SIDA through Barnens Regnskog. A program in or-
ganic gardening was started by volunteers with funds
from the Monteverde Brand coffee conservation re-
bate program with Montana Coffee Traders. Housing,
schools, and stable employment are being sought to
bring back former community members who left to
find better jobs or to educate their children.
Chapter Editor's Update: An assessment of San
Gerardo in 1998 indicated that San Gerardo has not
been the successful sustainable development experi-
ment that was envisioned; the only functioning ele-
ment is the field station operated by MCL. By 1995,
only one of the original families was still living in San
Gerardo, with no school or means to make a living.
The MCL has promised cash and land as compensa-
tion for the contributions and labor of families in-
volved in the project. The deeds will contain a con-
servation easement, restricting land use to activities
that have low impacts on the environment (F. Joyce,
pers. comm.).
The groups and individuals involved in this ex-
periment have strongly differing views on the reasons
for its failure to meet expectations (L. Vivanco, pers.
comm.). Such experiments are very difficult in remote
areas. Participants need to be less idealistic about
outcomes and more aware of limitations imposed by
the environment. Although organic produce was har-
vested, the organic gardening project was not contin-
ued because of too much rain and a lack of labor. The
rain also hampered construction of an all-weather
road, making transport difficult (J. Boll, pers. comm.).
Participants also need better planning and train-
ing to ensure coordination. The grants MCL obtained
were primarily for the construction of the station,
road, and hydroelectric plant. The original vision was
that construction and operation of the station would
provide community jobs, but there was not enough
income to support all the community members and
there was no school, so most of them left San Gerardo.
Participants need to have written agreements open
for revision as circumstances change; this is particu-
larly important when there are personnel shifts in the
grassroots organization and changing community
membership configurations (J. Boll, pers. comm.).
Grassroots organizations depend heavily on volun-
teers and others from outside the organizations; they
must ensure that these people have the necessary
training and technical expertise, logistical support,
and abilities to interact productively with a local com-
munity in flux.CONSERVATION EASEMENTS IN MONTEVERDE:
THE ENLACE VERDE PROJECT
Nathaniel Scrimshaw, Wendy Gibbons, and Leslie], Burlingameonteverde is undergoing rapid change. Orig-
inally, dairying was the most important
source of income for permanent residents.
Farms have been subdivided, construction of build-
ings proceeds apace, the population is growing, and
land values have shot up, all of which places pressure
on land resources. It has also meant anguish for resi-
dents who want to keep the Monteverde environment
rural. People do not agree on precisely what it is they
want to protect. Some wish to preserve the commu-
nity's agricultural character, others its rural residen-
tial feel, and others its remaining natural forests.
There is wide agreement, however, that something
must be done to prevent uncontrolled development.
There is a general distrust of large organizations
among Monteverde residents. Zoning has historically
put control in the hands of distant bureaucrats. In the
early 1990s, a group of residents formulated a com-
mission to explore ways that maintain control inside
the community within Costa Rican law. The com-
mission initiated a project that encourages and sup-ports landowners to voluntarily restrict development
through conservation easements (termed "servid-
umbres ecologicas" in Costa Rican law).
Easements appeal to property owners because they
place limits on land development only. Each property
owner designs the restrictions he/she believes works
best. Activities permitted by an easement might in-
clude timber management, agriculture, recreation, edu-
cation, and research. Parcels of land can be set aside
for future construction or subdivision. Easements serve
as an alternative to zoning, in which an agency such
as a city or state government limits development and
has the burden of enforcing these restrictions. In this
system, the rights that usually define private property
(e.g., the right to be on the land, use its resources, and
develop it) are divided into separate rights. The land-
owner may retain the right to use the land but not to
cut the remaining forest. He or she may give up the right
to construct further buildings on the land.
In 1994, the Enlace Verde (Green Network) project
was formally proposed within the Monteverde town381 Conservation in the Monteverde ZoneM