Innovative Wildlife Crossings Connect Wildlife in Punta Cacique, Guanacaste

33 Tico volunteers worked on placing the first two wildlife crossings in Punta Cacique, Guanacaste, an initiative that seeks to protect the local wildlife and at the same time reduce the environmental impact resulting from real estate development. In total, the Costa Rican firm will install 15 structures of this type.

Facilitate the safe migration of various local species

The main objective of the placement of wildlife crossings is to facilitate the safe migration of various local species, promoting biodiversity and minimizing the risk of accidents on the road.

This first stage was carried out within the framework of the International Volunteer Day – which celebrated on December 5 – and included two steps of 27 and 10 meters long respectively, which were located in Playa Penca. The remaining 13 will be installed on the public street that connects to the project. This initiative is just one of the measures implemented to protect biodiversity in the area.

In parallel they will place underground electrical network, reducers speed, underground wildlife passages and vertical informative signage with the type of species that transit the place, with the aim that tourists circulating in the area take appropriate precautions. For the placement of the wildlife crossings, the development firm had the technical advice of non-profit organizations, to protect the biodiversity in the area.

Connecting the forest cover

“We are seeking, through a research project, to connect the forest cover that remains in the coastal area and are involving all the actors that are important in this process. During the volunteering we explained to the participants what are the main efforts we make to protect wildlife and the type of structure that is used to protect fauna along the Pacific coast,” explained the volunteers.

The rest of the steps will be installed over the course of the next nine months. Sayings structures were woven by a group of Guanacaste artisan women with material that was imported from Thailand, to guarantee their quality.

The location of the wildlife crossings was defined strategically, after an analysis that was carried out during a period of six months in the area, which included the installation of camera traps to identify the type of fauna and the areas through which the animals travel.