Work in Nature Conservation Projects

Project at A Glance Location: Atenas or in the National Parks of Costa Rica Start Point: Atenas  End Point: Atenas  Duration: 2-12 weeks Hours: 20-40 per week Food: Provided by host family or national park Room: Host family or housing with park staff Date: First and Third Monday of each month

Project Summary

Costa Rica is renowned for its environmental and conservation efforts, but in reality, there is simply not enough manpower to maintain the vast areas of conservation. Continuation of environmental education efforts requires people as well. This volunteer experience is a great opportunity for anyone pursuing a career in environmental conservation.

The Atenas office has only one permanent employee for all local conservation efforts, so assisting would be a welcome help and an excellent way to gain hands-on experience. Maintain trails in the municipal forest, promote new projects or assist in the office. The Ministry of Agriculture is also seeking volunteers to help build educative trails. The local environmental committee is always looking for assistance with fundraising and grant writing. There is even a tree-planting project, which plants more trees throughout Atenas.

Volunteer can also be placed directly in the national park system. These volunteers will maintain trails, educate visitors and more. There are many parks to choose which include volcanoes, rainforests, beaches, archeological sites and more. Various locations are Poas, Braulio Carrillo, Carara, Manuel Antonio, Barva, Palo Verde, Santa Rosa and Guayabo.

Skills/Qualifications Needed

Beginner to intermediate knowledge of Spanish is preferred (but not mandatory). If you cannot speak Spanish, we suggest you enroll in our Spanish language course to make your stay more rewarding – both for you and for the children you are helping. National Parks volunteers must have biology, ecology or environmental studies to participate. Volunteers are expected to be reliable, flexible and patient.

Volunteer Responsibilities

A volunteer in the Atenas Ministry of the Environment project will maintain trails in the Municipal Forest, plant trees, create new educational trails, assist with new projects, fundraise, search for grant opportunities and assist with office work.

National parks volunteers maintain trails, assist and educate visitors or local communities, and assist with projects specific to each site.

Room/Food/Supervision

In Costa Arica, all volunteers stay with well-screened host families. Our host families are socially respected and are well versed in the art of hosting international volunteers. Host families offer a safe home, private rooms (occasionally rooms will be shared with other same-gender volunteers) and shared bathroom facilities with running hot water and a “western” style toilet. Volunteers have the ability to do laundry at the house or the host family may offer to do it for you for a nominal extra fee. You receive three prepared meals per day. If you will be out of the house during lunch hour, you can request a lunch "to go" that you can take with you or eat out on your own. Host families provide typical meals that are traditional to Costa Rica.

Throughout the volunteer project, our local staff stays in contact with volunteers either with face-to-face visits or via email/telephone. With longer placements, we visit our volunteers every two weeks (when possible) and volunteers are always welcome at the local office. If project placement is local, we request that volunteers stop by the office once a week to keep us posted on how they are doing with their home stay and project. If project placement is very far, then our local staff members maintain communication by either email and/or phone.