Fund for Costa Rica Volunteers Making a Difference!

FCR has two great volunteers currently working with the community in Quepos/Manuel Antonio.  Devin Monajem is from Toronto, Canada and has been working with Henry Abarca of the Aguirre Environmental Management Office.  They designed a survey to analyze the perception among municipal employees of the importance of environmental conservation and sustainable development.  The results are quite interesting and he will be presenting them to municipal council members this Thursday, July 20.

Mary Blair is a doctoral student from Columbia University in New York, and she is studying mono titi (squirrel monkey) troop movements among the remaining forest patches around the Manuel Antonio National Park.  This is exactly the area FCR is patrolling so the results of the study will be very useful in determining the importance of forest patches for the survival of the species.

Finally, last week five small businesses in Quepos signed on to support FCR environmental patrols.  That's five for five folks!  So, despite what some wealthy foreign developers claim about the "natives" wanting to see their forests converted into condos, local people are standing up to make a difference.  It is an honor for us to be able to support that effort.  Matt

("Natives" is a direct quote from one of the real estate guys.  I swear I think some of them believe they are living in a different century.  Does William Walker ring a bell?!)