CAEHRO has recently purchased an historic building in the center of Trujillo, Honduras for conversion into a natural history museum and environmental center. It is envisioned that CAEHRO will solicit funds and assistance from individuals, foundations, NGO’s, and various governments in order to achieve the creation of the project.

Why Trujillo, Honduras?

Trujillo is on the north coast of Honduras, in a small town where Christopher Columbus first landed on the American mainland on his fourth voyage in 1502, and where Cortez terminated his famous overland march from Mexico City in 1523. But even though the town is very historic, preservation efforts are just now getting underway. We hope that the proper historic renovation of the 200+ year old museum building can of itself be an asset to Trujillo, and lead the way to historic preservation of the built assets of the old town area.

Why does Trujillo need a natural history museum?

Trujillo is on the tropical north coast of Honduras, and is the traditional point of departure for those heading into the Moskitia, better know as the Mosquito Coast, which begins at the Guamareto Lagoon on the outskirts of Trujillo and includes the important Rio Platano Biosphere Reserve, the Tawahka Anthropological Reserve and the Patuca National Park. A museum highlighting the flora and fauna of the mosquito coast would be perfectly located in Trujillo, and there would be an opportunity to feature plants, animals and birds that are unique and important to the area, and hopefully to lead the drive to preserve the habitats important to those species. Proper exhibits can hopefully educate and enthuse tourists as well as students.

Why does Trujillo need an environmental center? All of Honduras is under the pressure of deforestation. But the state of Colon, the mountain range along the coast from Trujillo to the west, and the mountain and forest areas in Olancho to the immediate east and south are being deforested at an incredible pace. We intend to highlight educational exhibits that stress the value of the forest and the need to preserve water supplies and water systems. Because Trujillo hosts a secondary school which has students from remote villages all over Colon that return to their villages to be primary teachers, any educational values we can inculcate will be multiplied many times over as these teachers return to their villages with new insights provided by the educational exhibits of the center.