Project Hometree, La Tejona, Costa Rica

Ten years ago La Reserva was nearly all pasture land. Natural reforestation has allowed most of the property to once again become home to a wide variety of flora and fauna that needed the food and protection provided by forest and was absent in pastures. It has been exciting to watch the return of local and migrating birds and to see an increase in the population of sloths and howler monkeys. Roberta’s blog, which can be found at http//:lrff.org, notes when new species are spotted out in the forest. But it appeared that the white-faced (Capuchin) monkey which once thrived in the area was gone for good. The statistics about the declining population of all four types of monkeys in Costa Rica was a sad confirmation of that assumption. All four species are now on the endangered species list in Costa Rica. Last year when Roberta saw a single white-faced monkey there was a good deal of speculation about whether these intelligent primates were, in fact, coming back. However, as Roberta said at the time: “One monkey can’t do it alone!” So this year there has been much rejoicing at the sighting of a pair of Capuchin monkeys within the primary forest of La Reserva. There is great hope that they will be the beginning of a family group that will grow and occupy a niche in this forest preserve.

The last eight (8) hectares of La Reserva won’t return to natural forest without help. The imported African grass has formed a matt so dense that seedlings cannot take hold. Your help is needed to fund this project that will create more forest for all the species that thrive in this area, including the white-faced monkey.

Links:

• We are the Gardeners
• Project Hometree
• Monkey business