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The Canadian Organization for Tropical Education and Rainforest Conservation (COTERC)

COTERC provides leadership in education, research, conservation, and the educated use of natural resources in the tropics.

The Canadian Organization for Tropical Education and Rainforest Conservation (COTERC) is a registered Canadian non-profit charitable organization based in Pickering, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1991, COTERC operates in both Canada and Costa Rica. In Canada, our Board of Directors are biologists, accountants, educators, environmentalists, zoo professionals, media professionals -- all committed and working actively to protect tropical rainforests. In Costa Rica, we are based at the Caño Palma Biological Station.

Caño Palma Biological Station is situated approximately 8 kilometres (5 miles) north of the village of Tortuguero on Costa Rica's north-eastern coast. The Tortuguero area is an ancient flood plain covered by lowland Atlantic tropical wet forest and is biologically the richest ecosystem in Costa Rica. Average daily temperature is about 26 degrees Celsius and rainfall may exceed 6,000 mm per annum.

The Biological Station is located within the Barra Colorado Wildlife Refuge adjacent to Caño Palma, a narrow, palm-filled canal that separates the Biological Station from the Caribbean Sea by a mere 200-300 metres. The globally endangered green, leatherback, hawksbill and loggerhead sea turtles come ashore to nest on beaches accessible from the station. There are no roads in the area, and visitors to Caño Palma arrive by boat via a network of rivers and canals. The station has a large covered boat dock with a lookout designed for viewing wildlife. The compound consists of a lush lawn and gardens with many varieties of tropical plants and shrubs. There is a small pond near the dock, which is used by the local wildlife. The station is surrounded by secondary forest in transition, with primary forest just behind.

Much of the surrounding area is protected under Costa Rica's parks and reserves system, with Tortuguero National Park (18,900 square hectares) and the Barra Colorado Refuge (92,000 square hectares), forming a vast corridor, which connects with conserved forest in Nicaragua to the north. Our goal is to extend our efforts in neo tropical conservation to extend beyond the station's 40 square hectares.

By protecting rainforest structure and function, we help to sustain its biological diversity and the wealth of resources which are enormous benefit to the well-being of humankind.

Education and Conservation

COTERC engages local villages in education and community conservation programs to enhance rainforest understanding, respect and conservation. Education in Canada and Costa Rica is achieved through hands on conservation activities and development of free teachers resource manuals. COTERC volunteers present information on rainforest conservation and biodiversity to school and groups. The Caño Palma Biological Station facilitates national and international schools, professors and biologists in conducting field-based tropical biology studies.

Conservation Projects

Marine Turtle Monitoring and Community Conservation Program

Nesting turtles and their freshly-laid eggs face a serious threat of poaching and increasing coastal development on an unprotected and previously unstudied beach located within the Barra del Colorado Wildlife Refuge. Our program responds to an urgent need for the protection of marine turtles whose conservation status is endangered or critically endangered.

Goals: Improve understanding of leatherbacks, green, loggerhead and hawksbill marine turtle abundance and nesting patterns; Increase awareness and improved conservation education amongst local residents and businesses about human disturbance, threats to sea turtle survival and stewardship actions; Reduce poaching and human-induced mortality and disturbance, and establish cooperative and collaborative networks with other organizations to share monitoring results and conservation success stories.

Approach: Turtle monitoring from March to November following a standardized protocol by trained staff and volunteers; Design and distribution of public awareness information to schools and lodges; Community outreach, conservation education and hands-on stewardship activities; Engage national students through our Scholarship Program, and implementation of protection strategies to safeguard nesting females and nests.

Highlights: Annual studies on the status and trends of nesting turtles and threats; Graduate studies examining alternative livelihoods for poachers and ways to integrate with marine turtle conservation efforts; Increased acceptance of conservation principles by local villages and businesses; Participation by approximately 100 volunteers over 300 monitoring days each year.

Marine Turtle Conservation Challenges: Funding to sustain and extended beach monitoring and protection efforts; Improved conservation education, understanding and appreciation of marine turtle biology and conservation; Capacity building and development of sustainable economic alternatives for turtle poachers who truly depend on the resource, as well as integrating conservation biology into the decision-making process, and establish national/international partnerships so that monitoring results shared for research and conservation protection strategies.

Time Volunteers Needed: March to November: Marine Turtle Monitoring and Community Conservation Program

Resident Breeding Bird Survey

Tropical birds comprise a large portion of the world's total biological diversity, yet knowledge of the reproductive behaviour and ecology of many species inhabiting this rainforest ecosystem is poorly understood.

Goals: Increase the knowledge of bird ecology, reproduction and population dynamics; Record information of the location and habitat type of breeding sites; Increase awareness of bird biodiversity and conservation amongst local people, and provide research opportunities and exchange information with national and international biologists.

Approach: Conduct area searches in several aquatic and terrestrial study sites; Document location, species, clutch size, hatching and fledging success rates; Mist-net, band and collect biometric information, and document spatial and temporal trends and habitat preference.

Highlights: Observations of over 200 active nests and descriptive life histories in progress; Publication on the nesting behaviour of the rufescent tiger heron, and involvement of national and international students, volunteers and local residents.

Time Volunteers Needed: Year round: Resident Breeding Bird Survey Program

Migratory and Resident Bird Monitoring Program

Approximately 350 bird species are found inhabiting the forests, lagoons, canals and beaches surrounding Caño Palma Biological Station. Roughly one-third of these are migrant species returning from North America to spend much of the year in the tropics. Our monitoring program has been ongoing since 1991 resulting in an improved understanding of migrational movement, population status and trends.

Goals: Maintain a long-term monitoring program to study migrant and tropical land and pelagic birds; Provide training opportunities and exchange information with international students, biologists and conservation organizations, and produce a database available for research and conservation purposes.

Approach: This Integrated Bird Monitoring Program combines the use of fine-meshed mist nets to capture and band birds with area searches and migration counts into a long-term monitoring and training program following the recommendations of the Partners in Flight - Aves de las Americas.

Highlights: A total of 3,822 captures from 113 bird species from 1994 to 2006; The most common captured migrant species are Alder (Empidonax alnorum) and Willow Flycatcher (Empidonax traillii), Northern Waterthrush (Seiurus noveboracensis), Swainson's Thrush (Catharus ustulatus), Kentucky Warbler (Empidonax traillii) and Wood Thrush (Hylocichla mustelina); A banded Gray-cheeked Thrush (Catharus minimus) was re-trapped near Toronto, Ontario 18 months following its capture at the station; North American populations of Prothonotary warblers (Protonotaria citrea) are found in concentrated numbers, and monitoring and banding reveal populations of White-Collared Manakins (Manacus candei) with individuals of at least 10 years old.

Time Volunteers Needed: Late August to mid May: Migratory and Resident Bird Monitoring Program

Large Mammal and Primate Monitoring Program

There are numerous project opportunities in the large mammal and primate program to accommodate volunteers and students.

Goals: Establish a comprehensive data on the presence and absence of the large mammals and each of the tree primate species ranging in an inhabiting the lowland rainforest of the Caño Palma and Tortuguero region.

Approach: Volunteers will follow a standardized protocol while conducting presence/absence data along the black water canals and establish forest transects of Caño Palma. Project data provides an improved understanding of demographic parameters, distribution, habitat use, and foraging behaviour.

Highlights: Three Costa Rican primate species are found to inhabit the area, including; mantled howlers (Alouatta palliata), white-faced capuchins (Cebus capucinus) and spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi); other large mammals include the jaguar (Panthera onca), the tapir (Tapirus bairdii), and white-lipped peccary (Tayassu pecari) and many others.

Time Volunteers Needed: All year: Large Mammal and Primate Monitoring Program

Saving the Planet one Acre at a time...

The Save an Acre project is a special and dedicated way of promoting conservation through the acquisition, protection and sustainable use of threatened habitat. 100% of your contribution goes directly to a land trust to buy land for the wildlife reserve. The money is held in the trust until we reach our goal of raising enough money to purchase land presently available.

Click: http://www.coterc.org/donate.html and help us to save this precious piece of our planet!

External Links

• Barra del Colorado Wildlife Refuge, Área de Conservación Tortguero
• Barra del Colorado Wildfe Refuge at Costa Rica National Parks.
• Tortuguero National Park, Área de Conservación Tortguero
• Tortuguero National Park at Costa Rica National Parks.