Most of the dry, tropical forest in northwest Costa Rica has been lost, as logging and cattle ranching turned wildly diverse ecosystems into barren pasture. A few pieces of this rare habitat were saved, including Lomas Barbudal and Palo Verde reserves, comprising 38,000 acres critical to wildlife. But every year, the reserves have been scorched by fires that fill the air with dense smoke and change the color of summer sunsets. Ranchers and farmers traditionally set fire to their fields during the December to April dry season, sacrificing long-term soil vitality for the quick burst of growth that follows a fire.
Summer winds spread the flames quickly, often into the parks.
Forest fires are also set by poachers trying to flush out wildlife and by careless smokers who toss cigarette butts from car windows. Ten years ago, Gordon Frankie, a biology professor at the University of California at Berkeley who does research in Costa Rica's dry tropical forest, formed Amigos de Lomas Barbudal in an attempt to control fire damage. With a grant from the World Wildlife Fund, the group rented a water tanker, bought a tractor and equipment and trained six fire-fighters. Students at the local school joined together to educate their neighbors in fire prevention and control and to guard the reserves from poachers. But the annual fires continued, and two years ago a devastating conflagration consumed about 95 percent of the Lomas Barbudal Biological Reserve.