Visitors:
The group “Wilderness Inquiry” brought another eager bunch of visitors to Costa Rica to explore the forests and beaches. They came up to Cloudbridge for a day hike. They hiked to the water falls, along the river trail and across both bridges guided by Tom and Linda. What a fun group. Two of them, Mary and Mary Rose (later known only as the 2 Marys) decided to stay on longer, renting one of our casitas and exploring many more trails. The 2 Marys also did a night hike and took part in one of our weekly pot luck dinners!
—————————————————————————————————————
Tico Times
Editor Ashley Harrell, and Journalist Lindsay Fendt from the English on line newspaper ‘Tico Times’ stayed at Cloudbridge for a few days. They worked on a couple of projects while here and also managed to have a few fun adventures of their own, one of which included an accidental fall into the river and over a small waterfall. No one was hurt except an expensive camera and a wounded pride . Their stories about the reserve appeared in Tico Times in February under the links: http://www.ticotimes.net/2014/03/02/amateur-herpetologist-goes-on-hikes-in-costa-rica-finds-unlikely-creatures and http://www.ticotimes.net/2014/02/13/name-that-tree
—————————————————————————————————————–
GVI – Global Vision International
Three of the leaders from the organization GVI came up for a visit to observe the work of the researchers that they send to Cloudbridge. The trip was a chance for the Cloudbridge staff and the GVI staff to share ideas, become better aquainted and to discuss insites for enhancing our working partnership. While here they had a chance to hike some of the trails and check out some of the current projects.
——————————————————————————————————————-
Research and Volunteers:
Tree Identification – Our on going project of tree identification in the old growth forest was given a little help from our researcher Marlena and from our guest and tree climber Sierra Allen along with her boyfriend as the ground belayer . The climber would ascend these tall and inaccessible trees and bring down samples of leaves, fruit or flowers that were then observed, documented and photographed for identification.
Photo courtesy of Bill Green
The goal is to eventually have every tree catalogued with location and species information within this section of the old growth forest. This information could be useful in the future for research on animal habitat observations, forest conservation methods, biodiversity studies, and as indicators for monitoring climate change.
We welcome any contact information for tree climbers, botanists, and researchers who would be interested in helping with the continuation of this project.
————————————————————————————————————————
Bill Green and Beth Cooley
A special thanks to Bill and Beth who are keen photographers and have helped us record some of the efforts at the reserve. We appreciate the use of the photos and expert advice. Bill even presented a short session to our researchers on good photography skills for the purpose of tree identification.
——————————————————————————————————————-
Dionthe and Alex our GVI researchers have wrapped up their time at the reserve. There were a few interesting observations from the biological survey data. They added 16 new bird species to the database. The assessment of data indicates a need for more preparation and training for interns in the future. There has to be more emphasis on learning bird calls for identification.
——————————————————————————————————————–
Bob Jacobs MD from Nova Scotia, Canada is our newest volunteer. He is spending a month in the San Gerardo area, learning Spanish, enjoying the culture, and helping out at the reserve. Bob has the ability to see what needs to be done and gets right to work. He has completed a variety of small projects that have been waiting to be done including electrical and carpentry work. we are very grateful to have someone with all of these skills.
Matt’s Photo Gallery:
Matt Smokoska our resident biologist has taken so many beautiful photos. To see more of his photos join our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cloudbridge-Nature-Reserve/323929640980995
Here is just a few of the latest: (Click to enlarge)
