina’s Yungas Forest.

Since 1998, they’ve:
🌱 Planted 74,000+ native trees
🌿 Reintroduced understory species
📷 Used AI + camera traps to track

As part of World Environment Day, a local science fair was held where students and teachers from Álvarez Condarco School presented their research on a native plant of the Yungas forest: the chilto (Solanum betaceum).

In the weeks leading up to the event, they explored their surroundings,

We begin 2025 with new goals and challenges, including addressing the “cedar shoot borer” (Hypsipyla grandella), a pest that severely impacts young cedar trees (Cedrela spp.) across tropical and subtropical America. This moth lays its eggs on new shoots and leaf scars, and its larvae

Thank you so much for joining us throughout this year. We want to wish you a happy 2025. Thank you for being part of this great commitment to restoring and conserving the native Yungas forest. We hope the new year brings many more projects. Cheers!

¡A New Planting Season Begins!
Although the Yungas rainforest has a defined rainy season from December to March, the first rains have already begun to fall, signaling the start of a crucial stage for our restoration mission.
Why plant during the rainy season? The rains prepare the

Invasive species, like the Black Locust (Gleditsia triacanthos), pose significant threats to endangered native species by disrupting ecosystem functions. Our forest restoration program focuses on managing these species, particularly in the Yungas forest. The Black Locust is recognized

We continue studying the biodiversity in the forest. This is essential to be able to understand the state of the forest and the efficiency in our restoration efforts.

In this ocassion, we are monitoring our medium and large sized mammals through the use of “camera traps”. Through

With the arrival of autumn in the ecoregion of Yungas, the rains begin to decrease and the cold gradually sets in. We are making the most of the last rainy days and heat of the season by continuing with last minute planting tasks of our planting season.
The first years of a newly

Here you can see multiple sprouts of Chilto. For those who don't know, they are one of the trees we plant in the forest. This particular species is considered a small tree and we plant it to encourage diversity of our native fruits. This benefits the forest and humans, adding fruit

We are in the middle of our planting season in one of our planned planting sites for this season. The days are long, rainy and hot, as it should be in the jungle this time of year. Thankfully the rain is accompanying us well this year.

Once we finish planting and georeferencing

CHILTO SEASON in Tucumán, Argentina
A bit of context...
Chilto, also known as "Tomato Tree", is a small tree that reaches up to 5 meters in height. It is a native species in the forest of Yungas, distributed in the provinces of Tucuman, Salta, Jujuy and Catamarca in our country (Argentina),

Starting the week with some great news!
Like we've shared before, our oldest trees planted have started to flower and fructify. Last year was the first time we registered this phenomenom.

We are happy to share with the tree nation community that this year, those trees and many

Winter has started. Due to the low temperatures and the low frequency of rain, the forests biological activity has slowed down.

Due to these conditions, we are able to enter each of our planting sites and monitor the trees we've planted along the years.

This is a very important