Dispatches from the Field & Project Summaries
Project Summary: The Leatherback Trust, Costa Rica
June 4, 2010
Of all the different species of sea turtles, the leatherback is the largest and one of the most endangered. Typically weighing between 500 and 1,500 pounds, leatherback turtles are truly prehistoric creatures; fossils dating back 100 million years have been found.
From October through February, leatherbacks come ashore to lay their eggs on Playa Grande and other nearby beaches in Guanacaste Province on the northwestern coast of Costa Rica. Although 20 years ago as many as 1,500 leatherbacks nested here, the number has declined precipitously to a low of 28 turtles in 2008-2009. The turtles are threatened by a range of factors including climate change, natural predation, land development, and, until the creation of Las Baulas National Park, human poaching.
Fortunately, efforts to save the turtles are well established at Playa Grande. At the center of these activities is the Leatherback Trust, a nonprofit organization founded in 2001 by Dr. James R. Spotila of Drexel University and Dr. Frank Paladino of Indiana Purdue University. Although they originally began coming to Playa Grande for scientific reasons, both Spotila and Paladino have been involved with turtle conservation in Costa Rica for decades and were instrumental in the establishment of Las Baulas Marine National Park in 1991. The park protects three of the main nesting beaches for leatherback turtles: Playa Grande, Playa Ventanas, and Playa Langosta. Together these beaches stretch approximately six kilometers (roughly 3.75 miles) along the Pacific Ocean near the Tamarindo Estuary. Spotila and Paladino founded the Leatherback Trust to save leatherbacks and other sea turtles from extinction because they did not see any existing organizations that could play a similar role, particularly in the Playa Grande area.
Science remains at the heart of the Leatherback Trust’s work. The organization is closely affiliated with the Goldring Marine Biology Station at Playa Grande, where Spotila and Paladino are the lead scientists. Researchers come to Goldring from all over the world to conduct research on the turtles. From October through February, researchers – many of them graduate students who come to Playa Grande for the season – patrol the beaches every evening from three hours before until three hours after the high tide, looking for turtles. The station also operates a hatchery on the beach to help the leatherback population recover. Eggs that are laid below the high tide line or in other exposed areas are moved to the hatchery, where they are placed in holes that replicate the conditions of the original nest but are at less risk for destruction. The research generated through the Goldring Station’s activities has formed the basis for dozens of theses and scientific papers, as well as the backbone for the management of Las Baulas National Marine Park. Outside the nesting season the Goldring Station often hosts researchers studying other aspects of the national park and the surrounding area.
The Leatherback Trust is funded largely through the Earthwatch Institute, and Earthwatch volunteers are crucial for the organization’s work. Throughout the nesting season, the Leatherback Trust hosts volunteers from the Earthwatch Institute, who join the researchers in patrolling the beaches and assist with other monitoring and conservation activities. In addition to providing what Jim Spotila calls “extra legs on the beach” to help with the patrols, Earthwatch serves as the major funding source for the Leatherback Trust, although the organization has also received support from National Geographic, the National Science Foundation, universities affiliated with the project, and private donors.
Another key component of the Leatherback Trust’s work is education. The organization has a close relationship with local schools, including the Matapalo School in a nearby village, as well as with U.S. institutions, from grade schools to universities, that bring their students to Playa Grande every year. One school with a longstanding relationship with the Leatherback Trust is the Bullis Charter School in Los Altos, California, which has been bringing sixth graders to Playa Grande every year for five years. Bullis students learn about sea turtles and conservation and also participate in cultural activities with the Matapalo School.
The Leatherback Trust also works closely with a variety of other local organizations, including the national park, the local guides’ associations, and the local women’s organization, the Association of Women Friends of Las Baulas Marine National Park, which undertakes a number of environmental education and conservation programs in and around the park. Spotila believes that one of the reasons for the organization’s success is that rather than being a bunch of foreigners coming in and telling the Costa Ricans what to do, the Leatherback Trust provides the background support to help local people and local nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) protect their beaches and their turtles.
One of the great successes of Playa Grande is the involvement of the local community in the national park and turtle conservation. Before the park was established, just about every turtle egg laid was collected by poachers and either eaten or sold for profit. With the creation of the park came education and alternative sources of income. The local people who used to collect the eggs are now working as local guides in the national park and have become passionate about the protection of the leatherback turtles.
Nevertheless, the Leatherback Trust has faced significant challenges, including the uncertain status of the national park. Back in 2001, Spotila says, things were “almost chaotic,” with “a lot of confusion as to what the boundaries of the park were, who owned what land, what enforcement there was.” Together with local communities and conservationists, the Leatherback Trust worked to clarify the legal aspects of the park and rally support for its continued existence. Although the confusion over the boundaries has been cleared up, the park remains under threat from lawmakers who want to eliminate it altogether, as well as developers who are buying up the surrounding land. Landowners whose property became part of the national park are angry because they are unable to build on their land; the Leatherback Trust is working to convince the government to provide fair compensation and is helping to find sources of funding to assist with these efforts. The Leatherback Trust and its conservation partners are determined not to let Playa Grande be turned into another Tamarindo, the community across the bay that has seen rapid and uncontrolled tourism development to the extent that turtles no longer nest on its beaches.
Despite the challenges, Spotila is optimistic. He believes that the leatherback population will begin to rebound as a result of conservation efforts. The 2009-2010 season already saw a slight but significant rise in the number of nesting turtles compared to the all-time low of the previous season, suggesting that conservation efforts are beginning to pay off. Spotila also believes that the status of Las Baulas National Park will be confirmed and consolidated under Costa Rica’s new president, Laura Chinchilla Miranda. He says, “We’re going to try and cooperate with the new president, make her as successful as she can be so that Costa Rica is successful. And the turtles and the people will all benefit from that.”
Central America Expedition 2010: Day 6 – Leatherback Trust, Costa Rica
March 18, 2010
Our last morning with Leatherback Trust began with a boat trip on the Tamarindo Estuary, a mangrove forest ecosystem that essentially serves as the filter for the entire Playa Grande area. Mangroves stabilize coastal lands and are important feeding and reproductive habitats for a wide range of bird and aquatic species. We visited the estuary with a guide named Enrique, one of many Playa Grande–area residents who used to collect leatherback turtle eggs for food but now make a living through conservation-oriented activities.
Enrique took us up the Tamarindo River deep into the heart of the forest, where red mangroves spread their fantastic root systems, camouflaged crocodiles lurked in the river and on its banks, and countless birds including ospreys, hawks, herons, and kingfishers perched in the trees and along the shore. As we headed back to our disembarkation point, we passed a tree filled with howler monkeys. Suddenly, Enrique began imitating their sounds – so realistically that the monkeys responded as if he were one of them!
We finished up our time in Playa Grande with an interview with Rotney Piedra, a biologist and the director of Las Baulas Marine National Park. From there it was off to Tamarindo Airport for the flight back to San Jose and on to new adventures with our next project, the School for Field Studies.
Central America Expedition 2010: Day 5 – Leatherback Trust, Costa Rica
March 9, 2010
Our second day with Leatherback Trust was Turtle Festival Day at Playa Grande, with local residents turning out in force to watch the parade wind down the main road through the village to the Las Baulas Marine National Park headquarters. The parade featured students from the region and beyond (including the Bullis Charter School group from California) holding banners with conservation-oriented messages. “I AM THE LARGEST IN THE WORLD BUT I AM IN DANGER OF EXTINCTION,” read one. “NO TO EXTINCTION. LET’S SAVE THE LEATHERBACK TURTLE,” said another. The parade was followed speeches, skits, and musical numbers by local people of importance and the different school groups.
After the festivities we interviewed Laura Jaen, a guide at Las Baulas National Park and president of the women’s association of Matapalo, which works to promote environmentally sound behavior and education. Afterward Rob and Ryan headed off with some of the researchers from Leatherback Trust to watch them excavate a former nesting site and count the number of eggs for an estimate of how many turtles had hatched there.
We wrapped up the daylight hours with an interview with Jim Spotila on the beach at sunset. As Jim recounted his experience working with turtles and his experience in founding and directing Leatherback Trust, we attracted the attention of a beachgoing tourist, who came up and stood listening to Jim’s story. He turned out to be a visitor from Canada who overheard Jim’s comments and wanted to express his sincere gratitude for the work that Leatherback Trust is doing. “Your work is the reason we decided to stay here rather than over in Tamarindo,” he told Jim. “We appreciate everything you’ve done to keep this place undeveloped and safe for the turtles.” After everything we had seen and heard during our time at Playa Grande it was gratifying it was to hear such a spontaneous endorsement of Leatherback Trust’s work.
Central America Expedition 2010: Day 4, part 2 – Leatherback Trust, Costa Rica
March 8, 2010
Conservation begins with education. That’s why Leatherback Trust has made education and voluntourism two cornerstones of its work at Playa Grande. The organization hosts numerous student programs each year and offers volunteer opportunities for adults through Earthwatch. As it turned out, our time with Leatherback Trust coincided with the annual visit by the sixth graders of the Bullis Charter School in Los Altos, California.
Shortly after our arrival at Playa Grande we headed for the elementary school in the nearby village of Matapalo for a ceremony welcoming the Bullis students. The school band played, some of the Matapalo students performed folkloric dances, and the Bullis students presented gifts they had brought and received a Matapalo School banner signed by students. While at the school we checked out the computer lab funded and organized by Leatherback Trust and interviewed the school principal, who spoke about the critical importance of environmental education.
After visiting some of the beaches with Jim during the afternoon, we spent the evening at Leatherback Trust’s research station hoping for a chance to film a turtle laying its eggs. Together with national park guides and local residents, Leatherback Trust researchers and volunteers patrol the beaches every evening for at least four hours during the nesting season (October-February), watching for turtles. Our team joined in for some patrols and discovered just why all the researchers are so physically fit. Walking up and down the beaches for four hours every night is quite a commitment.
Unfortunately no nesting turtles appeared that night – the season was drawing to a close so our chances were reduced – but we did receive word late in the evening that hatchlings had been spotted emerging from a nest on Playa Ventanas. Together with Jim we rushed there and spent about an hour about 15 tiny turtles poking their heads out of the sand and emerging from the nest and then “swimming” down the beach in the direction of the ocean (more or less). An absolutely incredible experience!
Central America Expedition 2010: Day 4 – Leatherback Trust, Costa Rica
March 8, 2010
If there’s one thing you’ve got to be prepared for as a member of a Green Living Project expedition, it’s early mornings. Day 5 was no exception, as we left our overnight hotel in San Jose shortly after 5 a.m. to catch our Nature Air flight to Tamarindo, on the Pacific coast in Guanacaste. Nature Air, a Costa Rican airline that was one of three winners of National Geographic’s 2009 Geotourism Challenge award, is kindly providing all our domestic flights within Costa Rica (and even to Panama) and waiving all surcharges for excess baggage – a good thing, given the amount of gear we are lugging!
Our small 19-seater plane whisked us to Tamarindo in a little over an hour, including a stop in Liberia, northwestern Costa Rica’s transportation hub. With the door to the cockpit open, Ryan and John had a great time filming the pilots at work. We were the only passengers to disembark at the basic little airstrip in Tamarindo, where we were met by Dr. Jim Spotila, co-founder of Leatherback Trust, which works to protect the leatherback turtles nesting on the beaches around Playa Grande, across the estuary from Tamarindo.
Leatherbacks are the world’s largest sea turtles and are truly prehistoric creatures – according to the Moon Guide to Costa Rica, leatherback fossils dating back 100 million years have been found. Adult leatherbacks are typically up to six feet in length and weigh up to 1,500 pounds. The turtles migrate across great distances and come ashore for short periods of time between October and February to lay their eggs above the high-water mark on Playa Grande and adjacent beaches.
Jim, a professor of environmental science at Drexel University in Pennsylvania, has been involved with turtle conservation in Costa Rica for decades and has a wealth of information to share about leatherbacks and about the challenges of creating and supporting a national park on Costa Rica’s increasingly popular northwest coast. He and Leatherback Trust co-founder Dr. Frank Paladino of Indiana Purdue University were instrumental in the establishment of Las Baulas Marine National Park, which protects several of the turtles’ nesting beaches. Unfortunately the park is threatened by development – we saw countless Century 21 signs advertising land within the restricted margin of the beach – and proposed legal reduction in size. Leatherback Trust is working to combat both threats and to improve the survival rate of hatchlings through nest monitoring and other activities.