Monteverde, Costa Rica: 60 Years Later...

[Austin Haeberle]

http://MonteverdeNow.org

On April 19^th, 1951 a small group of Quakers from Fairhope, Alabama (USA) arrived in a Costa Rican cloud forest – a place they would call “Monteverde,” or the “Green Mountain.” For decades the Quakers lived a simple life farming and producing cheese. During this time only a handful of scientists would arrive to study the region's magnificent diversity of flora and fauna. That was Monteverde then.  60 years later??

In Monteverde now, a quarter million tourists visit the region every year. Business is booming. But native species are in retreat. Traditional weather patterns are changing. What is happening in the cloud forest?