Turtles and trees could use our help!

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Read on to see what you can do right now.

The turtles like our beach! In the month of January alone, TORTUGuiones volunteers logged 9 reported sightings of hatchlings, 2 sightings of nesting females at Guiones central, and sightings of 5 other nests between Pelada and Guiones. This is likely an underestimate because not all activity is being officially reported. However, activity on social media continues to increase, with more people posting reports on tortuguiones.weebly.com, paired with beautiful photographs. Please photograph and report every time you see evidence of a turtle nesting or hatching.

Hatchling sighted January 18

Volunteers needed tomorrow!! TORTUGuiones has made markers to aid in identifying locations of turtle nesting and hatching. They will be placing these markers on the beach on Saturday, February 6, beginning at 7:30 am at the North Guiones beach entrance (near the Gilded Iguana). You can help by carrying posts onto the beach, digging a hole every 50 meters, inserting the posts, and painting numbers on them.

Beach markers help to locate nests

More volunteers wanted: TORTUGuiones is forming a board of directors and is specifically looking for a Treasurer. To comply with Costa Rica’s requirements for official non-profit status, the treasurer must be a male (to balance the gender composition of the Board). For more information, contact tortuguiones@gmail.com

Three educational outreach campaigns have begun:

  1. Sea turtles for everybody (basic sea turtle biology, how to identify and report tracks/activity, and what do to if you see a sea turtle)
  2. Reducing light pollution (targeted at homeowners, businesses, and vacation homes)
  3. What the Ostional National Wildlife Refuge means for you (rules and regulations for the Refuge, which includes Pelada and Guiones)

View Light Pollution Prevention Flyer (pdf)

Local schools and day camps will soon work with the organization in implementing the lesson plans and educational activities that TORTUGuiones developed for kids.

Since TORTUGuiones formally presented itself at CIMACO’s January meeting, collaboration with MINAET and other organizations at Ostional can proceed.

TORTUGuiones is a community- and volunteer-based sea turtle conservation project founded to monitor nesting activity, conduct outreach, and provide educational materials to ensure the conservation of sea turtles and protection of their habitat within this part of the Ostional National Wildlife Refuge.

Barriguiones will launch its adopt-water a tree campaign Thursday, February 11. You may have already seen posts about this on Facebook, or perhaps Gerardo has personally asked you to be an adoptive parent.

The adopt and water a tree campaign gives community members an opportunity to get actively involved with BarriGuiones during the dry season and to create a personal bond between them and a tree or trees. Gerardo writes, “While watering trees, I have always felt that the trees are so thankful for the water I’m providing to them. It’s such a wonderful feeling, and I want other people to get the chance to feel it too!” For more information contact gerardo.bolanos@costasverdes.org or call him at 8730-3264.

On two occasions in January the Barriguiones nursery hosted visits from Escuelita de Esperanza students. About 20 of the younger kids went there on January 21, followed by 20 older kids on January 28. Each group heard introductory talk and workshop, followed by a hands-on activity at the nursery where they helped moved trees to and from the nursery, organizing blocks of trees according to species and size. Some students also got to transplant seed sprouts to bags.

Barriguiones is a local offshoot of Costas Verdes, whose mission to restore Costa Rica’s coastal ecosystems by actively involving schools, communities, and local authorities in generating local environmental, social, and economic benefits.

Learning about trees at Barriguiones nursery

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