Reports from the field...

Wednesday, May 13: San Jose, Costa Rica
A final walk in the woods. A trip up the NSF MRI towers to see the forest from above. Last soccer game in the mud. Drive to San Jose. Fabulous final dinner in town (mmm... pad thai...). Many lovely memories (mudball under double rainbows?), much interesting information, great cross-cultural professional connections, even better friendships, and a new appreciation for global change and this beautiful country. Safe travels, and many thanks.

Tuesday, May 12: La Selva Biological Station, Costa Rica
Final reports were due from the working groups today - the consequence was a morning in front of the computer, and an afternoon listening to the synthesis of three weeks learning about in Costa Rica. Several people visited the swamp late in the evening, and got a new view on amphibian populations at La Selva!

Sunday, May 10: La Selva Biological Station, Costa Rica
We heard from Pablo Arroyo about forestry management in Costa Rica, and some new tools to look at forests and land-use. We took a field trip to some near-by secondary forest sites, and got a first-hand experience (ie, pulling vehicles out of the slick, clay roads) in what the "rainy season" means in a rainforest.

Thursday, May 7: Las Cruces, Costa Rica
We took a field trip to the forest fragments next to Las Cruces - Zak talked about edge effects and the politics of buying land, and we got first hand experience of microclimates in and out of fragments.

Wednesday, May 6: Las Cruces, Costa Rica
We travelled from Palo Verde to Las Cruces yesterday - a 9-hour drive somehow became a 15-hour adventure due to two exploding tires. We drove through palm plantations and palm oil mills - clear evidence of global change in the tropics... The OTS Las Cruces station is near the Panamanian border in one of Costa Rica's most fragmented landscapes. It is also home to the Wilson Botanical Garden, one of the world's largest collections of tropical plants.

Monday May 4: Palo Verde, Costa Rica
Yesterday, we hiked to the Mirador for a landscape view of Palo Verde National Park: an interplay of cattle ranching, fungeo (cattail removal), wetlands and dry forest. Pajadin talked about the challenge of ranching cattle in the Guanacaste region, and Alejandro and Amanda ensured that even the most left-footed gringo learned to salsa dance.

Today, we visited some local rice fields with a local farmer, who told us about the history and politics of agricultural land-use management in the Palo Verde area - in particular, we discussed issues of agroindustry, the difficulties in domestically growing rice, and the competition between rice and sugar cane interests in Guanacaste. An elusive jabiru was spotted in a rice field undergoing 'fungueo' - biodiversity, endangered species and land-use issues in one scene.

Friday, May 1: Monteverde, Costa Rica
Between hikes through a cloud forest, visits to the ecotourist mecca of Santa Elena, and essential stopovers at a local bakery, Allan Pounds talked about the interplay between climate and amphibian declines and Deb Hamilton talked about the challenges of working with six NGOs, local farmers, and international companies to create a Pacific slope protected habitat for bellbirds.