Applying Leaf Pack Technology

Applying Leaf Pack Technology to monitor the health of the rivers and streams of the Path of the Tapir Biological Corridor

The project support by The Stroud Water Research Center consists in the use of the Leaf Pack Technology to monitor the health of the rivers and streams of the Path of the Tapir Biological Corridor, educate the local residents as to the importance of their watersheds to the health and well being of the communities, and improve the protection of the watersheds in the corridor.

Background and Introduction

The area from the Savegre River to the Grande de Térraba River and from the Pacific coast to the Tinamastes Ridge is called the Path of the Tapir Biological Corridor (PTBC.) It is comprised of about 20 nature reserves about half of which have some form of official recognition or formal declaration as reserves. Once the PTBC is complete all of the reserves will be connected by corridors of natural habitat. One of the more interesting aspects of the corridor is the number of rivers that originate within its bounds. Both of the two boundry rivers, the Savegre to the northwest and the Térraba to the southeast originate outside of the corridor. But, there are 10 smaller rivers whose head waters are located between the coastal ridge and the Tinamastes ridge and eventually empty their waters into the Pacific Ocean. Each of these rivers has a water shed or basin which drains into a multitude of streams and rivulets that flow into  these 10 rivers. It would be reasonable to say that 75% of the PTBC is composed of these watersheds all of which collect rain water which provides potable water for the 52 communities of the PTBC.

The  ten rivers that come to life within the Path of the Tapir Biological Corridor and empty their waters into the Pacific Ocean are the Portalón, Hatillo Nuevo, Hatillo Viejo, Barú, Morete, Uvita, Tortuga, Balso, Punta Mala and Coronado. Additionally there are seven secondary rivers that flow into these 10 ´ten primary rivers; the Cascada, Guabo, Diamante, Barucito, Cortezal, Ballena and Media Luna. Finally in the Barú river system there are three tertiary rivers that flow into the secondary rivers, the Caña Blanca and Moreno into the Guabo and the Torito into the Diamante. That makes a grand total of 20 rivers that come to life in the PTBC, all between the coastal ridge and the Tinamastes ridge, and all of whose waters eventually end up in the Pacific Ocean within the boundries of the corridor. Keep in mind that this is in an area that is only about 70 kilometers long and 15 kilometers wide. Every one of these rivers, large or small, has its own water shed, and all are important for the ecological health of the corridor and the assurance of a reliable water supply for the communities of the PTBC.

For that reason ASANA believes that by protecting our watersheds we will at the same time be protecting the forests the comprise the PTBC. We see the Leaf Pack Technology as an important tool that can be used to monitor the ecological health of our rivers and streams. We propose to involve selected communities within the corridor in a project which will train them to use leaf pack kits to regularly monitor selected rivers and streams, give them the technical support they need to establish a regular monitoring schedule, raise the general awareness of the importance of protecting our watersheds, and promote actions that improve the protection of the these watersheds.

ASANA will continue to support the project in the future, even after the project is complete, by overseeing the collection of data from each community and uploading this data to the Leaf Pack Network.

Please check Reports for updates on the progress of this project.