MINAE-trained Guardaparques, sponsored by Friends of the Osa with the support of our donors, patrol the area near the Rio Piro to confront illegal poaching in the protected Corcovado-Matapalo Corrido.r

April 2006 - After more than two years of vigilant patrols and several key arrests, important wildlife species are rebounding in the biological corridor that stretches from Corcovado to Matapalo (CMC). Since January of 2004, Friends of the Osa  has been funding three guardaparques, or park guards, to aggressively and systematically  confront poaching in the CMC, which serves as a buffer zone for Corcovado National Park. Our goal is to provide landscape-scale species such as jaguars, peccaries, tapirs and  macaws with the continuous, protected habitat that will allow them to flourish in the southern part of the Osa. We are proud to report that the Osa’s endangered species are returning to the region!

The FOO-supported guardaparques, Javier López Aguilar, Alberto Cruz Estrada, and Alexander Briones Arias, are trained by MINAE, Costa Rica’s Ministry of Energy and the Environment, and operate exclusively between Corcovado and Matapalo, providing coverage seven days a week. As a result of their efforts, white-lipped peccary and tapir are now spotted regularly along the corridor, unheard of in the last 15 years, when hunting and poaching in the protected zone was largely unchecked. Jaguars, whose declining population has been sequestered deep within the park, have been sighted roaming on the beaches.

We need your help to continue the guardaparque program in 2006-2007! To find out how to support our park guards, or for information about contributing to the Corcovado-Matapalo biological  corridor project, please contact us at info@osaconservation.org.