Ecological Restoration in Costa Rica

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Ecological Restoration in Costa Rica
Fred Loxsom Evolution and
Diversity November 21, 2003
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Sustainable Development CourseSummer 2002
Summer 2003
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Renewable Energy
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Biodiversity
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Ecotourism
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Service Learning
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Sustainable Agriculture
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Sustainable Manufacturing
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Biodiversity
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Education and Culture
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Economic Indicators
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Costa Rica
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Guanacaste - Coast
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Guanacaste - Lowlands
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Guanacaste - Mountains
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Dry Tropical Forest

• 500 years ago, 200,000 square miles from Central
  Mexico to Panama.
• Profoundly threatened! Less than 2 remains.
• Less than 0.1 of the original has conservation
  status.
• More rare than tropical rain forest.
• Pressure from logging, farming, ranching.

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Characteristics

• Pacific coastal lowlands
• Tropical with prolonged dry season (5-8 months).
• 40 80 inches rain.
• In rain shadow of central mountain chain

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Deciduous Forest

• During the dry season 80 of the trees lose their
  leaves.
• 23,000 species.
• 65 of species in CR
• Fewer plant and bird species than in rainforest
• Variety of insects and mammals about the same

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Vegetation

• Low stature (30 m)
• Semi-deciduous
• Leguminosae family
• Upper story - deciduous
• Lower story evergreens
• Understory thorny trees

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Endangered Species

• Many rare and endangered species live in the dry
  tropical forest, including an endangered species
  of spider monkey (Ateles geoffroyi)
• Many endemic species

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Deforestation

• Unlike rainforest land, tropical dry forest is
  good agricultural land and is useful for ranching
  and farming (sugar cane, corn, and beans.)

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Guanacaste Project

• Using the remaining islands of dry tropical
  forest as seed sources, restore a large section
  of dry tropical forest
• Involve local Ticos in the project so that they
  support it and profit from it.

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Guanacaste Conservation Area

• Starting in the mid 80s, Daniel Janzen,
  University of Penn., led an effort to establish a
  large park in Guanacaste.
• Dry Tropical Forest would be restored in this
  park.
• 120,000 terrestrial hectares (300,000 acres ½
  size of RI)

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Why is such a Large Protected Area is Needed?
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Reason 1

• Dry season magnifies the differences between
  habitats and a large park provides a
  heterogeneous environment

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Reason 2

• Tapirs, jaguars, and mountain lions need large
  area to maintain healthy breeding populations

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Reason 3

• Agricultural effects penetrate for 2 km into a
  natural area. Large area is needed to minimize
  these edge effects.

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Reason 4

• Many animals migrate to moist areas during dry
  season. A large preserve is needed to protect
  migration routes

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Reason 5

• Duplicate habitats are needed for ecotourism,
  scientific study, and conservation.

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Reason 6

• GCA is watershed providing drinking water and
  irrigation for communities.
• (Rio Sapoa Rio Tempisque)

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Restoration Plan

• Control of Fires
• Natural recolonization (low cost)
• Managed restoration
• Sustaining the forest

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Fire

• Used to clear land of trees
• Set by ranchers
• Provides habitat for exotic grasses

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Jaragua grass

• Hyparrhenia rufa
• Exotic grass
• Cattle graze on it.
• Suppression of fire allows trees to dominate over
  exotic grasses.

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Texas Grassland Restoration

• In Texas, fire is used to maintain native grasses
  against the encroachment of cedar and exotic
  grasses

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Natural Recolonization

• Natural, wind dispersal of seeds can move a
  forest several hundred meters in 10 years. 25 of
  the 215 tree species in Santa Rosa NP are
  wind-dispersed and would be pioneers.

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Natural Recolonization

• Animal dispersers drop seeds in dung
• Produces nuclear trees which produces habitat for
  seed dispersing animals.
• Some seeds must pass through animals to germinate.

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Managed Restoration

• GCA plants 4000 9000 trees each year.
• Usually native trees, but some experiments with
  non-natives as pioneers.

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Sustaining the Forest

• Low cost
• 3,000,000 endowment
• Local farmers as caretakers, guides, and fire
  fighters.
• All employees are Costa Ricans.
• With InBio, bioprospecting.

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Success?

• Restoring the distribution of plants and the
  diversity of animals to a degraded landscape will
  take 100 or more years.
• Success will depend upon the value of this
  project to the people of Costa Rica.

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Questions? Comments?
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Biology

• Since trees that disperse seeds by wind will be
  the pioneers entering cleared land, doesnt
  this mean that the composition of the restored
  forest will be different from the original forest?

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Biology

• Can exotic plants (e.g. jaragua grass) ever be
  eliminated from the dry tropical forest? If it
  cant be eliminated, can the forest really be
  regenerated?

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Fire

• Why does fire play such a different role in
  maintaining prairies in the US and destroying
  forest in Central America?
• Is fire a part of the natural environment in both
  situations?

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Social issues

• Wouldnt it be better to make the GCA a protected
  area and keep locals and tourists out of it?
  Isnt that what we do in Yellowstone and other US
  National Parks?

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Social issues

• What is the proper role of foreigners in the
  conservation of Costa Ricas natural resources?
• Is it appropriate that Daniel Janzen played such
  a large role?

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Ecotourism

• What is ecotourism?
• What role should ecotourism play in sustaining
  GCA?

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Bioprospecting

• GCA cooperates with InBio to do bioprospecting in
  the park. In turn, InBio will make deals with
  pharmaceutical firms to produce commercial
  products. Is this appropriate?