Save Costa Rica's Rainforest
11/2/99
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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: SAVE THE RAINFOREST
Source: Rain Forest Forever
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: November 2, 1999
Costa Rica is internationally renowned for the fabulous diversity of
its flora and fauna, much of which is to be found in tropical
rainforest habitats at elevations from sea level to over 3000 meters.
An enlightened government policy towards conservation over many years
has ensured that vast tracks of such land are safe from deforestation.
This, however, does not paint a complete picture of the current
situation. Much of the protected land is mountainous, and therefore of
marginal interest to loggers and agricultural companies. Outside the
national parks, deforestation continues to occur at an alarming rate
and presents a major threat of extinction for many local animal and
plant species. Moreover, the fragmentation of existing forest into
small isolated patches has severely impacted the survivorship of
widely ranging species such as jaguar, tapir, and peccary, and has
resulted in high levels of inbreeding in many populations.
The low elevation, moist, flat, tropical rainforest of the Caribbean
slopes are under especially severe pressure from loggers, cattle
ranchers, and multinational agricultural companies, and it is this
habitat that mush be protected.
La Suerte Biological Field Station is a privately owned research,
teaching, and conservation center located in the lowland rainforest of
Costa Rica. Our field site lies 20 kms inland from the Caribbean Sea.
Since 1994 over 1200 university students from around the world have
benefited from our educational courses in tropical biology and animal
behavior offered at the field station.
(see www.studyabroad.com/lasuerte for details). Our forests are home
to many rare and spectacular inhabitants-3 species of monkeys, 2
species of sloths, jaguar, and tapirs are among the mammals found in
the area. We also have documented over 260 species of birds, and over
100 species of reptile and amphibians in these forests. Complete
species lists of insects and plants remain one of our current goals.
Adjacent to our research and conservation center, a tract of
rainforest has become available for purchase- a window of one year
exists for us to raise the 555,000.00 USD requited to buy 300 hectares
(720 acres) of this unique and irreplaceable habitat.
Purchasing this forest will allow us to save and preserve the plant
and animal species that live there. If we cannot purchase the land,
the forest will be logged and this fragile ecosystem will be
destroyed.
We need your help urgently if we are to save this tract of remaining
forest. The rainforests of the world and their inhabitants are our
heritage and if we don't act as responsible stewards to preserve this
heritage, the rain forests of Central America will be gone forever.
To be avoid this tragedy, a not-for-profit and tax deductible
conservation organization called RAINFOREST FOREVER has been set up to
raise funds to purchase this rainforest. If you would like to donate
or help us in this important cause, please contact Dr. Paul Garber,
University of Illinois, Department of Anthropology, Urbana, Illinois,
61801 USA, e-mail p-garber@uiuc.edu
If you would like to visit La Suerte and inspect the property
please contact:
Alvaro Molina, Esatacion Biologica La Suerte, Cariari, Pococi,
Limon, Costa Rica e-mail lasuerte@safari.net (Miami office)
Tel 506-710-8005 in CR, 505-277-1130 in Nicaragua. e-mail in CR
ometepe@sol.racsa.co.cr in Nicaragua ometepe@ibw.com.ni