Judy Logback went to the heart of the Amazon rain forest five years ago to teach environmental education to indigenous people.

It didn’t take her long to realize that the Ecuadorean villagers already knew the value of the rain forest they call home.

“Many of the cultural traditions in the area that have been passed down from their ancestors specifically tell them large bodies of water, mountains, giant trees or powerful plants must be respected,” said Logback, a 28-year-old Goessel native with family in Lawrence. “If not, they will have bad luck or negative fortune.”

At the same time, however, if a family falls on hard times, the quickest way to make a buck is to cut down one of its 200- or 300-year-old trees and sell it for as little as $300 about half the average annual income for an entire family, Logback said.

So, Logback made it her mission to create a sustainable alternative to woodcutting, and the Callari Cooperative was born. Through the Jatun Sacha Foundation, a private, nonprofit Ecuadorean conservation organization, Logback works with Quichua artisans who develop products from the rain forests.

The fair-trade cooperative includes more than 700 indigenous Amazon artisans from 12 villages in the Ecuadorean Amazon who make necklaces, bracelets, anklets, baskets and other traditional crafts from all-natural materials. The handmade crafts are sold in more than 70 stores in 10 countries on four continents.

Logback, who earned degrees in environmental biology and Spanish from Beloit College in Wisconsin, was in Lawrence the end of January, visiting family and researching potential new markets for the cooperative’s merchandise.

Her sale’s pitch hit home at Natural Way. The store, at 822 Mass., has since begun carrying the co-op’s jewelry, with prices for items ranging from $5 to $15.

“This is the type of item that is just right up our alley,” said Sue Kapfer, manager at the store that offers natural-fiber clothing, natural body care and exotic gifts. “They have some beautiful hand-beaded necklaces and bracelets, and they’re all made from seeds from the Amazon rain forest. The twine is even from there.

“We just feel good supporting these growing economic groups that are trying to make it on their own. I’m not saying that we are this do-gooder store, but also we have found that their things are oftentimes just beautiful, and it’s something that you can’t get elsewhere.”

The crafts truly are products of the rain forest. The artisans cultivate, harvest, process and spin the fibers on which seeds are strung for jewelry. Men will collect seeds from the forest floor when they’re hunting or fishing. Each seed is then perforated with a small hand-powered drill.

“It’s a time-consuming process,” Logback said. “To make one necklace can take two to three hours.”

Necklaces, bracelets and anklets are the co-op’s biggest sellers. But the artisans also make native Amazon bags, baskets, hats, place mats, wooden bowls and even canoes.

Although Logback believes tapping into medicinal plants native to the rain forest eventually will provide the most viable source of income for indigenous villagers, crafts provide a simple living in the meantime without worrying about Federal Drug Administration regulations.

“What encourages me more than anything is the potential of the resources in the area and also the market that does demand these products. There just isn’t a marketing system to connect the two,” Logback said. “I see myself as the bridge or the person to help form the bridge.”