Great Green : flagship of Olivier Chassot and Article By OLIVIER CHASSOT and GUISSELLE MONGE ARIAS Guisselle Monge Arias Photos by ROSEMARY LOW Over the past 8 years, we have pursued a multi-faceted, science-based, conservation project, using the endangered ( ambigua) as the focus of a campaign to conserve a unique lowland Atlantic forest assemblage in Costa Rica. The lowland ecosystem is official protection, lowland Atlantic moist lowlands to higher elevation forests in the distinguished by a high density of almendro forest is disappearing as a habitat in Costa piedmont of Costa Rica's mountain ranges (Dipteryx panamensis) and provides habitat Rica. As a direct consequence, the Great to the west, as well as to drier forests to the for the Great Green Macaw and other Green Macaw is threatened by habitat loss north in . endangered species. The depend and is currently recognised internationally on the huge almendro trees for nesting and as an endangered species. (It is on CITES Project achievements as a primary source of food. In Costa Rica, List 1). the almendro forest, and consequently the We have selected the Great Green Macaw macaw, is currently restricted to the north- The macaw's historic nesting zone in Costa as a “focal species” for identifying and eastern corner of the country, between the Rica has been reduced in size by 90%, publicising priorities for conservation San Juan River (the border between Costa principally by the country's uncontrolled action in the region. Our objective is to Rica and Nicaragua) and La Selva logging and land clearing for cattle and establish a nucleus of protected natural Biological Station. . The macaws face other threats, forest that is interconnected with including their sale as pets (chicks are sold surrounding ecosystems as required to The almendro tree has become the primary locally for between $150 and $300) and sustain a viable population of macaws. hard wood for flooring, truck beds, and hunting pressure for sport and . Protecting habitat required by the Great other such specialised uses. Consequently, The breeding range of the Great Green Green Macaw will also result in the as the species becomes scarcer, price for conservation of a viable population of the wood has increased dramatically. Macaw is limited almost exclusively to Central American almendro forests in almendro and other biodiversity that is Unfortunately, Costa Rica’s exemplary unique to the area. system of protected areas includes , Nicaragua, Costa Rica, as its only and adjacent zones in and one We have been pursuing a radio-telemetry- representation of this Atlantic forest. That isolated site near Guayaquil, . Our based study and have developed the park consists primarily of swamp forest and radio-telemetry studies have revealed that techniques for capturing and radio-tagging contains very little of the upland sites that breeding pairs of these macaws use large, adult macaws and then monitoring their are required by almendro; no Great Green non-overlapping home ranges. After the movements through the difficult lowland Macaws nest in the park. In the absence of breeding season, they disperse from the rainforest habitat. We have a database on nesting ecology (nest site selection, nesting success, habitat use, overlap among breeding pairs), fledgling survival through the first year, foraging behaviour including diet, habitat use during the non-breeding season, and adult survival. We helped initiate a regional environmental awareness programme developed around building local pride in the macaw. This has heightened awareness of the plight of the macaw and its habitat among school children and the general public. A National Great Green Macaw Commission was formed in 1996 as a result of our discovering and publicising that the macaw and the almendro tree were being eradicated from Costa Rica. This organisation is made up of 13 governmental and non-governmental organisations with the common objective of protecting the macaw and sustainably managing its habitat. One of the Commission’s first accomplishments was to establish a legal decree that limits the extraction of the almendro, though even under this decree, the allowable harvest of Great Green Macaw. this species is not sustainable. Thanks to 6 ■ PsittaScene November 2002, No 53 legal action that we had undertaken against The size and location of the proposed the Ministry of Environment in 2001, Maquenque National Park and surrounding harvesting of the almendro has been biological corridor are based on scientific temporarily suspended by the Minister of data. The corridor will connect key Environment, until new technical studies habitats. The creation of a new national are undergone to determine the current park in Costa Rica’s northern zone would state of the population of this tree species also diversify the local economy, creating and its relationship with the Great Green opportunities in an economically-depressed Macaw clearly established. area that currently depends on limited- potential forestry and agricultural activities. Importance of habitat This area’s scenic rivers, rich biological Don't buy wild ! Save the Great Our efforts to focus attention on this area resources, and small town hospitality are all Green Macaw! sticker and a colouring have recently taken on added meaning attractions that will contribute to small- book for children produced as part of the because the last remaining nesting habitat scale ecotourism. The Maquenque National conservation education programme. for the species in Costa Rica (estimated to Park would also protect the Great Green be less than 10% of its original range) is Macaw population of Nicaragua, which Macaw festival in May located in a critical juncture of the maintains genetic interactions with the Due to this excellent collaboration, we Mesoamerican Biological Corridor. The Costa Rican population. decided to turn the yearly small-scale macaws’ remaining breeding habitat is We built an alliance with Fundación del Festival into the First Bilateral Macaw situated between Nicaragua’s Indio-Maíz Río, a Nicaraguan NGO working in Festival in Boca San Carlos, on the San Juan Biological Reserve and the large Southeast Nicaragua, along the San Juan River banks on the border with Nicaragua conservation complex in Costa Rica that River banks and the buffer-zone of Indio- (the San Juan River itself). Twenty six includes La Selva, Braulio Carillo National Maíz Biological Reserve. This co-operation organisations were involved. The Great Park, and other smaller interconnected gave birth in 2002 to a joint campaign titled Green Macaw Research and Conservation national parks, such as Volcán Poás Poáas “The Great Green Macaw, Pride of the San Project raised US$8,000 with the United and Juan Castro Blanco National Parks. At Juan River Basin”, including educational Nations Development Program (UNDP), the the local scale, the future integrity of La materials such as leaflets and calendars. Mesoamerican Biological Corridor and Selva, a small (around 1,500 hectares) Four workshops and field trips were private donors to finance the event. lowland biological field station, depends on organised in Indio-Maíz Biological This sum allowed us to bring 125 Costa the maintenance of biological connectivity Reserve’s buffer zone, Nicaragua. They Ricans and 125 Nicaraguans to the event, with the much larger Indio-Maíz Reserve. reached the Ministry of Environment and and to provide them with free At the regional scale, the area provides Natural Resources (MARENA), members transportation, food and lodging. Despite ecological linkage between highland and of the National Army’s outposts along the the rainy weather, and slippery muddy lowland ecosystems for species that San Juan River, local community leaders, roads, more than 500 people attended the migrate seasonally between these areas. At young people, schools, NGOs, local event, most of them coming from the continental scale, this area is the last government and researchers. A campaign surrounding communities. The mayor of remaining connection between Nicaragua to report macaws’ nests in Nicaragua was San Carlos (Costa Rica) and the mayor of and Costa Rica of the Mesoamerican launched in January 2002. (Nicaragua) opened the event Biological Corridor. As Costa Rica and Nicaragua’s population together, symbolically planting the In 2001, the Executive Committee of the increasingly recognise native charismatic ‘Almendro of Brotherhood’. Other San Juan-La Selva Biological Corridor was species like the Great Green Macaw, the activities included a beach volley formed. It consists of 15 organisations, programme will have major payoffs, in tournament, a drawing contest previously including the Tropical Science Center and terms of biological conservation and the organised with local schools, folk dancing, the Wildlife Conservation Society; they are enhanced commitment by the Costa Rican craft exhibition, music groups and play now responsible for implementing the population to conserving their featuring macaws and almendros from both Corridor (246,608 ha) and its associated exceptionally rich natural heritage. countries. The central piece of the Festival Maquenque National Park (30,359 ha). was the annual presentation of prizes for nest caretakers, with eighteen local farmers The protection goals of this effort are based Corridor concept and receiving awards. in large part on findings from biological research on habitat use by the Great Green zoning Due to perseverance through the years and a Macaw. continued awareness campaign in Costa In order to consolidate habitat into an Rica focused on the Great Green Macaw effective biological corridor, we propose a and conservation actions the newly elected three-level classification of public and Minister of the Environment, Carlos Manuel private lands within the corridor area: a Rodríguez, declared the establishment of core protected area (Maquenque National Maquenque National Park one of the Park); a series of corridor nuclei, or priority country's top priorities and promised to areas, that could serve as stepping stones inaugurate the new park on August 26, for species that depend on relatively large 2004, National Parks National Day. He blocks for corridor functionality; and the agreed to politically back up our initiative to basic corridor matrix, that would surround reach its goals, a new state of mind the core and nuclei areas. compared to Minister Elizabeth Odio’s last This zoning is designed to protect the full administration. We have now all the support complement of native species and fulfill needed on our side and will use the next basic corridor functions of connectivity, four years to do whatever be possible to Tambor Lagoon, home of the West Indian while maximising compatible sustainable establish Maquenque National Park, with Manatee, within the area of the proposed forestry uses and benefits from the help of the World Trust and Maquenque National Park . environmental services. other organisations. PsittaScene November 2002, No 53 ■ 7