Fondo de Biodiversidad Sostenible
The Fondo de Biodiversidad Sostenible (FBS) is a program of the Costa Rican Fundación Banco Ambiental that strives to conserve private lands through a variety of conservation initiatives. One of their key programs is to provide financial incentives to private land owners to protect and conserve the forests on their properties in four major geographic regions throughout the country. Our first monitoring project with FBS took place in Guanacaste where we registered a great variety of species including jaguars, dantas, and white lipped peccaries.
Mi Laboratorio Científico: Matapalo y su Bosque
In 2019, the Matapalo School was awarded one of the two top prizes for the Fabricando Sueños contest, organized by Fundación Gente. The contest invited school boards all across Costa Rica to submit proposals for innovative educational projects. Matapalo’s project, which focused on using camera traps as an environmental education tool, was awarded 5,000,000 CRC. GWM participated in the project by giving the students demonstrations on the use of camera traps, led several field trips with students to place cameras in the forest, and we also created several video compliations for the students to study the results of the cameras and the wildlife that lives in their community. GWM continues to support this project on a volunteer basis.
Hacienda Pinilla
Hacienda Pinilla, located between the beaches of Avellanas and Tamarindo, is a 4,500 acre property that consists of exquisite tropical dry forests, rivers and lagoons. Our monitoring programs have recorded a wide variety of animals on the property.
Costa Elena
Costa Elena, a 4,000 acre+ development, located on the northern Pacific Coast of Guanacaste is home to the Dreams resort. It is bordered by the rich landscape of the Guanacaste Conservation Area (ACG), a UNESCO World Heritage site. The property consists of spectacular ocean and mountain views and stunning tropical dry forest that is home to many species of wildlife.
Las Ventanas, Playa Grande
Las Ventanas is a 380-acre private neighborhood straddling El Cerro Almendro between two of Costa Rica’s most famous beaches: Playa Grande and Playa Conchal. Settled along the North Pacific, their ocean-view properties display southern vistas of Las Baulas National Marine Park.
Las Catalinas
Las Catalinas is a beach town that is being developed on the coast in Guanacaste. The town is surrounded by more than 1,000 acres of stunning tropical dry forest that is home to a wide variety of spectacular wildlife. We are partnering with Las Catalinas to document their years of conservation efforts in the forest surrounding the town.
Hotel Sugar Beach
The beautiful Hotel Sugar Beach is situated on 25 acres of tropical dry forest in Potrero, Guanacaste. We are working with the hotel to create a species list of the animals living on their property as part of their commitment to environmental conservation.
La Paz Community School
La Paz Community School is a non-profit bilingual school located within the 900 acre community of Mar Vista in Brasilito, Costa Rica. Guanacaste Wildlife Monitoring is teaming up with La Paz to create the Wildlife and Technology Club, an extracurricular club for elementary school students, to study wildlife within the community of Mar Vista using camera traps.
Monkey Park Foundation
Monkey Park Foundation is wildlife rehabilitation and release center located in Portegolpe, Costa Rica. Guanacaste Wildlife Monitoring has been running a camera trap project aimed at better understanding the wildlife on the property since 2014. To date, more than 70 different species of animals have been documented on the property.
Hacienda El Viejo National Wildlife Refuge
Hacienda El Viejo National Wildlife Refuge is a 2,812 acre private wildlife refuge located near Filadelfia, Costa Rica. Guanacaste Wildlife Monitoring is working with biologist Rocio Fernandez to complete a yearlong study of the refuge’s wildlife using camera traps as part of their new 10 year management plan.