SAVING THE RAIN FOREST LOCAL TEACHERS AID SEARCH FOR SOLUTIONS TO GROWERS' DEPENDENCE ON PESTICIDES.

Byline: Karen Thacker Special to the Daily News

GREEN VALLEY - It was a different kind of Christmas holiday for local teachers Tim and J.J. Klein.

The couple spent two weeks in the 95-percent humidity, 85-degree rain forests of Costa Rica collecting caterpillars - some the size of hot dogs - for a research project sponsored by the international environmental organization Earthwatch.

Pesticides used to control the caterpillar population have been damaging the environment and the project goal is to find natural enemies to keep the pests at bay.

``I'd never been to a rain forest,'' said Tim Klein, an Advanced Placement Environmental Science and Health Careers teacher at Palmdale High School. ``There, we lived in it, we walked around in it and spent time with the people who grew up there.''

J.J., a kindergarten teacher at Pearblossom Elementary, said: ``It showed me that the science I do teach needs to be hands-on because I didn't experience the rain forest through a book. It was just amazing to be a part of the work.''

From the La Selva Biological Research Station in San Jose, Costa Rica, the couple worked with 10 other volunteers collecting caterpillars that destroy local crops to study their behaviors - what they eat, who the predators are and what natural defenses they use.

Some caterpillars will sting you; others bite, roll up like a leaf or disguise themselves as a dead particle on a leaf. Others vomit to emit a bad smell, shoot frass (excrement) or roll over to show an underside that looks like a snake with big eyes.

To kill the pest, growers have used chemicals for years, but these contaminated the people, rivers and ocean. Life expectancy is lower among field workers and the Kleins saw first hand the destruction of coral reefs along the Caribbean side of the country.

``We see insects and animals here, but I haven't thought about the predator-prey interaction, and how pesticides in certain areas have hurt major ecosystems,'' Tim said.

``I got a broader picture of the fragility of our environment and what it needs to stay together,'' J.J. said.

The Kleins - who live in the mountain community of Green Valley, midway between Palmdale and Saugus - received funding from the Helen and Peter Bing Foundation, established by a Stanford University trustee and his wife. The requirement was that they come back with experiences and ideas to share with their students and the community.

Both Kleins said that seeing and interacting with the environment makes all the difference.

``I gained a sense of empowerment to be involved with environmental issues, not just on a local level but a state and global level,'' he said. ``I want my students to get out and experience things.''

``It was a good reminder to me that for the experience to be lasting it needs to be hands-on,'' JJ said.

Their school schedules allowed for the time off during the Christmas break so they could make the two-week trip.

While there they did get a few days off to go to the Caribbean. They also explored the rain forest - with very large, thick-soled work shoes, J.J. noted. There are a lot of poisonous snakes in the area.

They also got to spend time riding an inner tube down a river, followed by an alligator-like cayman. The couple raced to shore, getting lost and amusing the locals, who say caymans are fairly harmless.

The couple love to travel and get involved with global projects, but this is the first such adventure the Kleins have taken together.

Both previously were overseas for educational, research and ministry work. J.J. was in South Africa, Brazil and the Amazon in Peru. Tim went to Malawi in Africa for nutritional and malaria research, and Thailand to work with refugees.

A week after their return from Costa Rica, however, the Kleins were still recovering from black fly and flea bites.

``They were definitely a byproduct that made coming back to our desert climate a welcome event,'' said J.J.

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2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- 2 -- color; 1 -- color in AV edition only; 2 -- ran in SAC and AV edition only) Local teachers J.J. and Tim Klein spent their Christmas break working on a caterpillar research project in Costa Rica. J.J. Klein, above collects tree catepillars in a banana plantation for the project sponsored by Earthwatch. Tim Klein, below, checks the specimens.

Photos courtesy of Tim and J.J. Klein