forests in the clouds. From the conservative land ethic
of the Quaker pioneers to the vibrant involvement of
local communities (not just Monteverde) in sustain-
ing their development activities, researchers have
always been involved with the communities' inter-
ests, concerns, and priorities. The decentralized and
individualized focus of researchers at Monteverde has
broadened the conservation focus to a larger regional
context and integrated local communities and indi-
viduals with researchers and their projects.
Those who love Monteverde and have helped to
conserve the astoundingly rich and luxuriant cloud
forests may think that this special place is unique.
Although I regard the Monteverde forests as the most
spectacular cloud forest anywhere in the tropics, I
hope this book will help to make some aspects of it
less unique. Some of the lessons learned in Monte-
verde can be applied elsewhere. The integration of
researchers and local communities has contributed to
mutual understanding of common goals while facili-
tating substantial progress toward conservation objec-
tives. The documentation of migratory movements of
flagship bird species such as the Resplendent Quetzal,
for example, has broadened the focus of conservation
efforts to include land use patterns at the landscape
scale. This book not only defines academic questions
of interest to other researchers and documents Monte-
verde ecosystems but also demonstrates that research-
ers make significant contributions to human commu-
nities by helping them understand the importance of
ecology and natural history of the natural world.
I congratulate the editors and authors on an out-
standing compendium of scientific information on
Monteverde that merits its place on the bookshelf
with other reviews of tropical research sites. I urge
everyone who opens this book, whether researcher
or nature aficionado, to visit this special forest in the
clouds, to reflect on the importance of community to
conservation, and to support the worldwide efforts to
save tropical forests.viii Foreword