De nuestros amigos en Tortugas Nicas: Queridos amigos y amigas por acá les dejamos el link donde pueden bajar y consultar el calendario de posibles arribadas para la temporada de anidación de tortugas paslama en las playas de La Flor y Chacocente. Our friends at Tortugas Nicas have put together a calendar of the best times to watch for an arribada (mass turtle nesting) of Olive Ridley sea turtles (Paslamas...
De nuestros amigos en Tortugas Nicas: Queridos amigos y amigas por acá les dejamos el link donde pueden bajar y consultar el calendario de posibles arribadas para la temporada de anidación de tortugas paslama en las playas de La Flor y Chacocente. Calendario de Arribadas Our friends at Tortugas Nicas have put together a calendar of the best times to watch for an arribada (mass turtle nesting) of Olive Ridley...
Turtles, iguanas, and frogs! Oh my! Committed to biodiversity conservation, Paso Pacífico conducts a wide range of research to identify and understand the flora and fauna of the Paso del Istmo. We consider different elements of wildlife across the landscape: birds, bats, bugs, and herps (amphibians and reptiles). We're currently studying the Robber frog, the Painted Wood turtle, and the Five-keeled Spiny-tailed Iguana. Herp partners include the Turtle Conservancy, the...
Broad-eared Bat (Nyctinomops laticaudata) photo by Jose Gabriel Martinez Somoto Canyon in Northern Nicaragua photo by Jose Gabriel Martinez Last week, biologists Marlon Chavez and Jose Gabriel Martinez, documented the presence of a new bat species in Nicaragua. Our team netted the Broad-eared Bat (Nyctinomops laticaudata) in the Somoto Canyon in Northern Nicaragua. The IUCN Red List has more information about this species and its habitat range. Our bat conservation...
As Andrew Revkin points out at the Dot Earth blog: The documentary chronicles how communities that once depended on sea turtle poaching and other activities depleting the region’s rich natural resources are now testing a new economic model, one built around fishing with turtle conservation in mind and tourism focused on the area’s extraordinary marine life. Following the lead of the fishermen who work Grupo Tortuguero and working with fishermen in...
Saturday, April 21st, in cooperation with partner organizations FONARE, Recicla Nica, and Comite Ballena Azul, and with assistance from the Nicaraguan army, we set out to clean up 2500 feet of shore along Laguna de Tiscapa. A volcanic lagoon in Nicaragua's capital city, Laguna de Tiscapa has ecological, historical, and sentimental significance for many Managuans. Thirty years ago, you could see families relaxing in the lagoon and...
Parrots require tall trees for nesting or large, mature trees which form natural cavities, where the parrots like to lay their eggs. Without suitable nesting sites, parrots don't nest. Look closely and you'll see one of two nesting Yellow-naped parrots guarding a nest opening. And the two newly hatched chicks he's protecting. This is one of twenty nests being protected by members of our incentive program. Yellow-naped parrots only have two eggs...
El sabado 21 de abril en cooperacion con el ejercito y otras organizaciones ambientalistas asi como ciudadanos volutarios nos dispusimos a realizar una limpieza en la Laguna de Tiscapa. La limpieza de 2,500 metros lineales de andenes y la recolección de 18 metros cúbicos de desechos sólidos fue el resultado del trabajo realizado por esta jornada ecologica. La laguna de Tiscapa en uno de los mantos acuiferos que embellece la...
Anyone who has spent time in Central America undoubtedly knows what howler monkeys sound like, but it can be difficult to spot them among the branches of the trees where they roost. Thanks to our camera traps, we "caught" this howler on one of the private reserves where we cooperate with the landowner to ensure forest connectivity. Howler monkeys are also known to be an arboreal species, meaning they spend...
Over at One World One Ocean's blog, The Water Column, Sarah Bedolfe tells a story from Indonesia which will sound very familiar to Paso Pacífico's friends and followers: For generations, the island residents of Runduma, Indonesia have been harvesting sea turtle eggs. The egg harvest was a tradition... eggs were eaten as well as sold for about 1,000 rupiah (9 cents) each and used for community expenses–fixing a new water filtration system,...
Our partners at the Turtle Conservancy have been selected as a featured charity partner on CharitySub.org. They are raising money from their community of online donors in April to help support biodiversity. With over 800 species forced into extinction in the past 500 years, they are working hard to protect the most endangered turtles and tortoises and their habitats worldwide. Vote to support their project.
photo of the crater at Masaya (this is NOT smoke from the current fire) We're watching the fire burn through the tropical dry forests near Volcano Masaya, where we work closely with park rangers to help visitors understand and appreciate Masaya's unique ecology. The fire in Masaya has burned through 1200 acres of woodlands and is still flaming, threatening the very ecosystems we're working to protect. Forest regeneration and restoration will...
Working in Nicaragua's Paso del Istmo for nearly a decade, we have seen firsthand the effects of climate change on the wildlife, landscape, and people of this incredibly biodiverse terrain spanning volcanoes, dry mountain forest, mangroves, and coral reefs. From deforestation and devastating storms to longer dry seasons, climate change means greater habitat loss for the endangered species we protect, as well as the loss of homes and livelihoods for subsistence...
Miguel Ordeñana, the big cat specialist who leads our Jaguar Conservation Initiative, is now at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, where he continues his great work expanding citizen science and local biodiversity programs. Among his projects is an urban wildlife mapping effort through www.iNaturalist.org that will connect people of all backgrounds with nature of the Los Angeles area and encourage citizen science with projects like the Lost Lizards of LA and...
16-17 de abril 2013 Managua, Nicaragua La radiotelemetría es una herramienta poderosa para el estudio de la ecología espacial de una gran variedad de animales. En este taller, participantes revisarán la historia, teoría, y práctica de la radiotelemetría (16 de abril, Managua), seguido por medio día de práctica en el campo (17 abril, R.S.P . Montibelli) con equipo de telemetría. Cupos limitados. Este taller es gratis, sin embargo no incluye...
From the Rainforest Alliance: As the world’s population grows and natural resources dwindle, the creation of parks and protected natural areas is not enough to solve the problem of forest destruction. The Rainforest Alliance believes that it is possible to safeguard valuable ecosystems while still allowing communities and businesses to extract the forest resources upon which their livelihoods depend. The farms, forests and tourism businesses with which we work not...
Recent findings reported in Science suggest that coral reefs may be more independent and resilient than previously thought. This is good news for our reef rangers as they begin monitoring and conserving a couple miles of reef islands and the surrounding marine environment off the coast of Nicaragua. Read more about the reef regeneration study at Our Amazing Planet.
The Multilateral Investment Fund issued a press release last week about our Environmental Leadership and Entrepreneurship for Geotourism project: The Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF), a member of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Group, will support the Paso Pacifico Foundation in a project that seeks to position Nicaragua as a competitive ecotourism destination that contributes to the conservation of biodiversity in and around the La Flor Wildlife Refuge in the department...
Our March newsletter is online. We report on our new project supporting Environmental Leadership and Entrepreneurship for Geotourism. This project, supported by the Inter-American Development Bank, is a concerted effort to scale up our efforts to combine community-based sustainable tourism with biodiversity management in the Paso del Istmo. We also talk about our work with Man and Nature, to rebuild connectivity across watersheds and to gather traditional knowledge of local...
A few weeks ago, Paso Pacífico's Abril Perez & Julie Martinez appeared on Nicaragua's Channel 2 morning magazine show Primera Hora, to discuss our campaign to encourage better solid waste and wastewater management. Watch the video (in Spanish) below, or you can watch it on the Canal 2 website. Abril & Julie also appeared on three other morning news shows. We'll share those videos as they become available.
On International Women's Day, these Nicaraguan school girls look toward their future. A featured commitment of the Clinton Global Initiative, our ELLAS Initiative works directly with women, children, and communities to ensure the region’s current and future ability to sustain ecological efforts. ELLAS, the Environmental Learning, Leadership, Adventure, and Stewardship Initiative, is transforming Nicaragua's La Flor coastal and marine protected area into a geotourism destination. By strengthening female enviropreneurs, empowering...
Our February newsletter is online. Thanks to Danielle Gustafson from Bat Conservation International for the great photo of our Junior Rangers learning about a bat they've just netted with bat biologist Luis F. Aguirre. Also in our newsletter: catch up on last month's Turtle Ball learn about our upcoming arts education programs with the Raechel & Jackie Foundation Meet PP staffer Nicole Salazar help us fight forest fires in coastal...
The Wall Street Journal has a new piece on the challenge of transforming Nicaragua from "a country from tourism pariah to hot destination for wealthy travelers," showcasing Nicaragua's first luxury hotel, opening next month. We have long recognized the natural of beauty of the Paso del Istmo and as we have watched the tourism sector grow in Nicaragua, we have educated people about nature tourism's potential to provide economic benefit...
Walking to Volcano Masaya This week we are pleased to be hosting Bat Conservation International's Board of Directors for their annual meeting. We've been working with BCI and their scientists for over a year to study Nicaragua's bats and conduct bat education and community outreach in and around Volcano Masaya, whose caves are home to dozens of species of bats. The bat experts assembled by BCI and Kim Williams-Guillén, Paso...
Conservation in Action In 2012, over 100 children graduated from our brand new Junior Ranger program. Hands-on lessons in local conservation issues culminate with a service project that children lead in their communities.... Paso Pacífico in the News As the Seattle Times reports, "PBS' new documentary series, 'Life on Fire,' examines how humans and animals alike adapt to living near volcanoes," and includes an episode on bats and parakeets living...
Yesterday we unveiled our new interpretive bat display at the Volcano Masaya Visitors Center, which will help educate thousands of visitors each year about the important role bats play in protecting the natural ecosystems of Central America. We were joined by Bat Conservation International's Board of Directors, who helped make this display possible, and are in Nicaragua for their annual meeting.
La vida en el fuego: un documental (en Inglés) sobre la flora y la fauna del Volcán Masaya. Watch Phoenix Temple on PBS. See more from Life on Fire. We work with Volcán Masaya Parque Nacional and Bat Conservation International to educate kids and the public about bats and other wildlife. Trabajamos aquí con MARENA y Bat Conservation International para educar a los niños y al público sobre los murciélagos...
Nicaragua Dispatch yesterday: Coffee reclaimed its former position at the top of Nicaragua’s export list in 2012, accounting for $519 million in sales last year. In 2011, coffee ranked second to beef, which last year slipped to third place. Gold came in second place last year, netting $431 million in sales in 2012, according to CETREX. If you want to sample, Nicaragua's #1 export, check out our Corridor Coffee, a...
The Seattle Times reports that the new PBS documentary series, "Life on Fire," will examine "how humans and animals alike adapt to living near volcanoes," and include an episode on Nicaragua's Volcano Masaya, where we work studying bats and educating park rangers, schoolchildren, and members of the general public about the local ecology. We'll be watching!
Our friends at the Equator Initiative have launched a cool Case Study Database to share the work of their Equator Prize winners. This is a great resource for everyone interested in community-based environmental conservation.
The pioneers of the surfing industry have also been pioneers in ocean mapping, climate tracking, and ocean conservation. Naturally, surfers were the first group of tourists to venture into Nicaragua, putting its beautiful, undeveloped beaches on the map for ocean lovers worldwide. In the past 20 years, tourism in Nicaragua has increased nearly tenfold, bringing much needed economic development. In the same period, Central America's most impoverished nation – home...
Over at TreeHugger:Underwater robots, otherwise known as autonomous underwater vehicles, or AUVs, have been exploring the ocean floor for years, documenting species and habitats and monitoring changes to the seabed, but there are spots in the ocean that are too hazardous even for robots. Deep ravines, steeply dropping canyons and other major obstacles have so far been too much for AUVs to navigate, but thanks to a new software system,...
We're featured in the November/December issue of the Humane Society's All Animals magazine: Down the Pacific coast almost to the Costa Rica border, a non- profit called Paso Pacifico, using money from the Loro Parque Foundation and Parrots International, pays landowners to protect parrot nests from poachers, who are usually unemployed trespassers well-known in local communities for breaking the law. Lezama, the ornithologist, has recruited two former poachers to locate...
"This summer, a major coral survey found that some of the islands’ coral communities are showing promising signs of recovery," the Environment News Service reported last week. The article provides a pretty good overview of how climate change, ocean acidification, and warmer currents affect coral reefs.
Sea snails' shells are being eaten by increasingly acidic ocean waters, the first evidence that the changing chemistry of the oceans threatens marine habitat. Read more on CNN: The amount of carbon dioxide in the earth's atmosphere is increasing, mainly because of the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation, according to the World Meteorological Organization. That means that the planet's oceans, natural carbon storage facilities, are absorbing more and more...
In the newest issue of WildHope Magazine, SEEtheWILD Director Brad Nahill writes about his adventures with sea turtle researchers from the Eastern Pacific Hawksbill Initiative (ICAPO) and Fauna & Flora International. Our friends, operating in El Salvador and Nicaragua, are working to protect perhaps the world’s most endangered population of sea turtles. Read the article here: http://bit.ly/ForgottenTurtleshttp://bit.ly/ForgottenTurtles On page 10, you'll find an update on our jaguar project.
This synopsis of the new nature show The Dark makes us wish our cable package included BBC2: Advanced thermal imaging cameras and motion sensitive cameras enabled the team to unearth the secrets of nocturnal animals in south and central America. And researchers spent long hours making sure they were in the right place at the right time. It made for thrilling viewing. Jaguars were shown moving stealthily, hunting nesting turtles by the...
Carol L. Chambers, Professor of Wildlife Ecology at Northern Arizona University, has an article about the bat survey she did with us in the new Bats magazine. The Paso del Istmo is a narrow strip of low mountains sand-wiched between Lake Nicaragua and the Pacific Ocean. This isthmus is only 12 miles (19 kilometers) wide, but it is a critical passageway for wildlife migrating between North and South America or...
From the Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation blog: People HATE the terms "ecosystem services" and "natural capital"; the very concept that nature "serves" us is unappealing; abstract cases for markets are off-putting, and; while Americans across the political spectrum are deeply and strongly committed to valuing nature, dollars are the least preferred way of doing so. "The language surrounding ecosystem services is a jargon-rich, dense amalgam of scientific, financial, regulatory...
Via the ArtScience Nexus: An interactive art show at the San Diego Natural History Museum interpreting the work of biodiversity scientists who use DNA barcoding to identify species.
This weekend, Honu, the turtle we've been tracking since last month returned to Brasilon beach. You can follow her on her SeaTurtle.org page.
This fall, Paso Pacífico's team of wildlife biologists and machete-wielding rangers faced huge spiders, floods, earthquakes, and chest-deep swamps to place two dozen camera traps in remote forest areas. Their goal? To capture the elusive jaguars long thought extinct in the tropical forests of Nicaragua. Two years ago, an intern's camera trap captured one, proving their existence and highlighting the need for their protection. Jaguars require large areas of understory...
“Reducing energy poverty among women is a wise investment,” said Princess Haya, of the UAE, at this week's World Energy Forum 2012. We agree, which is why we partner with the Portable Light Project to develop solar textile lanterns made by women in rural Nicaragua, and used by women and children without electricity in their homes, extending their reading hours. The lanterns are also used by our turtle rangers. During the daytime,...
"We teach them that the ocean is alive and we've got to take care of it." Jack O'Neill "The Sea Odyssey Program has given an experience of a living ocean to 50,000 kids already."
Mother Jones: "A global effort to prevent all future species extinctions would cost about $80 billion a year, or $11.42 annually from every person on the planet, according to a study published last week in Science." Scientific American: "More specifically, the study finds that lowering the extinction risk for all of the species that are currently known to be threatened would cost the first $4 billion per year. Protecting and...
From the Turtle Conservancy's October Newsletter: Eric Goode along with writer Glenn O’Brien and Kortnie Coles traveled to the Pacific coast of Mexico to witness a natural phenomenon called an arribada (the Spanish word for “arrival”). During a 3 week period, over 500,000 Olive Ridley Sea Turtles (Lepidochelys olivacea) nest on a 3 km stretch of Escobilla Beach in Oaxaca. This nesting event peaks during the month of September. Only...
From ClimateWire: Beans and corn -- the staples of the Central American diet -- will become more difficult to grow as climate change progresses, according to a new study. ... Certain "hot spots" that are especially vulnerable are spread throughout the region, especially in Honduras and western Nicaragua. But other spots, including many areas in eastern Nicaragua and eastern Honduras, will become good adaptation areas for corn and beans through...
Over at Treehugger, you can read about "robo-fish, which were developed to look like and swim like real fish, can autonomously seek out pollution, debris and chemicals in the water and then feed information back to shore where it can be analyzed."
Eleven rules for maximizing your momentum, from Paso Pacífico board member Gian Marco Palazio:
Our friends at the Sea Turtle Restoration Project join the opposition of the delisting of the Hawaiian green sea turtle: Turtles Face Premature Loss of Protections and Return of Hunting Hawaiian green sea turtle populations have increased steadily since their hunting was banned and they were given federal protections and listed as threatened under the ESA in 1978. However, the Hawaiian honu is far from reaching the official government recovery...
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