Chasing Waterfalls and Reforestation Efforts

Callie Ficek (author) standing in front of an Ajo tree estimated to be 500 years old (Photo by Lara Bogdanovich)

Today was an early morning. We woke up to the sounds of songbirds and cicadas, had a quick oatmeal breakfast, and headed straight to the cool, crisp Rio Piro to do our practice stream surveys in preparation for tomorrow’s surveys. We went over data collection and the equipment used to determine parameters such as pH, turbidity, and temperature. After our short trip to the river, we traveled back to camp for our Natural History lectures: Tropical Ecology and Biogeography. Come mid-day, both our leaders had errands to run which left us a good amount of time to do work and explore. A majority of us wanted to hang out with the locals and travelers at the Piro Research Station. One of the staff members, Charlie, invited us to join him on his group trip to a beautiful waterfall located a few miles from Piro, tucked along side the beach. Easily one of the best parts of our trip so far. On our way, we found an anteater (Northern Tamandua) climbing a tree. The walk on the beach was dream-like; with scarlet macaws, hermit crabs, tall coconut palms and a consistent salty mist in the distance. We followed a stream up to the waterfall where the unique, calcified, textured rocks opened up to a 15 meter fall. We all stood under it for a refresher after being in the hot sun. The water beat down on us and we all joked about this being nature’s massage. Our short trip turned into a much longer trip, and on our way back, we spotted several squirrel monkeys jumping back and fourth from tree to tree. They are quite the daredevils, even the babies that are struggling to keep up. Now we sit here, prepping dinner by the candle light and looking at our pictures from throughout the day. A perfect “pura vida” kind of day.

Max, the director of the reforestation program here at Osa Conservation gave us our first, personal tour. He took us on the nearby trails and pointed out various trees and plants that are big contributors to reforestation. He also discussed how they classify different trees that are plentiful in the primary as well as secondary forests; for example, the larger but short-lived trees found more so in the open were referred to as the “rockstars” or pioneers (class A).

On another note, while both our Round River leaders are knowledgable and make exceptional teachers, I had a whole different type of appreciation and interest hearing  about this work from a local—especially one with so much passion for the forest and gratitude for our contribution. I loved hearing about the Zamia cycad that has sap so adhesive that it could potentially rejoin a wound; acting similarly to a bandaid. Or even the Symphonia globulifera tree that when cut, released a neon-yellow sap, or the “suicide tree” that would expel all its energy to produce one seed and would die shortly after. As Max said, “there is no recipe for reforestation”. It is about getting to know the land and making sense of it which is a big part of the academics in this program. I am especially excited to go on more tours with the locals and Osa staff because they ARE this land and you can learn so much from them all.

Through the majority of the day we conducted our first real stream surveys on the Rio Piro river with Beatriz, the volunteer coordinator at Osa. The mission of the surveys were to monitor signs of the Neotropical River Otters by testing sites where we found scat as well as including random points for comparative data. It was a long morning, consisting of a lot of repetitive work while trudging though the river, slipping and sliding, constantly dumping the water out of our boots with sadly, no actual otter to be found. Though on a side note, Mateo did spot a rare, blue-headed manakin bird! As a team though we worked effectively and I would say the day went smoothly. Before our delicious mac-and-cheese dinner (courtesy of Ross—he’s a wizard in the kitchen), another group joined our camp which expectedly has been challenging in regards to sharing space (though I do love their Scottish accents). I chatted with two girls, Eli and Kirsty, about their program, home in Scotland and casual stuff that anyone high school age would talk about. We laughed about their infected mosquito bites which they referred to as their “jelly beans”and poked fun at each other’s accents. Then it started pouring—the most rain we have seen since we got to Costa Rica. Crazy thunder and lightening (though a beautiful view in the open canopy)– everything getting PUMMELED by the rain. They scattered to their area of camp, we scattered back to ours. In fact, we had our Conservation Biology class discussion  huddled close together with our tents, yelling to each other over the loud sounds of rain.

Now I lay here in my tent—cramped in with all my musky gear, class work that is constantly moist from the humidity in the air, and weird sounds that I’m still unfamiliar with. The only light in this whole camp is from my laptop. I recall that the girls from Scotland had asked me how long we, as a group, have known each other or been friends and my answer was of course, literal– 10 days. But in 10 days we have learned so much about each other as a group, never mind Costa Rica, just strangers getting to know strangers and I think we make a great—in the words of Taylor Swift, “squad”. I am baffled by how little time has gone by and we have already grown so much. I am grateful for this experience but importantly for the people (aka our squad).

Rain, rain, go away! No really… I could use some dry clothes. Today we started our reforestation plots but unfortunately got rained out shortly after the first few. Again, we had class later in the day but nothing much to report on the rainy days. I must admit that the sounds of the rain on the rooftop is one of the most peaceful sounds. Along with the sounds of our talented crew/ “squad” playing the ukulele at camp.

Another early morning for Round River as we made our way back to the reforestation plots to conduct our species surveys—riding our way there in the back of a staff member’s truck. Luckily there was no rain while we were out in the field. My group included two girls who are volunteering at the Osa; both very nice. We conducted at least six different plots to finish our work from the previous day. Afterwards we had our Conservation Bio class discussion regarding issues of conservation in Costa Rica and on another note, there was a party down the road in a local bar tonight for  Michael’s (a member of the Osa staff whom we met on the first day here) birthday! We met up with the girls from earlier today, our friend Charlie who brought us to the waterfall, the “bubbly”, ball of energy known as Beatriz, etc. It was an awesome time. We learned Latin American dances, danced with friends and locals for hours—a much needed break from our hard work.

It ended up being a slow day since we stayed up passed our bedtime, switched leaders, finished our Grinnells and did more readings for class later today. Grinnells are endless; recalling the details from the day, etc—it’s a lot of work. But on a side note, Beatriz is currently feeding us Gallito strawberry candy— it’s wonderful, she’s wonderful. Yay candy!! I am enjoying this productive, slow-paced day.

Sending a happy Fourth of July to all our friends and family back home! Earlier in the day, we met another member of the Osa staff, Juan Carlos, who gave us an introduction to big cat surveying and camera trapping, partially on the Osa. He showed us videos and photos of Jaguars, Pumas, Ocelots, Agouti, Peccary, etc. from the past few years. We set out to retrieve the SD card from one camera so we could view more current photos. It was super cool–there’s definitely a certain feeling of power and amazement knowing that you once walked on a trail that a rare jaguar once did too. The disappearances of big cats in the tropics is not totally understood, as we have learned about in class. However some examples such as people poaching cats for the skin trade or because the cats were munching on the local farm’s cattle, as well as the decrease in their natural prey such as the white-lipped peccary (because apparently they are good eating and fun to hunt) are just some reasons why populations have decreased. But on a positive note, there are multiple projects and future research being done to alter these issues.  For example, Osa Conservation is studying the cat’s diets in order to monitor what is eaten and/or needed to keep populations going. Surprisingly, they can remove the organic material of scat to find the fur and claws of their prey and therefore, ID the animal’s diet. There are also organizations that are focused on forest restoration to fix the problem because having a healthy, supporting forests means more herbivores, and more herbivores means more food for the cats. And on a final note, again after class, we cheered off the fourth with a trip to the beach; even sat in my own personal tide pool that was carved perfectly like a jacuzzi. I think the beach could be one of my favorite spots here for sure. OH and we also got to watch the spider monkeys for some time today— the monkeys are another easy favorite of mine. These Chicky cookies here, maybe a close-second fave—thanks Mateo!!