The Bosque Lluvioso

Río Costa Rica Project

A Rainforest Preserve,

Environmental Education Center

and Exploratory

The Pax Natura Foundation in Partnership with The Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad (INBio)

Yan PostGolden ToadMonteverde Cloud ForestThought to be extinct

TrusteesCo-ChairsDr. Oscar Arias SanchezHonorary Chair1987 Nobel Peace PrizeFormer President of Costa Rica

Dr. Jane Goodall PrimatologistFounder, The Jane Goodall Institute

International Board of AdvisorsArchbishop Desmond Tutu1984 Nobel Peace PrizeCape Town, South Africa

TrusteesAung San Suu Kyi1991 Nobel Peace PrizeBurmaHis Royal HighnessAlfred, Prince of Prussia

Trent AlveyPresident, Trent Alvey Design

Doug AndersonPresident, Union Pointe Construction

Ana Baez, MAPresident, Conservation-Consultores, Costa Rica

Wm. Hugh Bollinger, Ph.D.Conservation Biologist and President, Pondaray

Deen Chatterjee, Ph.D.Professor of Philosophy, University of Utah

William Connelly, AIAArchitect and Founding PartnerBosque Lluvioso and Pax Natura Foundations

Forrest CuchExecutive Director, Utah Division of Indian Affairs

Dinah Davidson, Ph.D.Professor of Biology and Ecology, University of Utah

Pax Natura Foundation

Board of Trustees

“Despite their extraordinary richness,tropical rain forests are among the mostfragile of all habitats.”

– E.O. Wilson

Pax Natura Foundation

Steve EstesWeb Master

Carlos Jimenez FreerPresident, Xcel, Costa Rica

Sr. Federico GutierrezCo-Executive Director, Pax Natura Foundation

Phyllis B. HockettCo-Executive Director, Pax Natura Foundation

Susie HuletMarketing and Finance

Alicia Kazimir, MSEducator

Danielle LinHost, The Danielle Lin Show, U.S.A.

Rod MastVice President, Conservation International

Jeff MiddletonComputer Consultant

Federico Muñoz Biologist and Naturalist, Costa Rica

Primara Dama Leila de PachecoFirst Lady of Costa Rica

Jerry Robinson, AIAArchitect and Founding Partner,Bosque Lluvioso and Pax Natura Foundations

Dennis Sizemore, MAFounder, Round River Conservation

Somgya TitusReal Estate Finance

Randall Tolpinrud, MA President and Founding Director,Bosque Lluvioso and Pax Natura Foundations

Brooke WilliamsAuthor and Environmentalist

Dr. Edward O. WilsonPellegrino University Research Professor of Biology,Harvard University

To contact us

The Pax Natura Foundation or The Bosque Lluvioso ProjectP.O. Box 520022Salt Lake City, Utah 84152-0022(801) 463-4675memberships@bosque-u.comwww.rainforest-costarica.comwww.paxNatura.org

“The Atlantic coastal forest of Brazil which soenchanted the young Darwin upon his arrivalin 1832 is 99% gone.”

– E.O. Wilson

PeaceWith Nature

A global reformation is steadilygrowing. In wealthy and impoverishednations alike, private citizens, corporations,governments and non-governmentalorganizations are forming partnerships andprotecting millions of acres of land.

Through the preservation of these lands, thesepartners are transcending the traditionalboundaries of single countries and governments inorder to honor a more encompassing, and higher,natural law that binds all living communitiestogether. They wish to preserve critical regionalhabitats so that the cornucopia of species that livethere will thrive. They wish to preserve the largelyundiscovered knowledge related to science,medicine and other fields that resides in thosespecies and biosystems. And, they wish tocollaboratively safeguard the flow of materials,energy and information from the ecosystems thatsilently support daily human existence.

These partners search for solutions to improvethe lives of humans living under marginalconditions, without damaging the naturalresource base. They recognize that theircollective decisions may powerfully influencewhether the myriad species existing on the planettoday will survive.

Pax Natura – Peace with Nature

“A typical American breakfast of cornflakes, bananas, sugar, coffee,orange juice, hot chocolate and hash brown potatoes is based entirelyon tropical plant products.”

– Mary J. Plotkin

The Pax Natura Foundation’s BosqueLluvioso Río Costa Rica Project is an exemplarof the reformation occurring throughout theworld. The Project began in 1996 when threeUnited States citizens from Utah, during a visitto Costa Rica, recognized the urgent need topreserve a particular 448-acre parcel of rainforest. Mr. Randall Tolpinrud, Mr. Will Connelly,and Mr. Jerry Robinson purchased the land, thendeeded it back to the Costa Rican nongovern-mental organization Instituto Nácional deBiodiversidad (INBio) – the entity commissionedby the Costa Rican Government to establish thecountry’s biodiversity inventory. It is from thisgenesis of small-scale preservation that theProject grew to include the goals of scientificresearch, environmental education, and rainforest restoration.

It is fitting that this important project rests inthe country of Costa Rica – a countryunparalleled in natural beauty and enlightenedleadership. It is a country small in size that, byexample, wields a large circle of influence. In thewords of Costa Rican President Abel Pachecoduring a May, 2002 presentation in Madrid, Spainto eleven of the world’s government leaders:

“It is necessary to reiterate that the real gold andthe real petroleum of the future will be water andoxygen; without which there simply won’t be life.This is why in my government we are going totake a transcendental step: next to the social andeconomic guarantees, we are going to incorporate achapter on environmental guarantees in ourPolitical Constitution.”

Through the collaborative efforts of the CostaRican government, INBio, The Jane GoodallInstitute and a distinguished international Boardof Trustees, the Pax Natura Foundation envisionsa global model of rain forest preservation andrestoration. It is our fundamental belief that thismodel, based on an interactive educationExploratory, will lead to a greater understandingof how the human community may live inbalance with the natural world. We invite you tojoin us in this work.

Pax Natura – Peace with Nature

Educationand Research

Preservation

The Bosque Lluvioso Project, in conjunctionwith the Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad(INBio), will provide research opportunities inbiodiversity, forest restoration technology andhuman-environment interaction to studentsthroughout the world.

INBio is a non-governmental organizationcommissioned by the Costa Rican government toestablish the biodiversity inventory for Costa

The Bosque Lluvioso Project

When complete, the Bosque Lluvioso Project will preserve thousandsof acres of rain forest in Costa Rica.

The Bosque Lluvioso Project is establishinga self-sustaining program to effectively protect,manage and restore the rich natural resourcesof this property and contingent land tracts.Together this preserve will create a link in theMeso-American Biological Corridor and anecological buffer zone contiguous to the BraulioCarrillo National Park to help protect thenational park from encroachment and degrada-tion. This important component of a far largerbuffer zone around primary rain forest habitatwill support important research, economic andeducational activities while interior sections ofthe rain forest will remain undisturbed.

Preservation

Education and Research

Rica. As part of INBio’s mission, Dr. RodrigoGamez, President of INBio, leads internationalefforts to identify, name and organize species.

INBio generates knowledge of biodiversitythrough inventory, information management,social outreach and conservation programs.INBio is unique in its targeted efforts to commu-nicate and promote utilization of the knowledgeit generates. INBio seeks to contribute to thedevelopment of Costa Rican society from spiri-tual, social and economic perspectives, inharmony with nature.

The INBio program is the model for a newinternational biodiversity inventory program asannounced recently by Dr. Edward O. Wilson,Pelligrino University Research Professor atHarvard University and Trustee of the PaxNatura Foundation.

The Bosque Lluvioso Project, in partnership withINBio, will create a uniquely designed educationalExploratory to increase environmental literacy.

Situated on 30 acres of one of the most beau-tiful natural habitats remaining on earth, theExploratory will provide a model environmentaleducation center demonstrating state-of-the-artsustainable design principles. The Exploratorywill include a series of interactive pavilions andoutdoor learning environments specificallydesigned to demonstrate ecological principlesand best practices within and across a variety ofprofessional disciplines.

The Exploratory will provide opportunities forenvironmental education through a hands-on,creative, interactive process of inquiry.

The Bosque Lluvioso Project

• The Bosque Lluvioso Academy.

The Academy will serve students andresearchers from colleges and universitiesaround the world through jointly accreditedprograms in science, health care, education,business, architecture, and arts and humanities.In addition to discipline-focused curricula, theAcademy will include programs such as theIntercultural Center for Research in Education(INCRE), biological education programspatterned after INBio’s bioliteracy initiative,and The Jane Goodall Institute’s Roots &Shoots Program.

Because of the importance of the Jane GoodallInstitute’s Roots and Shoots program, a pavilionhas been dedicated exclusively for its use at theExploratory. The mission is to foster respectand compassion for all living things, to promoteunderstanding of all cultures and beliefs and toinspire each individual to take action to makethe world a better place for the environment,animals and the human community.

• The Ecotourism program.

The ecotourism program will help generateon-site jobs, program-related employmentand local services from the surroundingcommunity. Through these activities theexploratory will communicate to the localcommunity a clear sense of the economicvalue of the preserved status of the land.

Restoration

Restoration

The Bosque Lluvioso Project will demonstrate methods forrestoration of degraded tropical forests.

In keeping with current notions of “bestpractices” regarding forest restoration, theBosque LLuvioso Project seeks to restore tropi-cal rain forests in several ways. First, in a farreaching watershed restoration strategy, theBosque will acquire additional acres of contin-gent land tracts thereby expanding and protect-ing an important extension of biological corri-dors in Central America. These lands represent a

Restoration

Balance

Restoration

Balance

The Bosque Lluvioso Exploratory and alliedprograms will help us achieve and demonstratebalance between the natural environment andhuman affairs.

In the long run, the best way to protect the rainforest’s vital natural ecosystems is by demonstratingtheir intrinsic value. The Bosque Lluvioso projectwill seek to do this through an interactive combina-tion of accumulated knowledge and direct experi-ence. The design of buildings and features of theExploratory will incorporate natural resourceconservation technologies. All infrastructure willshowcase renewable energy systems and non-toxic,renewable and resource-efficient building materials.Design elements will make visible and apparent toall students and visitors of the Exploratory how tosuccessfully and practically apply self-sustainingtechnologies. A primary focus of the Exploratory isto research and demonstrate cost-effective greenbuilding practices and an array of related economicself-sufficiency principles.

Most importantly, the Exploratory at the BosqueLluvioso will showcase the Exploratory itself. Thosewho spend the time can learn from its design andwill begin to remember that humankind is part ofand not apart from nature’s ecosystems.

patchwork of varying degrees of forest degrada-tion and are natural laboratories for studyingecological succession of tropical rain forests andrestoration technologies. The forest corridors areessential to the long-term preservation of biodi-versity for countless plant, animal, amphibianand insect species in the Western Hemisphere.

Second, forest restoration will increase theshare of rain forest that will be allotted for water-shed protection rather than utilization, thusensuring a more stable hydrologic balancethroughout the Bosque landscape and to commu-nities downstream. A portion of secondary rainforest lands will be perpetually protected andavailable for studies of ecological succession andrestoration techniques. As part of the overall strat-egy to “restart rainforests”, degraded portions ofthe acquired landscapes will be made available forproper ecological succession research anddemonstration projects in forest restoration tech-nologies, multi-cropping / forest farming tech-niques, sustainable agriculture, food and medici-nal crop research and ecotourism education. Thetechnologies of tropical forest restoration willhave wide application well beyond the boundariesof the Bosque project. The practical application ofthe research will be incorporated in the interactiveeducation programs of the Exploratory pavilions.

Location

V. MiravallesV. Miravalles

V. RincV. Rincón de la viejan de la vieja

VolcVolcán Arenaln Arenal

V. PoV. PoásV. BarvaV. Barva

V. TurrialoaV. Turrialoa

Cerro ChirripoCerro Chirripo

V. IrazV. Irazú

GuGuápilespiles

CartagoCartago

GolfitoGolfito

AlajuelaAlajuelaPuntarenasPuntarenas

HerediaHeredia

LiberiaLiberia

LimLimón

San JosSan José

NICOYANICOYAPENINSULAPENINSULA

OSAOSAPENIN.PENIN.

GUANACASTEGUANACASTEV. Miravalles

V. Rincón de la vieja

Volcán Arenal

V. PoásV. Barva

V. Turrialoa

Cerro Chirripo

V. Irazú

Guápiles

Cartago

Golfito

AlajuelaPuntarenas

Heredia

Liberia

Limón

CaribbeanSea

PacificOcean

San José

NICOYAPENINSULA

NICARAGUA

PANAMA

OSAPENIN.

GUANACASTE

National Parksof

Costa Rica

Parklands & Refuges

Bosque Lluvioso1

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The Bosque Lluvioso preserve is only one hour from San José

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N

Letter from the President

Press Release

Press Release

“In the earlier massextinctions, …, most ofthe plants surviviedthough animal diversitywas severely reduced.Now, for the first time,plant diversity isdeclining sharply.”

– E.O. Wilson

The Bosque Lluvioso Río Costa Rica Project

A Rainforest Preserve,Environmental Education Center and Exploratory

The Pax Natura Foundation in Partnership withThe Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad (INBio)