Station Managers: Charlotte Foale and Manuel Arias

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Manuel and I have dipped in and out of Cano Palma life for a number of years. Manuel started passing through in 2000, helping with construction projects and joining herpetologists in their searches for reptiles and amphibians. A born naturalist he’s observant and patient, and having worked out of doors for the majority of his life, he’s had plenty of time to indulge his curiosity in nature.

I arrived in 2007, giving up a career in healthcare to pursue a passion for birds and conservation. With a plan to be here for three months, I lived on base for nine, before I accepted that leaving was not going to be as easy I thought, there as just too much to learn. Having lived in New Zealand, the United States, and England, I had finally found home. Manuel and I bought a house on the other side of the canal, married, and continued to provide coverage while managers were away. After the birth of our son, Emanuel, and a harrowing first year as blundering, tired parents, I was able to reignite my connections with the CRBO and start bird-banding again – bliss.

The chance to share the management of the station gives Manuel and I the ability to work towards a variety of goals we feel strongly about. From the opportunity to support the scientists whose research contributes so much to local conservation, to that more complex, of trying to build more bridges and create more opportunities to facilitate, on a local level, change in how our son’s generation view and care for the environment that means so much to us. We have been here long enough to be aware of the frustrations
ahead, but know that there is so much to be gained, working with the incredible people who for a week, month or year, choose to make Cano Palma their home.

Manuel and Emanuel
Charlotte Foale

Field Assistant Announcement

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Location: Northern Caribbean coast of Costa Rica (Caño Palma Biological Station)

Duration: July 6-20, 2012 (dates are somewhat flexible)

General description: Assist in study examining the cumulative effects of urbanization on aquatic biodiversity in Neotropical estuaries on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica. Assistant will help collect and record physical, chemical, and biological aquatic data and help design and present environmental public education for the local community. Fieldwork will include a variety of methods to collect aquatic insects, measurement of chemical and physical parameters of estuaries, and characterization of the surrounding riparian habitats. Environmental education could include planning and presenting a lesson on water quality, aquatic ecology or insects to students in San Francisco or Tortuguero. Compensation will include in-country transportation to/from the research station and room and board at the station.

Preferred qualifications:

  • Passport (required for international students)
  • Advanced undergraduates or recent graduate in ecology, biology, or a related field
  • Some prior fieldwork and international travel experience
  • Some fluency in conversational Spanish – assistant will need to interact with Costa Rican students, researchers, national park workers, and volunteers that may only speak Spanish
  • Canoe, kayak, and/or boat experience – most of our time will be on a river or estuary
  • Some public outreach or education experience
  • Flexible, outgoing, and capable of physically demanding work – we will be spending many hours a day in cold and rainy to hot and dry conditions; many consecutive days collecting field data early in the morning until mid-afternoon and some early evenings processing collected aquatic insect samples

Application deadline: June 15th, 2012 (or as soon as position is filled)

Application details: Please email your resume/CV with any relevant coursework and prior field experience, a 1-page statement of interest, and two letters of recommendation to Petra Kranzfelder. All candidates will be interviewed by phone or Skype.

Questions? Email Petra Kranzfelder with any questions.

Station Managers Reflections: Greg Mayne

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Greg Mayne

Greg Mayne – First Station Manager

Station Manager: Greg Mayne
Dates of Service: August 1991 – December 1993

I can hardly believe that I arrived at Caño Palma in 1991 as the first Station Manager. Where has the time gone? And what a transformation that has occurred! The property was recently purchased from a campesino and the parcel of land that would eventually contain the Station infrastructure was open, with many fruit trees, a small banana plantation, and shrubby secondary vegetation surrounding a rudimentary thatched building that served as a kitchen and house. The dock consisted of three planks, at times precariously hanging over the canal, at other times submerged following heavy tropical rains. A comfortable tropical breeze circulated and there was an unobstructed view across the black-water canal that reflected the overhanging vegetation.

There was no running water, unless it rained that is, and no electricity. My bedroom was shrine-like, with numerous candles to read by. I remained in touch with Canada only when the single phone in Tortuguero provided outside contact. The village was 30 minutes away by our long, narrow dugout and new 15-horsepower engine. It had roughly 200 people and was one of the more interesting and quaint coastal villages I had ever experienced. Despite the small population, the village boasted three bars that served as dance floors every night. Inhabitants were Afro-Caribbean, Nicaraguans who fled the Contra-Sandinista revolution in the 1980s, and Costa Ricans who chose to live in this quiet, remote fishing village. There were just three gringos– myself included.
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