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Friends of Conservation
Southcombe Business Centre
11-12 Southcombe Street
London W14 0RA
Tel: 020 7348 3408
Email: focinfo@aol.com |
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Conservation Issue
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Five thousand feet above sea level, the Monteverde Cloud Forest, Costa Rica is an area of
lush vegetation containing an amazing variety of flora and fauna. FOC works with
NGO partners, VIDA, to support community based conservation in the Santa Elena
Cloud Forest Reserve. The
Reserve comprises an area of 310 hectares or 765
acres of pristine cloud forest and is one of the first community managed
reserves in the country. Long term sustainability is not only a concern of the Reserve, but of the community
as a whole.
Monies received from visitors are reinvested in the management
of the Reserve or the local high school, to help upgrade technology and fund
courses such as biology, environmental education, languages, eco-tourism and
agriculture. In using the Reserve as a natural
classroom, students and teachers harness an unlimited educational resource that
can be used for anything from studying tropical plant ecology to leading tours.
Wildlife
The Santa Elena Reserve is home to more than 400 bird species such as toucans, great green macaws, hummingbirds and the
Resplendent Quetzal; and over 100 species of mammal,including howler and spider
monkeys, sloths, tapirs. Five wild cat species – including the American Puma,
Ocelot and the Jaguar can also be found, although the latter is rarely sighted.
Some years previously, an image of a Jaguar (shown below) was captured via a camera-trap which helped established the presence of
this elusive animal in the Santa Elena region. Researchers hope that the
additional camera traps which have recently been installed at strategic points
around the Reserve will help to provide more images and data on this highly
endangered predator.
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Habitat
As part of the continued commitment to protect wildlife habitat, VIDA
hopes to be able to acquire additional
adjacent land,
around the Santa Elena Reserve
as well as establishing forest corridors from the central conservation
area down to lower altitudes, in order to support the territories of many forest
fauna which require large areas in which to forage and breed.
Reforestation activity includes a plantation of some 7 hectares which is being established on the borders
of the Reserve. Of the tree species
being grown, the Wild Avocado is the favourite food of the Resplendent Quetzal –
one of the area’s best known birds.
If you would like to support our work to protect endangered species and habitats
in Costa Rica, please click here.
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