Conservation in the Monteverde Zone
Contributions of Conservation OrganizationsLeslie J. BurlingameMonteverde is renowned among tropical biologists,
conservationists, and ecotourists for its cloud forests,
quetzals, and Golden Toads. These forest ecosystems
have been preserved while many other rain forests
in Latin America have been destroyed for agricul-
ture, wood products, and development. Initially, the
area was preserved because it was nearly inacces-
sible; it remains protected because of dedicated ef-
forts by local inhabitants, the development of effec-
tive grassroots organizations, and funds and expertise
from the international scientific and conservation
communities.
In this chapter I document the development and
contributions of grassroots conservation organiza-
tions that promote conservation practices and think-
ing. Four organizations preserved forested areas that
now constitute the Monteverde Reserve Complex
(see Fig. 1.7): (a) Bosqueterno, a reserve and organi-
zation formed by the Quaker settlers to protect their
watershed; (b) the Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve
(MCFP) managed by the San Jose-based Tropical Sci-
ence Center (TSC); (c) Bosque Eterno de los Niiios
(Children's Eternal Forest; BEN), whose land was
acquired by the Monteverde Conservation League
(MCL); and (d) the Santa Elena High School Cloud
Forest Reserve (SER) established by the local high
school (colegio).
Other activities discussed in this chapter are efforts
to (1) protect reserve areas, (2) protect forest fragments
outside the reserves and create corridors to link for-
ested areas, (3) reforest and rehabilitate damaged
land, (4) develop environmental education at all lev-
els, (5) develop complementarity and cooperation
among organizations, and (6) establish projects in
sustainable development. These topics are linked
with the growth of scientific knowledge and the de-
velopment of ecotourism in the zone.
The thesis of this chapter is that conservation or-
ganizations emerged as a series of responses to newly
perceived environmental needs and opportunities. I
identify successes and failures of conservation efforts
by organizations in the Monteverde Zone and the fac-
tors responsible for them, analyze problems that have
been or need to be resolved, and determine the extent
to which institutional developments in the Monte-
verde Zone may serve as models in conservation and
sustainable development for other areas.
Little has been published on the history and cur-10