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 committed to the long-term protection of their land 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 owned by Friends of the Osa, but also adjacent and nearby properties (in yellow below) that pertain to the Wildlife Refuge.

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.

Local Patrols and Monitoring Efforts: Beginning in 2004 , Friends of the Osa identified a need to monitor activities outside of the national parks on the Osa. As a result, for the last 3 years, we have supported MINAE guards in a local-level patrol effort focused on safeguarding wildlife and forests in the southern corridor outside of Corcovado NP from illegal poaching and logging.