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This message was sent from Georgia Magazine (http://uga.edu/gm/). Homeland security - Alumni Profiles December 2008 Issue It all started some 20 years ago, with two naive kids, a trip to Ecuador and a bold dream. When Rebeca Justicia (PhD ’07) took a trip to her home country the summer after her sophomore year, she was shocked to see the devastating effects of deforestation. She and her now-husband Rodrigo Ontaneda made a pact that they would do something to help their native land. Fate intervened, as they learned of 6,000 acres of foreclosed land available for $25,000. In 1988, while visiting a variety of conservation organizations in Washington, D.C., they struck gold with a grant from the Tom and Clara Butler Foundation that enabled them to purchase the land. “The trust that the Butler Foundation placed in us was necessary to our success,” Justicia says. “Because of this grant, we were able to follow our ambitious dreams to create the first private reserve in Ecuador.” Two decades later, the Maquipucuna Reserve has 13,500 acres and an open-air lodge … Read full article at http://uga.edu/gm/ee/index.php?/single/2008/12/259/.