NCA would like to introduce you to two of our partner organizations: BarriGuiones and TORTUGuiones.

The beach is becoming greener: notice the saplings planted all along the dunes. These plantings are the work of BarriGuiones, a community reforesting project begun in May 2011, The project is an offshoot of Costas Verdes – a nonprofit NGO whose mission is to restore Costa Rica’s coastal ecosystems by actively involving schools, communities, and local authorities in generating local environmental, social, and economic benefits.

Playa Guiones – before reforestation
Playa Guiones – after reforestation

BarriGuiones has a team of 9 paid staff, joined by an estimated 700 volunteers each year; they have planted over 8,700 trees with an approximately 60% survival rate. This was done with the active involvement of all the local schools. Several national and international universities have volunteered in activities at the project headquarters and the tree nursery, attending and sponsoring talks and workshops.

The coming year will be even more active than the past five have been. From now until April they will keep the trees at the beach healthy and collect and germinate seeds  at the nursery. Starting in February, watch for a Tree Adoption Program. Each local school will receive trees to take care of and grow until the planting season arrives, when kids will take their own tree to plant at the BarriGuiones project. By May, some trees older than three years will have grown over six feet tall. They will trim those trees to stimulate vertical growth and open up spaces for people to use as shade.

BarriGuiones offers a tangible way to preserve and beautify our beach. To get involved, contact Gerardo at gerardo.bolanos@costasverdes.org or 8730-3264

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. Although there is no official record or active monitoring of sea turtle activity in Playas Pelada and Guiones, anecdotal reports confirm Olive Ridley, Pacific green, and Leatherback sea turtle nesting activity on both beaches.

Since October TORTUGuiones has since received 22 reports of sea turtle activity: 35 nests, 6 false crawls, 2 turtle standings, 4 sightings of hatchlings between Playa Pelada and Playa Guiones. We have learned so far that a great majority of nests are either poached or depredated by dogs and that nesting seems to pick up in conjunction with arribadas at Ostional (around the last quarter moon).
 
They are planning several fundraising and outreach events for this month:

• A family outreach event with games and educational activities for kids
• An informational table at Farmers Markets, also selling photographs, keychains, bracelets, and stickers
• Workshops and talks to interested local businesses and schools
• Educational outreach to local schools.

You can report sea turtle tracks and hatchlings by clicking the link on the home page of their website, tortuguiones.weebly.com. They want to establish long-term volunteers who walk on the beach regularly to file such reports. Please contact them if you would like to volunteer for this or get involved in any other way! They are still looking for donations and sponsors to support their startup costs.