News + Stories

By Pilar Bernal   The Education and Outreach Program is working with students from 10 schools in workshops on major ecosystems of the Osa Peninsula and the great biodiversity that each ecosystem houses. In the space of two lessons (90 minutes each), students learn about the characteristics and importance of the cloud forest, the flooded forest, the tropical rainforest, mangroves, and the marine ecosystem and how to identify each one by a set of representative species. In the coming months we will continue with workshops on climate change and waste management. On World...

[caption id="attachment_5060" align="alignnone" width="300"] The event poster.[/caption] By Jaime González Acosta The celebration of World Wetlands Day in the Wilderness Protected Térraba-Sierpe National Wetlands has been held for twenty-three years, and is one of the most continuous and stable events in the Osa Conservation Area. The event for 2013 began with activities in the central park of the Sierpa de Osa community, with a boat tour to follow. In the park, local high schools and the University of Costa Rica displayed the importance of conserving the wetlands and the challenges of global...

  [caption id="attachment_5047" align="alignnone" width="300"] Taken by Manuel Sanchez[/caption] By: Manuel Sanchez Turtle season is about to begin, and a new hatchery is under construction on Piro beach. This will help protect at least 120 nests that are presently endangered by the behavior of rivers, high tide and predation. With the help of volunteers like Jabirú group, the new hatchery is almost complete and we hope to start relocating nests in July and watching the first hatchlings emerge in early September. [caption id="attachment_5048" align="alignnone" width="300"] Taken by Manuel Sanchez Taken by Manuel Sanchez Taken...

By: Pilar Bernal World Migratory Bird Day is celebrated during the month of May in over 80 countries. This celebration began in 2006 and is an awareness campaign about the conservation of migratory birds and their ecosystems throughout the world. Every year the campaign focuses on a theme; for this year, 2013, the theme is “Creating networks to conserve migratory birds”. This theme aims to raise people’s awareness of the importance of the networks or connections among ecosystems, and to preserve the health of the indispensable habitats for the lifecycle...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bODoCCvaFEg   by: Max and Agustín While walking by the Piro River a few days ago on one of our patrols to ensure the protection of the Osa Wildlife Refuge, Agustín recorded an awe-inspiring video. Agustín told me, “I was walking upstream when I saw a large animal that was moving only a few meters away from me. I silently approached the animal and discovered that it was an otter hunting crabs and shrimp; the agility with which he caught them really impressed me.” The otter (Lontra longicaudis) resides in healthy rivers and streams...