Conservation Newsletter - Biochar

8/9/2019 Conservation Newsletter - Biochar

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www.osaconservation.org

2008 was a year both good and difficult.On the good side of the ledger we wereable to expand the Osa biodiversity prop-erties by purchasing the 600+ hectareCerro Osa properties. The acquisition is ahuge step forward for conservation, asthese properties play a very strategic rolein wildlife movement and have amazing old growth forest, protect vital headwatersand contain buildings that will serve as anew environmental education and training center to complement the Osa Biodiversity Centers research facilities. The latter op-eration, led by Guido Saborio, expandedits teaching and research activities substan-tially this year. In the following newsletteryou can see and read about these andother advances.

On the negative side it is fair to say thatthe Arias administration, rather than acting on their professed Peace with Natureinitiative, showed every sign of engaging ina War with Nature. For example, theadministration has signed a highly ques-tionable exemption for a Canadian goldmining company to clear forest in north-ern Costa Rica, relaxed the ban on shark finning, and is promoting a new interna-tional airport for the southern Pacific zone

without any strategic vision for an ecologi-cally sustainable development future of theregion. SETENA, the administrationsenvironmental assessment agency, ap-proved work on two massive marinas onboth sides of the Golfo Dulce and gavethe green light to continued developmentof an ecologically disastrous tuna ranch(see earlier newsletter or our website formore details). The Osa canton continuedto assert his right to encourage develop-

ment of the steep slopes of Fila Costea and wetlands without restraint or proper permit-ting. Is it sensible to threaten the uniquely beautiful and biological value of the irre-placeable Golfo Dulce and the Osa as a

whole, to further tarnish Costa Rica sinking reputation as a green country just to benefita handful of foreign speculators? That is thepredominant direction of development inCosta Rica today and the Osa that is blessed

with the least developed coastal zone andlowland forest region left in Meso-Americais perceived by many as merely a huge devel-opment opportunity.

The collapse of the stock market, drying upof credit, and the precipitous drop in gaso-line prices is not a bad thing. We hope that it

dries up financing for these developmentprojects that represent short term profit tak-ing made at the expense of the health of theOsa. Those profits are usually destined toquickly leave the region and create impover-ishment in the long term. . We hope that thecollapse in oil prices makes expansion of palm oil and cane for bio-fuels less attrac-tive. But at the same time this economicdown turn has dried up support for conser-

vation.

These are difficult economic times. But if you care about the Osa this is a highly strate-gic time in which to increase your supportfor conservation in the region.

Issue 8

December 2008

A N O P O RT U N E T I ME

Friends of the Osa is a nonprofitorganization committed to con-serving the terrestrial and marinebiodiversity of Costa Ricas OsaPeninsula. Our programs focuson protection of the Osas wild-life and ecosystems, providing environmental education andtraining, conducting ecologicalresearch, and supporting sustainable livelihoods for the

I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E :

Cerro Osa 2

BambooBiochar 3

Sea Turtles 5

Osas Monkeys 8

Nature of Rainforest 9

Research on Osa 7

Faces at FOO 10

OBC 6

NEWSLETTER


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C ERRO O S A

Cerro Osa has fivehouses, a large work-shop dormitory areaand ten platformsand is looking for-

ward to accommo-dating schools andother educationsgroups interested inusing the site for en-

vironmental educa-tion and training

workshops.

Cerro Osa boast a panoramic view from Corcovado National Park in the North West all the way South East acrossGolfo Dulce to Panama in the South. At 650ms elevation it is the highest point in the southern Osa. Cerro Osaproperty is 600 plus hectares, two thirds of which is primary forest. A third of Cerro Osa is plantations of teak andpochote which will be removed and replaced with native tree species in a large scale restoration effort. We are seek-ing long term volunteers interested in tropical reforestation.

Page 2 FRIENDS OF THE OSA NEWSLETTER


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FRIENDS OF THE OSA NEWSLETTER Page 3

With Blue Moon Fund support, FOO continued working with local people to increase knowledge of bamboo as analternative source of revenue to farmers, reducing defores-tation and exploitation of hardwoods. During 2008, thenursery produced 2,750 seedlings of Guadua angustifolia;1,170 have been distributed to local farmers and planted inapproximately 7.5 ha of land.

B AMBOO

Costa Rican Alejandro Garca led a 5 week course whichtaught bamboo furniture manufacturing techniques to 16local men and women. Each participant made 5 differentpieces of furniture.

Children from schools in La Palma and Puerto Jimenezlearned about bamboo benefits and its variety of uses.


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BIOCHAR Biochar is a highly porous charcoal made at temperatures around 500 C. Stefan Jirka of the Virginia-basedfoundation, Blue Moon Fund, will be working with Alfredo Quintero of Amigos de Osa, the Osa BambooClub, and Forest Trends on a project that tests the ability of biochar to store carbon in the soil while

improving soil texture and nutrient retention beneficial for agriculture.

Above:: Alfredo Quintero and Stefan Jirka

Left: Biochar made from Osa bamboo. Possible sourcesof biochar on the Osa include agricultural residues suchas rice hulls, oil palm residues, and slash and sawdustfrom Gmelina and other forest plantation operations.

These materials, if not made into biochar, will quickly decompose releasing CO 2 into the atmosphere.


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FRIENDS OF THE OSA NEWSLETTER

F O O S SE A T U RT L E C ONSERVATION P R O G R A M

FOOs Sea Turtle Conservation Program is conducted atPlaya Piro, where scientific data is collected and patrolsare conducted at night to monitor sea turtle activity andprevent poaching. In this picture, Adriana Gonzales,FOOs Sea Turtle Program coordinator, checks an oliveridley turtle for tags from prior nesting visits.

Volunteers working on in situ protection. Some wordsfrom volunteers: Sarah Lynn Woodard: THANK YOUfor the wonderful week at the research station. I enjoyedevery minute of my stay and am so impressed with the

work you (Adriana), Manuel and Emilia do. You're all fan-tastic people! Garth and Rebecca Orkney: I keep forget-ting to let you know how wonderful an experience that wasfor us and how impressed we were with all of the staff outthere. We would like to single out Adriana and Manuel.

Their dedication and hospitality were glowingly evidenfrom the first day that Adriana met us in Puerto Jimenez.

They took the project very seriously and it rubbed off onus. Your organization is well served by them. Also, Guido,the biological director, was very open to us and educated usin many ways. He simply added to the rewarding experience

we had. And the cook, Emilia, had me savoring every meal with her special local touch!

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A C ALL F O R V O L U N T E E R S

Volunteer recruitment The Sea Turtle ConservationProgram is currently accepting applications for

volunteers! The program is located in the Piro region of Osa and focuses on 9 km of beach where 3 species of endangered marine sea turtles annually nest.

Friends of the Osa needs your help patrolling the beach,collecting data on turtle populations, and carefully incubating sea turtle eggs until they hatch. We particu-

larly need volunteers for September to December toensure adequate protection of nesting turtles.

Please visit our website http:// www.osaconservation.org/volunteer or write [email protected] to see how you can help!


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H APPENINGS AT O S A B I O D I V E R S I T Y C E N T E R

The Evergreen State College Tropical Rainforest Program2008 visited the Osa Biodiversity Center (OBC) under theinstruction of John Longino and Paul Butler. Longino is anant specialist and surveyed with students the OBC ant di-

versity, finding 115 ant species, including two undescribedspecies.

Sixty MiniWinkler samples at Osa Biodiversity Center.

A Harvard group of 6 students stayed for 12 days at theOBC studying lizard morphology. Anthony Herrel is aHarvard scientist measuring anole lizard speed as part of his research project on "Ecomorphology relatioships be-

tween two ensembles of polocrosse lizards in Costa Rica: why are land Anolis different".Eduardo Boza, TA of the herpetology course from the Uni- versity of Costa Rica taking pictures of Dermophis parviceps , arare caecilian found in a leaf litter survey at OBC.


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Fleur Daugey holds a MSc in Applied Animal Behavior,University Paris XIII, France. She specialized in Conser-

vation Biology and worked with different species, fromfreshwater turtles to chimpanzees, from vultures to mar-

mots. She arrived in Costa Rica in April 2008 and workedfor the scarlet macaw reintroduction project of Amigosde las Aves in Punta Banco. She now moved to the Osaand is the field coordinator for a new scarlet macaw con-servation project initiated by Chris Vaughan. She also

writes the monthly Green Column for the Tico Timesamong other blog, short stories, and poems.

R E S E A R C H O N O S A

Renown botanist Scott Mori of the New York BotanicalGarden will be working with Reynaldo Aguilar and a se-ries of associates to do a complete inventory of the plantsof the Osa. This project is now in its second year and hasan active website at http://sweetgum.nybg.org/osa/ .

Aida obtained her master thesis on Conservation of Wild-life Management Density and habitat use of the wild catson the buffer area of Corcovado National Park; she con-tinued large cats monitoring activities, gave more than 70talks to schools, lodges and other institutions; partici-pated in the XII Congreso de la Sociedad Mesoameri-cana para la Biologia y la Conservacion in El Salvadorand gave a workshop on identifying pumas and recom-mendations to improve the design of a WCS project inGuatemala. In 2009 we hope to be doing radio tracking of cats using advance telemetry devices from CornellUniversity.



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T ROND L ARSEN F I R S T OBC D I R E C TO R

Laila Bahaa-el-din and Guido Saboro carried out a study sponsored by El Tigre Fund that surveyed monkey popula-tions in the Pejeperro watershed area, Osa Peninsula. Thestudy found that the Howler Monkey is the most commonspecies, followed by the Squirrel Monkey, while the SpiderMonkey, often the most sensitive species to forest degrada-tion and hunting, is the least abundant species in the area.

The Central American Squirrel Monkey is considered to beendangered due to its restricted range, and troops have only been documented in two national parks in Costa Rica: Cor-covado and Manuel Antonio. This makes FOO's protectionof the Osa National Wildlife Refugee (ONWR) on the pe-riphery of the Corcovado National Park very important tothe survival of the whole species.

O S A S M O N K E Y S

Trond Larsen, PhD, thefirst director of the Osa Bio-diversity Center, recently

won the prestigious FullerPostdoctoral Fellowship at

World Wildlife Fund. This isan intensely competitive po-sition with hundreds of PhDs from around the

world applying annually forone fellowship award. Trondis dividing his time between

WWF in Washington DC,Princeton University, andLatin America.

Tronds fellowship allows him to study the ecological impacts of hunting and land-use associated with the TransoceanicHighway, the impacts of climate change on species along Andean elevational gradients, and the implications of Beta diver-sity gradients for designing appropriate protected areas. Despite Tronds accomplishments and busy schedule, he still volun-teers time to help out Friends of the Osa. He is about to complete work on a stunningly beautiful new book about the Osafeaturing Roy Tofts superb photographs.


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A group of four collared peccaries swim in tight formationacross the Esquinas River near a series of properties recently bought by TNC to increase biological connectivity betweenCorcovado and Piedras Blancas National Parks. Thismethod of swimming may reduce vulnerability from attack by the American crocodiles common in the Esquinas.

S W I M M I N G C O L L A R E D P E C C A R I E S

FOO is proud to announce the republication of AdrianForsyths book, Nature of the Rainforest: Costa Rica andBeyond.

"Adrian Forsyth contributes with this book to the genuineliterature of ecology, wherein exact knowledge is ex-pressed through the prisms of disciplined emotion. Such

writing requires a rare combination of scientific trainingand metaphorical skill, and Forsyth displays the instinctsof a creative writer, taking us deep into the tropical rain-forest. Nature of the Rainforest calls attention to the best of this planet and to the compelling reasons why we shouldlook south, inland, to the forest of dreams." -- from theforeword by E. O. Wilson

N AT U R E O F T H E

R A I N F O R E S T

R E P U B L I S H E D

E V E R G R E E N F E L L O W S H I P P R O G R A M

Marine biologist Eva Salas gathers data on coral reef fish. As part of the Evergreen Fellowship Program, FOOsupported research on the association between coral reef fish and dolphins around Cao Island. Research was con-ducted by members of Keto Foundation.

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FRIENDS OF THE OSA NEWSLETTER

F ACES AT FOO

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Volha Roshchanka, currently a student at University of Maryland's graduate program in Sustainable Developmentand Conservation Biology, has been volunteering with

Friends of the Osa for a year. This summer Volha worked with local FOO staff to create an interpretive trail map onFOO's property. The map will be a useful tool for first-time visitors, since it will feature a walking guide and ex-planation of the major components of a tropical forest onthe Osa. Volha is also helping develop a Biodiversity Stew-ardship Fund Program -- a recent and innovative idea in

wildlife conservation that entails collecting monetary com-pensation for protecting biodiversity.

Guido Saborio setting up a leaf pack in a cold Pennsyl-

vania stream. Guido, FOOs scientific director, attended a workshop at the Stroud Water Research Center in Phila-delphia. In this workshop, participants worked with schoolchildren, learning methods for testing water quality using macroinvertebrates and chemical tests. These techniques

will be part of an educational program to be developed by FOO during the next year.

Brothers Juan (right) and Augustine (left) Mendozaare new Amigos de Osa employees. Based in Cerro Osa,they run a native tree nursery and assist with reforesta-tion of degraded lands as well as land management of over 675 hectares.


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Catherine Bainbridge and Reynaldo Aguilar are working on a rapid fieldguide to the orchids of the Osa, we hope this guide would be ready fordistribution in 2009.

Above: Property, recently acquired by TNC to increase biological connectivity between Corcovado and Pie-dras Blancas National Parks, includes beautiful Raphia taedigera palm swamps. This palm known as Yolilloforms extensive and nearly pure stands in the headwaters of the Sierpe River. Raphia palm has reputedly the

O R C H I D G U I D E


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Friends of the Osa is a 501(c) 3 nonprofitorganization, and contributions to our work are tax-deductible in the United States.

Your donation supports the conservation of land and wildlife, scientific study of the Osasecosystems, environmental education and out-reach, and sustainable livelihoods for local com-munities.

We strive to be an efficient and effective organi-

zation where 90 cents of every dollar do-nated goes directly to program activities.Donations can be submitted via our web-site ( www.osaconservation.org ) or bymail to our Washington, DC address.

To speak with someone about the work we do and how your support can make adifference, please call or email us at:[email protected].

H O W Y O U C A N H E L P P R O T E C T T H E O S A 1731 Connecticut Ave. NW

Third Floor Washington, DC 20009, USA(202) 640 - 2185

Amigos de Osa Apdo. 54-8203Puerto Jimenez, GolfitoCosta Rica(+506) 735 - 5756

F R I E N D S O F T H E O S A

www.osaconservation.org

Friends of the OsasBoard of Directors

Adrian Forsyth, PhD.Founder & President, Friends of the Osa; Vice President, Programs,Blue Moon Fund

Manuel Ramirez, MSc. Vice President, Friends of the Osa;Senior Director, ConservationInternationals Mesoamericanprogram

Alvaro Ugalde, MSc. Director, Nectandra Institute

Tom Lovejoy, PhD.President, H. John Heinz III Centerfor Science, Economics, andEnvironment

Dan M. Martin, PhD.Freelance conservation adviser andmember of the CR-USAFoundation advisory board

Deborah Sliter Vice President, Programs, NationalEnvironmental Education &

Training Foundation

Erika HarmsExecutive Director, SustainableDevelopment, United NationsFoundation

Dan Janzen, PhD.Professor of Biology, U. of Pennsylvania

Javier Mateo-VegaDirector, EnvironmentalLeadership & Training Initiative,

Yale School of Forestry &Environmental Studies and STRI

Bill AbrahamFormer General Manager, Intel,Costa Rica

Our activities in the Osa would not be possi-ble without contributions from our support-ers. We would like to thank those who sup-ported us though online and check donations,in-kind contributions, volunteering, sending photos and letters, or through learning aboutthe Osa. Stay tuned! For online donations,please visit www.osaconservation.org/donate.html.

Two additional websites with informationabout Osa conservation issues are:

www.coalicionsur.org www.the-osa-peninsula.com

Nicole Barton photographed a howler monkey. Winner of the photo contest, wildlife

Friends of the Osa has now a Facebook page!

Become a fan at: http:// www.facebook.com/pages/Friends-of-the-Osa/54714501997?ref=ts

And join the cause at: http://apps.facebook.com/causes/177357?recruiter_id=7482595

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Conservation Newsletter - Biochar