Project Description

Umbrella Organization: Institute of the Rockies
Status: 501(c)3 Non Profit Organization
Federal ID Number: 237368583
Project director: Jan Schipper
Project name: Conservación de Área Talamanca (CAT)

Goals

Proyecto Conservación del Área Talamanca (ProCAT) has the goal of improving the state of biodiversity knowledge for the Caribbean Talamanca Region of Costa Rica so that management and conservation decision-making can be based on a solid scientific foundation. The project's focal species is the jaguar, which once inhabited the entire region but is now rare or absent throughout much of its historic range. In the Caribbean lowland of Costa Rica, the jaguar is both an indicator of ecosystem health and has powerful spiritual value among the Bribri and Cabécar Amerindians, who are native to the region.

Proyecto Conservación del Área Talamanca (ProCAT) consists of a team of interdisciplinary scientists and local stakeholders working across multiple research themes, including habitat modeling, land-use mapping, social perceptions/human dimensions, conservation planning, and monitoring of felids and their prey. The region is composed of a variety of public and private land stewardship mechanisms including the Mesoamerican Corridor Project, La Amistad International Park, Hitoy-Cerere Biological Reserve, Talamanca Indigenous Reserve and Gandoca-Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge among others.

The project seeks to work within the framework of the existing stakeholders and contribute research and knowledge of the area to these stakeholders to improve decision making for long term species persistence and ecosystem (and human) health. The project will work closely with the indigenous peoples to investigate the human perceptions of carnivores, understand traditional agricultural and wildlife management systems, and assist them in a study of the impact of external developmental pressures on their culture. The felid study project will conduct an inventory of the native cats (6 species) and their prey - focusing on the jaguar - and develop a habitat assessment and monitoring protocol. The aim of the project is conservation of biodiversity and culture in the Talamanca Regions of Costa Rica through sustainable development and science based planning.