Partner Update: Macaw Recovery Network secures habitat for critically endangered Great Green Macaw

Photo courtesy of Macaw Recovery Network

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE      

Contact: info@macawrecoverynetwork.org

Macaw Recovery Network announces its first land purchase toward the restoration of habitat for the critically endangered Great Green Macaw.

Its purchase of La Peninsula in northern Costa Rica will help save not only this magnificent bird but all forest wildlife that share its habitat.

MRN purchased the 208 hectares (the equivalent of about 260 soccer fields) in August from private landowner, José Antonio Herrero Harrintong. "I have tried to protect the farm and its forest all my life but my existence on this planet is equivalent to one second of the earth's life. With the sale of this land, I feel that I am passing the torch so that MRN will now be the one to protect the forest for eternity,” says José.

The MRN purchase comes at a critical time with more clear-cutting in the region as pineapple agriculture expands. “Pineapple plantations are essentially deserts in the middle of the rainforest,” says MRN Executive Director Dr. Sam Williams.

La Peninsula, now partially cattle pasture, lies in the heart of Great Green Macaw breeding grounds. MRN is monitoring three active nest sites there and expects to find more over time.

Wildlife habitat loss in Costa Rica began in the 1950s with the rise of cattle ranching and logging. The trend continued with the conversion of cattle pasture into pineapple and banana plantations. Consequently, 50 percent of the country’s forests have disappeared.

Macaw Recovery Network is a Costa Rican nonprofit, dedicated to the restoration and conservation of neotropical parrot populations in the Americas.