Conservation Heroes / 31.10.2022

Please find an English translation of this text at the bottom of the page. Es de las especies más raras, de las más preciosas piedras, y de los minerales más valiosos que buscamos. Los Naturalistas poseen estos tesoros raros pues sabemos que tienen un valor excepcional. Ellos se han diferenciado del resto y de lo común, se han adaptado y especializado para llenar un nicho que nada más podría. Marvin López Morales era uno de esos tesoros.  A Marvin le importaba, más que a nadie que he conocido, los árboles...

Environmental Education, Science and Research, Volunteers and Visitors / 01.10.2020

Blog by: Mark Laidre, Dartmouth College professor and principal investigator of the Laidre Lab It’s fun to discover new things about nature. That’s why scientists like doing science. And when it comes to the science of animal behavior, I like to think of Osa as a sort of ‘magic well’. My students and I have conducted animal behavior research around the world, with much of our research focusing in Osa, where we’ve spent many years studying ‘social hermit crabs’. At the Animal Behavior Society’s conference in Chicago in 2019...

Community Outreach, Environmental Education, Land Conservation and Forest Restoration, Sustainable agriculture / 24.08.2020

Blog by: Hilary Brumberg, Ridge to Reef Program Interim Director Southern Costa Rica is home to two of the most important areas to conserve in Central America: the Osa Peninsula and the Talamanca Mountains. The Osa Peninsula is the most biodiverse region of Costa Rica and contains Corcovado National Park and Piedras Blancas National Park. Deemed one of Mesoamerica’s “5 great forests,” the Talamanca Mountains contain the largest altitudinal variation in a protected area complex in Central America. The mountain range hosts La Amistad International Park, which spans from...

Land Conservation and Forest Restoration, Science and Research / 15.01.2020

Blog by: Tara Jeffery, Botanic Program Research Field Assistant.  My main area of work is focusing on the production of trees for the arboretum and rewilding and restoration projects, which requires my team to venture into the forests to collect seeds from a range of tree species. To create a diverse collection of plants, it is important to use plants from different areas to fight against possible pest and disease problems. For this we have been across the Osa peninsula collecting ripe species. It can be difficult to predict...

Uncategorized / 08.01.2020

Reflections by field course students. Compiled by Hilary Brumberg, field course manager. We recently kicked off our second annual Tropical Ecology & Conservation Leadership Field Course at Osa Conservation. During this 8 week intensive field course, we provide hands-on experience and training for the next generation of conservation leaders. The course brings together an impressive international group of young scientist from Costa Rica and abroad to experience our living laboratory, the Osa Verde BioStation, and to learn real-life skills for successful careers in conservation and research in a hands-on...

Uncategorized / 26.12.2019

Blog by: María José Mata Quirós, Restoration and Rewilding Field Staff Ecological restoration is a relatively recent issue, which came to change the way we think about returning ecosystems altered by humans to the way we know as original or natural. It consists of taking a step beyond reforestation; it is about making a true evaluation of the characteristics to be established, and carry out finely planned projects. It is important to make sure that native species’ forests are generated, and to manage the efforts so that the pre-existing...

Sea Turtles / 11.12.2019

Blog by: Diego Argueta, Sea Turtle Research Field Assistant I am not a morning person. Yet, I have dedicated 6 months to waking up before dawn. What gets me and the rest of our small team out of bed is perhaps one of the most magnificent creatures to live amongst us - the sea turtle. As soon as the dark winding trail through the forest opens up to Playa Piro and the rising sun, thoughts of exhaustion leave the mind. Soft sand replaces thick mud underfoot as billowing waves...

Science and Research / 05.12.2019

Blog By Marvin Lopez, Botanicss Asisstant.   Little more than 10 years ago Conservation Osa started and I have been part of the changes that have happened since then. During all this time the organization has been growing little by little gaining experience as the different projects progressed. Today, we are taking new directions with new projects and one of these is the creation of an Arboretum. For this, new staff have arrived with great enthusiasm for the plants putting great effort and dedication to achieve this goal. Recently we received...

Community Outreach / 28.11.2019

Blog by David Mattey, Wildlife Protection Technician The White-Lipped Peccary is a threatened species of great ecological importance for the composition of tropical forests. Therefore, it is necessary to take measures to protect them, since it is a highly hunted species for its meat. For a few months, before the migration of the peccary in the rainy season, the planning process for community monitoring and protection begins, together with the community's biological monitoring group, members of the Association of Volunteers for Service in Protected Areas (ASVO), who offered their...

Science and Research / 20.11.2019

Blog By Eleanor Flatt, Wildlife Monitoring Program Coordinator, Osa Conservation   Tropical forests worldwide are in catastrophic danger due to a magnitude of threats. The Osa has seen a 10.4% increase in secondary forest cover since 1987 but some challenges remain, such as illegal selective logging of rare hardwood-timber species and hunting of forest mammals. Selective interior logging is difficult to detect and monitor using imagery from aerial satellites, by the time the information has been relayed back to the rangers the wood has been loaded on to the...