In Morovis, a town in the center of Puerto Rico’s main island, lies the Las Cabachuelas nature reserve, a green labyrinth of approximately 1,950 acres. This place — known for its numerous caves — holds pre-colonial stories, rock art and petroglyphs, plants studied by paleobotanists, unique Caribbean fauna, and many other stories of what life was like in Puerto Rico before Spanish colonization and subsequent industrialization.

These stories can be heard on one of the many tours offered by the Cabachuelas Project of the Cabachuelas Workers Cooperative, a community-based cooperative co-founded by Morovis residents in 2018 to protect and manage the land where the nature reserve is located. Today, the cooperative has positioned itself as an alternative and effective model that contributes to conserving the natural environment and the mountain area’s sustainable economic development.

Las Cabachuelas is an area of high ecological value, with a large number of trees that help sequester carbon dioxide and preserve the island’s biodiversity. Today, it serves as an ecotourism area that supports eight people employed by the Cabachuelas Project and the cooperative. These people also help residents and visitors of Puerto Rico learn about the natural and cultural heritage of the archipelago, thanks to their ecotours and various social development and service works.