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Gena Steffens

Hunters in northwestern Colombia use masks made of broad, sturdy leaves as camouflage so they can sneak up on turtles and other game animals such as wading and migratory birds. Hunting is still a vital activity for subsistence farmers in the region.

The Vela Quiñonez family loves Christmas so much that they designed their new house to accommodate a giant pinabete. After seeing how families like their own were arrested last year for purchasing illegally sourced pinabetes, the family decided to change their ways. This is the first year they’ve bought a legal pinabete.

Teresa Tautiu hopes to support her family by growing legally certified pinabetes like these planted on land in San Juan Pixabaj.

To protect the endangered Guatemalan fir, or pinabete, from poachers at Christmastime, armed guards like Felipe Lares, 21, patrol forests 24 hours a day.

Salvador Pira, a third-generation immigrant from Sweden, was one of the first to convert his farm, Caleras de Chichivac, into a pinabete plantation. Like many other pinabete growers, he's attempting to capitalise on 'Christmas tree tourism' by opening his century-old home to families who select and cut their own trees.

Environmental police, national parks personnel, and local communities work together to safeguard pinabete forests. This pinabete is estimated to be more than 600 years old.

Agents from the national police and environmental police inspect a truck outside Sololá, at one of several checkpoints implemented as part of Guatemala’s strategy to protect the trees. Agents hope to intercept shipments of illegal pinabetes before they get to the capital, Guatemala City.

Miguel Ajtzalam stands among one of the last remaining natural stands of pinabetes outside the K'iche village of Parraxquím, high in the Guatemalan department of Sololá.

The Vallatoro Camas family travelled four hours from the city of Huehuetenango to Tecpán, Guatemala, to choose and cut down a pinabete from the Caleras de Chichivac plantation.

Barely bigger than an inch, a wild endangered golden poison frog packs enough poison to kill 10 adult men. In captivity, it loses its toxicity.