Manuel Antonio National Park residents help save Costa Rica squirrel monkeys

Cute, clever, playful and tiny, the Grey Crowned Central American Squirrel Monkey (Saimiri oerstedii citrinellus) known as the Mono Titi in Spanish, is the smallest primate in Costa Rica. Measuring only 9.8 to 14 inches in height and weighing 1.7 to 2.4 pounds, these little monkeys are sadly threatened with extinction due to loss of habitat from human development.

There are five squirrel monkey species in Central and South America. In Costa Rica, the Grey Crowned Central American Squirrel Monkey can be found only in small pockets along the Central and Southern Pacific Coast. Once listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN Red List, this species of squirrel monkey “improved” its status to Endangered in 2008, due in part to efforts by the Titi Conservation Alliance in Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica.

Concerned residents and tourism business owners in the Manuel Antonio/Quepos area of the Central Pacific formed the Titi Conservation Alliance in 2001 to protect the endangered squirrel monkeys and restore their dwindling habitat. They decided to take a stand when they saw how the intensely rapid development around the Manuel Antonio National Park was adversely affecting the monkeys.

Squirrel monkeys spend 99% of their lives in trees, living in large groups called “troops”. When they are unable to roam freely and intermingle among other troops, they are forced to breed within their own small group which results in genetic disabilities and the monkeys’ demise. Titi Conservation Alliance has involved local schools and businesses to work with property-owners along the Naranjo River basin to create a biological corridor into the Manuel Antonio National Park to connect populations of monkeys. They so far have planted more than 35,000 indigenous trees that the omnivorous monkeys use for food, and plan to add another 10,000 trees to expand the corridor.

“We restore the biological corridors and we work a lot with the schools to educate the primary schoolchildren and high school students in Quepos and Manuel Antonio about the importance of conservation, wildlife and water,” commented Guillermo Piedra Gonzalez, board member for the Titi Conservation Alliance.

Piedra is CEO of the local sustainable residential community Portasol Rainforest & Ocean View Living, in the coastal mountains between Manuel Antonio National Park and Dominical, which protects 1,300 acres of rainforest that connect into area biological corridors.

Portasol Rainforest & Ocean View Living is very active in its Central Pacific Coast community in conservation, community education and projects, including the Titi Conservation Alliance. The Costa Rica sustainable community has Costa Rica property for sale and offers tourism hospitality with unique Costa Rica vacation rentals.

Article by Shannon Farley

Costa Rica sustainable development helps schools, youth, turtles & monkeys

A torrential thunderstorm provided the dramatic background for a small group gathered last Friday night at Portasol Rainforest & Ocean View Living in Costa Rica for a charity dinner to benefit their local Portalon Elementary School. A 5-star gourmet 4-course dinner, created by visiting award-winning chef Randy Siles of Hotel Tropico Latino in Santa Teresa Beach, Costa Rica, was served with wine by candlelight to invitees who came from as far away as the capital city of San Jose.

The Costa Rica sustainable development of Portasol is dedicated to its social responsibility program. Over the past 10 years, Portasol has worked actively within its community on the Central Pacific Coast, between Manuel Antonio and Dominical, on conservation, community education and projects, and small business help.

“If the community benefits from our projects, we benefit. We want to help create a better life and opportunities and education for our community,” noted Portasol CEO, Guillermo Piedra Gonzalez.

The Sept. 19 charity event raised $1,050 for the local school, which is gathering funds to build a roof over the children’s play area for sun and rain protection. There are 107 students attending the school from the agriculture town of 450 persons. Piedra, who is on the Portalon School board, said that over the past decade, Portasol has lent a hand with the school’s computer lab, conservation education, recycling program, sustainability program – on on-site hydroponic garden provides fresh vegetables for the school kids’ lunches – and holds an annual fundraiser with Portasol property owners to provide textbooks for the school.

In the larger area community, Portasol supports the Matapalo Beach Sea Turtle Conservation Project run by the NGO Association of Volunteers for Service in Protected Areas in Costa Rica (ASVO); and the Titi Conservation Alliance in Manuel Antonio that is restoring biological corridors for the endangered Squirrel Monkeys (“Mono Titi” in Spanish) by planting 85,000 trees to help solve the problem of in-breeding among the monkeys in their development-reduced habitat in the Manuel Antonio National Park.

Additionally, Piedra is the vice president of the Association for Prevention, Security & Peace in Aguirre County (COPAZA), which operates a modern dramatic theatre in the town of Quepos to involve at-risk youth in extracurricular activities. The program also helps drug addicts seek rehabilitation.

To contribute to Portasol’s social responsibility program, or to get involved in any of these programs, contact Portasol at info@portasol.net. Portasol offers Costa Rica vacation rentals and Costa Rica property for sale.

Article by Shannon Farley