In National Parks the Dangerous Work Goes On

By Britton Jacob-Schram

Conservation is a war. Just listen to the rhetoric.

Environmentalists argue at how developers “rape and pillage” the land, while others wonder at the prospect and feasibility of sabotage. Yet, when it comes to conservative strategies under attack, accounts of environmentalists being verbally threatened in Costa Rica are not uncommon.

Just like zoologist Dian Fossey and Dorothy Stang — the 73-year-old American nun who fought for farmers’ land rights before she was gunned down in the Amazon Basin — Costa Rica also harbors the ghosts of conservationists felled in battle.

Meaning when Costa Rica paid its respect to National Parks, Sunday, it also paid homage to the memory of Swedish conservationist Olof Wessberg, a man referred to as a “martyr” for conservation, says Emel Rodríguez, Director of the Tempisque Conservation Area, which oversees 32 protected areas.

Wessberg came to the country with his wife, Danish-born Karen Morgenson, in the 1960s.

The pair became immediately and incredibly worried about how much land was being deforested for agriculture, remembers Mr Rodríguez. “They went to speak with the President and the Minister of Agriculture, wanting to create a national park system.

© Zoraida Diaz

“They were the first to call attention to the need for this,” he continues, adding it didn’t take the couple long to create the country’s first nature reserve, the Cabo Blanco Absolute Nature Reserve on the Nicoya Peninsula, as well as employ the first park ranger, Carlos Castillo.

The Costa Rican Government passed the first preservation laws in the late 1800s, but they were largely designed to protect valuable timber, as well as fishing and hunting grounds from controlled burning by farmers.

By the late 60s, high-ranking officials were warming to the idea of a national parks system, and in 1969, the Parque Nacional Santa Rosa was declared. In addition, the Government recognized the famous Hacienda Santa Rosa — where Costa Ricans valiantly fought off invading Nicaraguan troops under the leadership of American mercenary William Walker — as a national monument.

The following year the National Park Service was signed into effect and officially inaugurated.

“Before [Wessberg and Morgenson] there was nothing — not a single institution or administration protecting or preserving the wilderness,” notes Mr Rodríguez.

The dynamic drive of Wessberg and Morgenson, however, jutted up against the heavy interests of agricultural landowners and developers.

“There are speculations as to why he was killed,” sighs Mr Rodríguez, adding Wessberg had gone down to what’s now the Corcovado National Park, to scout out the area as a place of conservation interest.

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“It’s presumed the guide who was leading him was paid by people in the area to murder him.

“And there have been other victims,” he continues, his voice receding to the back of his throat. “It is never clear who the culprits are. We have lost many, many of our coworkers on the job.”
He is all too quick to remind conservation is a dangerous undertaking.

Rangers have gone into the back country and never returned, he says, with no one ever knowing what’s become of them, whether they were killed accidently, by a vengeful hunter hunting illegally in the park, or whether they simply got lost and succumbed to dehydration and starvation.

Guides, for example, at the Braulio Carrillo National Park, located on the eastern side of the volcanic corridor running between San José and Puerto Limón, consistently warn visitors about trekking off the beaten path. They admit even local trackers have a hard time finding their way out of the labyrinthal tangle of the park.

Not only are park rangers terribly underfunded, working in sometimes dangerous and unsanitary conditions, says Mr Rodríguez, “it is a job that comes with many risks”.

Such risks, according to rangers, were only somewhat assuaged within the past decade, when electricity, better access roads and habitable ranger stations were improved.

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“The conditions are getting better — they’re not great, but they’re better,” explains Mr Rodríguez.

“If you think about it, up until about 20 years ago, rangers were riding around the parks on horseback.”

Year by year more funds are distributed to the national parks, he says, adding a recent $1 million agreement, signed on National Park’s Day, had been highly-anticipated.

“With this commitment, we intend to offer the necessary tools to all officials working to protect the nature reserves,” said Roberto Dobles, head of the Ministry of the Environment, Energy and Telecommunications (MINAET), from Barra Honda National Park, earlier this week. “We want them (park guards) to have the optimum conditions.”

The agreement was signed between three entities: the Sistema Nacional de Áreas de Conservación, (National System of Conservation Areas or SINAC), which divides the country into 11 specific areas for protection, the non-profit Foundation for the Development of the Central Volcanic Mountain Range (FUNDECOR) — whose goal it is to guarantee biodiversity through reforestation — and the Asociación Pro Parques Nacionales.

The new trust established, say environmental officials, will collect funds through a voluntary program called Amigos de los Parques Nacionales. The government hopes to generate at least $1 million (about 550 million colones) annually — half of which will go towards “professionalizing” park rangers; and the other, toward labor costs.

© Zoraida Diaz

The idea is to create a community of donors, said Minister Dobles.

“It is time for the hotels and businesses to contribute to the parks they are profiting from. They make millions off the attraction, but they don’t help,” responded Mr Rodríguez, adding a new National Parks “passport” program will take effect in October. Tourists will be able to take advantage of a national park passport like a $30 three-park-package.

A separate $100-passport will offer patrons entrance to 10 of the national parks, as well as park bulletins and newsletters.

“Protecting these areas is not solely up to MINAET — MINAET can administrate this, but it’s not exclusively them.

“It’s everyone’s obligation.”