Friends of the Osa's Conservation and Land Stewardship program is central to the organization and draws on the following strategies to protect the biodiversity of the Osa:

1). Creation of private protected areas through conservation buyers and land purchase, conservation easements, and expansion of the existing protected areas such as the ONWR (Osa National Wildlife Refuge).

2). Management of existing private lands and protected areas through direct property management and stewardship, support for MINAE's vigilance efforts, and support of volunteer patrolling or COVIRENAs.

3). Ecological restoration of degraded habitats with focus on riparian corridors and use of native species.

The Osa National Wildlife Refuge & the Corcovado-Matapalo Biological Corridor:

The effort to conserve land in the biological corridor connecting Corcovado National Park and Cabo Matapalo began in 1991 when a group of landowners joined together to establish the Osa National Wildlife Refuge, ONWR. These landowners made a commitment to never develop the land within the refuge and to put it under the long-term protection from development by adopting ecological easements.

More than 15 years later, Friends of the Osa is active in spearheading efforts to continuously improve the management of these private lands. Within the Corcovdo-Matapalo biological corridor, Friends of the Osa works with land owners to provide oversight and effective land stewardship to private properties within the Osa National Wildlife Refuge. This includes not only the 800 acres originally owned by Friends of the Osa, but also nearby properties (the yellow area on the map) that pertain to the Wildlife Refuge. Recently, with the help of other conservation organizations like the Nature Conservancy, Conservation International, American Bird Conservancy, Beneficia Foundation, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, and the Blue Moon Fund, Friends of the Osa purchased over 1,600 acres of land adjacent to its property.  This makes the total area under FOO Conservation at least 4,000 acres.

The Refuge is a nationally recognized protected area category that allows for multiple use of lands within the overall context of conservation. Ensuring the integrity of the lands within the ONWR is crucial for conservation because this geography provides the continuity of habitat that keystone species like the jaguar, tapir and white-lipped peccary need to survive and flourish on the Osa. The property supports approximately 2,000 acres of old-growth rainforest Ecological Restoration of the 500 acres in Pochote and Teak Plantation offer an excellent opportunity for native species reforestation to increase wildlife habitat.