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DEFORESTATION, THE THIRD TIME AROUND

The region where Hacienda Barú National Wildlife Refuge is located, in southern Costa Rica, has been deforested twice in the past, both times by humans intent on producing food. The first deforestation ended when the indigenous agruculturalists disappeared, marking the start of a natural reforestation of the land. The second deforestation ended  when the business of catering to ecotourism and bird watching became more profitable than cattle ranching. However, there are strong indications that another human activity, which, in the short run, is more profitable than ecotourism, is threatening to bring on a third deforestation of the region, thus killing the goose that lays the golden eggs.

At the end of the last ice age, about 12,000 years ago, the climate along what is now the southern Pacific coast of Costa Rica, was cooler, and the vegetation more closely resembled that of the present day Cerro de la Muerte. Over the next 5000 to 7000 years the climate warmed, and the environment went through a transition, eventually becoming the tropical wet forest that has dominated the area for the last 3000 to 4000 years.

Though the region has certainly been inhabited by indigenous groups since about 8000 BC, the earlier occupants were nomadic hunter gathers who probably had little impact on the environment. Beginning about 200 BC we find the first evidence of early agriculturalists, a group called the Aguas Buenas People. They were few and probably had only a minor impact on the wet forest. About 700 AD all signs of the Aguas Buenas phase disappear from the archeological record and another culture called the Chiriqui replaced them. Over the next 800 years the Chriqui became quite numerous and their agricultural practices certainly had a major impact on the environment. We do not know how many they were or how much land they deforested, but we do know that the Chiriqui people inhabited, not only the lowlands and rolling hills, but also steep and broken areas that are today covered with primary forest. We can surmise that they must have deforested a very large percentage of the region in order to support their agriculture and feed their population. Then they suddenly disappeared. When the first Spanish explorers visited the region in 1522 there were no people at all between the Barú River and the Savegre River. We can only speculate on the reasons for this, but for our discussion here the significance is that the rainforest had about 500 years in which to regenerate before it was again threatened, this time by the arrival of settlers in the early 1900s.

Victor Sibaja, Marvin Espinosa, Bautista Ceciliano and Hipolito Villegas, were among the first who came to this virgin zone to carve a farm out of the wilderness. Armed only with hand tools, such as machetes and axes, the early pioneers were limited in the amount of land they could deforest. As time passed more settlers entered the region, new technology became available and people exchanged their axes and oxen for chain saws and bulldozers. Raising cattle was easier than farming but required more land. The insatiable hunger for ranch land continued until the early 1980’s when deforestation reached its peak. The original forest had been reduced to a mere fragment of its former extension. However, a few years later, toward the end of the decade, the tide began to flow in the other direction.

The recovery process began on Hacienda Barú in 1979 when the decision was made to convert 30 hectares (74 acres) of pasture land to trees. At the time I had no idea that the hacienda would, one day, become a popular ecotourism destination in Costa Rica. In fact, in the late 1970s, I had never even heard the term “ecological toursim.” I had, however, heard of reforestation, and thought it was the right thing to do on a steep hillside pasture. I knew nothing about it, and looked for advice from knowledgeable sources. One of those sources was the Tropical Science Center. There I was told about allowing the forest to regenerate naturally and how that was more effective in preventing erosion and providing wildlife habitat, than replanting with commercially valuable species. I learned how a monoculture, though very efficient in the production of timber, tends to leave the soil bare and vulnerable to erosion. When a single species of tree is planted at high density, little sunlight penetrates to soil level to fuel the under story plants that normally thrive there. These are important because they hold the soil together while providing shelter for wildlife. I made the decision to use the natural method of returning the pasture to forest. The land bordered a large primary forest which served as a vast seed bank, providing genetic material for the natural succession process. All we did was quit chopping the weeds. Mother Nature did everything else.

The 1980s were years of change on the south pacific coast, and some of the changes tended to stimulate land owners to abandon pastures and promote the restoration of forest. Work was begun on the new highway, the costanera sur, from Dominical to Puerto Cortes, the bridge was built across the Barú River, the road from San Isidro was paved and electrical energy became available in many places. These changes made the zone more accessible and, as a result, the region experienced its first taste of tourism, mostly ecological tourism. The influx of visitors brought with it a corresponding increase in land values. As most potential buyers were foreigners who had no interest in raising cattle, but who loved seeing monkeys and toucans, land with secondary forest sold faster than pasture land. Property owners began abandoning their pastures and allowing Mother Nature to take her course in much the same manner as it had been done on Hacienda Barú.  At the same time, the environmental movement was growing, and in 1987 the Asociación de Amigos de la Naturaleza (ASANA) was founded. The greening of the south pacific was in full swing, and tropical forest was rapidly returning to the region.

The decade of the nineties brought a dramatic change to the landscape. Ninety percent of the ranch and farm land disappeared and was replaced by secondary forest. Wildlife corridors came into vogue and environmental organizations sprung up throughout the region. The Path of the Tapir Biological Corridor project was born and communities worked together to help connect natural reserves and protected areas. By the year 2000 there were five National Wildlife Refuges and one National Park between the Savegre River and the Terraba River. The increase in forest facilitated wildlife migration, and species that had long been absent began to reappear and spread. The region had evolved into a veritable tropical paradise and ecotourism and bird watching had become very popular activities.

As we have seen, this region has been twice deforested, once by indigenous people and once by pioneers intent on farming and cattle ranching. And the land has recovered twice, the first time completely, over a period of 400 years, and the second time only partially, over a period of about 20 years. Recently, environmental groups have become alarmed at indications of a new wave of deforestation and habitat destruction, this time from real estate development rather than cattle ranching. The Path of the Tapir Biological Corridor is being interrupted and cut into smaller and smaller pieces by bulldozers carving roads through forests and leveling off hilltops. As local citizens watch the destruction of the goose that lays the golden eggs, many have become concerned and are searching for ways to prevent this third wave of deforestation. At this time a regional zoning law seems to be the most feasible answer, and the idea is quickly gathering support from communities and local governments. Hopefully this region, which is now being called “Costa Ballena,” will  be able to find an acceptable middle ground between development, environmental protection and ecological tourism, thus becoming a model for other developing areas in Costa Rica.