Nature Air

On April 22^nd, we will be celebrating Earth Day. In 1970, when it first began, Costa Rica had just begun to truly recognize the value of its natural environment and the necessity to preserve it. Back in July, we posted a story that described the beginning of the present environmental movement in Costa Rica.

Actually, on February 10, 1939, the government established a two-kilometer preserve around Poas and Irazu volcanoes, and a preserve along both sides of the road to the Cordillera Central summit. An extraordinary Scandinavian couple, Olof and Karen Wessberg, were responsible for creating the first genuine preserve at Cabo Blanco, an effort that began in 1955. I strongly recommend The Quetzal and the Macaw by David Rains Wallace if you are interested in the incredible story behind Costa Rica’s National Parks. Let’s always keep in mind that it’s the commitment and dedication of people just like us that can and do make a difference in Costa Rica, and all over this Earth of ours.

I am very excited to introduce you to Tex Hawkins, a gentleman who is part of this story. Back in the 1960’s, when Tex got involved in preserving Costa Rica’s natural heritage, there weren’t well-funded, powerful institutions dedicated to the environment. Instead, there were people, chosen by fate and circumstance, who shared a dream about the possibilities. It is their pioneering spirit that created this country’s park system, now largely responsible for Costa Rica’s place at the international, environmental round table, not to mention a nearly $2 billion dollar tourism industry. Tex will be contributing posts to Nature Blog and this is his first one and definitely worth reading.

“You asked about my story, relative to Costa Rica.  It begins in 1967, as a Peace Corps volunteer.  One of my trainers in Texas and Mexico was Moises Leon, who soon discovered that I was trained as a wildlife biologist and journalist, and quickly made arrangements for me to spend time in the field with Spanish-speaking conservationists, and sent word to hunting and fishing enthusiasts at our embassy and the Ministry of Agriculture that I was interested in assessing fish and wildlife conservation potential.

When I arrived in San Jose, there was a commercial fisheries office within “MAG,” but no terrestrial wildlife or sport-fishing biologist – or program.  There was no legislation for parks or refuges. There was nothing-called “ecotourism,” and not much conservation. My work began with a wildlife inventory of Guanacaste, which was being deforested primarily for beef and rice production. Potential conservation areas were identified.

At the request of the U.S. Ambassador, I was given special assignments to visit and write reports on tarpon tourism potential at Barras Colorado, and on the Cabo Blanco Nature Reserve, established during the 1950s by the Philadelphia Conservationists and voluntarily staffed by Olof and Karen Wessberg at that time.  I concluded that the opportunities for nature and adventure based travel experiences could be significant, but I had no idea that ecotourism would economically eclipse bananas, coffee and beef!

Through the University of Costa Rica and IICA (now CATIE), I became friends with a number of students, including Mario Boza and Alvaro Ugalde, as well as Moises Leon’s brother Pedro, who now coordinates “Peace with Nature.”  Alvaro and I co-authored a series of articles in La Nacion, titled “Threatened Wildlife of Guanacaste,” and we worked with Mario to establish Costa Rica’s first national park, Santa Rosa.

Before long, other Peace Corps volunteers were brought in to help at Santa Rosa, Poas and other sites that were added to the Costa Rican National Park System after enabling legislation was passed in 1970.  As a Peace Corps consultant the following year, I worked with Mario and Alvaro again to develop and conduct an in-country training program for 16 new volunteers specialized in parks, forestry, wildlife and landscape architecture. And these volunteers were followed by others.

My wife Amalfi (from Liberia) and I have returned to Costa Rica many times over the past 40 years, often to assist with conservation efforts.  During a two-year leave of absence in the 1980s, under provisions of the Endangered Species Act, I returned to work on a plan for newly established Braulio Carrillo National Park.  I also helped write a management plan for Palo Verde Refuge (now Park), and assisted with a review of management programs, under the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, where I served as North American Region scientific panelist for three years.  Other projects included consulting on a film about coatis for “the Wild World of Animals,” teaching at the first Mesoamerican Workshop on Environmental Education, through CATIE at Manuel Antonio National Park, and advising on development of educational ecotourism.

The proudest moment of my professional life happened in the stone corral at Santa Rosa, during the celebration of the 35th anniversary of Santa Rosa National Park’s establishment, and 150th anniversary of the Battle of Santa Rosa, when I led a delegation of Peace Corps volunteers who participated in the park’s inauguration.  Hundreds of school buses brought students from all over Guanacaste.  Flags were flying, the band was playing, the folkloric dancers were dancing, and there were heroic poems and songs and enactments of the brave expulsion of the gringo filibusters. Then, Alvaro presented each of us with a bronze plaque of the “casona,” officially inscribed, recognizing us as “co-founders,” and thanking us for “helping plant the seeds of conservation.” At that moment, I felt like a real Costa Rican!”

Amalfi and I live in Winona, Minnesota.  We have two grown sons who attended Costa Rican schools, midwestern universities, and now work in Boston and St. Paul, respectively.  Amalfi works with Hispanic students and their families through the local school district, and I have been Upper Mississippi River Watershed Biologist with the Fish and Wildlife Service for the last 24 years of my 31-year federal career.  Before joining the feds, I worked for five years as Regional Naturalist with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, developing interpretive services and directing management of scientific and natural areas near the Canadian border.”

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