Jaguars: Jewels of the Forest

In addition to celebrating a great year in 2012, Osa Conservation recently honored two staff members as outstanding employees of the year. If you have visited us here in Osa, these are most likely familiar faces. Thanks Agustín and Manuel for all of your hard work and for being such integral and exemplary members of the Osa Conservation team. Agustín Mendoza Augustín has been working with OC for five years on our land stewardship and maintenance team but has lived in Osa for 38. He grew up in Cerro Arbolito a remote...
[caption id="attachment_2260" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Peltogyne Purpurea: An endemic species of Costa Rica and Western Panama, now very scarce because of overexplotation for its valuable timber."][/caption] Visiting a tropical forest can be overwhelming because of the enormous number of species found there, especially if you are talking about the Osa Peninsula, one of the most biologically diverse places in the world. This diversity is especially evident amongst plants which, as immobile organisms, are easily observed. This same diversity, however, can be distressing for a person interested in identifying a species...
[caption id="attachment_2228" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Alex Henríquez (General Manager or Trust of Banco Nacional de Costa Rica), Ana Lorena Guevara (Vice Minister of Environment), Carlos M. Rodriguez (Representative, Conservation International), Manuel Ramirez (Executive Director, Osa Conservation)"][/caption] In a historic moment for conservation in Costa Rica, Osa Conservation (OC) and Conservation International (CI) signed the world’s first public-private Biodiversity Trust Fund in San Jose, Costa Rica on August 8TH. Both OC and CI each contributed $500,000 to the Fund, which was matched with a $1 million contribution from the Costa...
On September 26th, Friends of the Osa participated in the second annual Puerto Jiménez mangrove and beach cleanup. This activity is part of a global Ocean Conservancy initiative, with Terra Nostra as the Costa Rican organizer and the Puerto Jiménez Environmental Coalition as the local organizer. We had around 60 participants, including students, girl scouts, Frontier volunteers, community members, hotel staff from Lapa Rios, Bosque del Cabo, El Remanso and other local organizations such as ASCONA. In total, we cleaned 1.5km of beach and 0.5km of mangrove. Looking at the results...