Staff Agreement Keeps Guanacste Park Open
By The Beach Times

The Guanacaste Chamber of Tourism has brokered a deal between a group of hotels and the Area de Conservación Guanacaste (ACG) to keep the Rincón de la Vieja National Park open all week.

The ACG, which administers the 16,000-hectare (40,000) park, had announced earlier this year it no longer had the staff or the money to keep one of the country’s major tourist attractions open on Mondays.

However, the Guanacaste Chamber of Tourism, or Caturgua as it is known, said this week an accord had been reached between area businesses and the park authorities, which would allow the decision to close Mondays, to be reversed.

“Cartugua and some local businesses which want to donate funds to support the park will be signing a cooperation agreement with ACG to allow the resources to be better utilized,” said Giancarlo Pucci, Executive Director of the Chamber of Tourism (seen at right).

Under the deal, the local businesses will provide about 228,000 colones a month (or about us$490) to pay for an additional ranger. The deal was thrashed out at a meeting between the Chambers, key directors of the ACG and local businesses, including representatives from Hacienda Guachipelin and Albergue Borinquen.

Rincón de la Vieja National Park soars 1916 meters (6285 feet) above sea level and is home to the volcano after which the park is named. That is made up of nine craters, one of which remains active (it last erupted in February of 1998) while the others are slowly eroding.

Giselle Méndez Vega, Director of the ACG, said her group was negotiating and reviewing the draft of an accord. A final review would be undertaken by Sistema Nacional de Areas de Conservación, or SINAC.

“If we close the area it is because we don’t have the capacity to attend to the demand,” Ms Méndez said. “But if this works it will be a great experience for the region which can be further replicated.”

Last year there had been 42,215 visitors to the park, which was up nearly 70 per cent on entrance figures three years previous.

Ms Méndez said the park rangers had a number of roles including taking care of tourists, guarding the park against unauthorized hunting or other illegalities, and maintenance as well as scientific research. But because of the big numbers of tourists, they were unable to carry out any other functions.

Part of the problem is that while the park charges $6 to enter, only about ten per cent of that goes towards park maintenance.

“We understand they don’t have enough money, nor enough rangers to do all the things which are necessary to maintain the park,” Mr Pucci said.

“We are hoping under this agreement, that other businesses will come forward and help fund the additional person,” he said.

The ACG, which will be responsible for finding and employing the new ranger, has agreed they will re-open on Mondays after paths to the volcano crater, which in parts are considered dangerous, are repaired. The whole process will take between one and two months.

The five-year accord, which will be signed later this month, came after area Deputies, Maria Lourdes Ocampo and Ligia Zuñiga agreed to raise the issue in an extraordinary meeting of the Legislative Assembly’s commission on tourism.

Rincón de la Vieja (the name means “corner where the old one lives) is home to 257 species of birds, as well as mammals such as deer, peccaries, sloths, pumas and tapirs. It is also one of the biggest areas where the Guaria Morada orchid, Costa Rica’s national flower, can still be found growing wild.