Pitzer Turns Colonial

Land grant in Costa Rica acquired

By Amruti Borad
Staff Writer

With magnificent views of the Pacific Ocean, the Finca Isla del Cielo reserve and field station appears more like a resort than the site of upcoming scientific endeavors by students of the 5Cs.

In late May, five students, under the direction of Biology Professor Donald McFarlane (Joint Science), will begin a summer research program in restoration ecology, conducting baseline biodiversity assessment studies on butterflies, moths, ants, and trees, as well as topographic mapping of the site. One of these five students will join Ethel Jorge in “becom[ing] an engaged member of the community,” according to Carol Brandt.  The two-semester study abroad program begins in September with the first eight- person class.  The host institution, the Institute for Culture and Language (ICLC), is near San Jose, and will provide an intensive Spanish course, taught by Pitzer and Joint Science Department professors.  This course will be taken for a month while living within the Costa Rican community with a host family.  Students will have a second host family on the farm.

Students are taken on field trips to the Caribbean in order to compare the differences in ecological conditions of the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea.  Students also take an advanced Spanish course in Ecology for the entire semester.  More importantly, professors will immerse students in different aspects of Human Ecology, such as Worldviews and Natural History, Art and Ecology, Protected Areas and People, and Agroecology, each specific to Finca Isla del Cielo.  This course allows student to assess the intricate relationship between humans and their environment, especially the fierce competition between resource use and conservation and restoration of ecosystems.  A major focus will be on implanting environmentally safe farming techniques.

The Finca Isla del Cielo is a 150 acre property located on the southwest coast of Costa Rica.  It is adjacent to the well-known 800 acre reserve of Hacienda Baru Reserve (http://www.haciendabaru.com) to the west, near the town of Dominical, the Osos Peninsula to the south, and Manal Antonio National park to the north.  Management of the property was transferred to Pitzer College in 2005, to be run as a biological reserve and logistical base for undergraduate tropical and human ecological research and education. 

According to Professor McFarlane, the property was a cattle farm developed after clearing the natural rainforest. It was used as a farm from the late 1950's through the 1970's, until it was acquired by Ms Diane Firestone, (close relative of the tire baron), about 12 years ago. Ms. Firestone operated the property as a perma-culture site, planting about one-third of it with mixed native hardwood trees, and another third with bamboo of various economically viable species, which will be used to make new facilities.  Having become involved with a new project in Australia, Ms. Firestone’s accountant contacted Pitzer College in 2005 and offered to donate the property to the College under the condition that they would protect it.  A group of interested faculty, including Professot McFarlane, Joint Science Professor Cheryl Baduini (Marine Science), Pitzer College Professor Paul Faulstich (Environmental studies), Pitzer College Professor Melinda Herrold-Menzies (Environmental Studies), Pitzer College Professor Ethel Jorge (Spanish), and Pitzer College Study Abroad Director, Carol Brandt, developed a proposal to use the property.  Professor Faulstich says he is “thrilled we have this new resource in environmental studies and biology.”  The specifics about how the conservation will be carried out and ownership rights are still in the finalization process.

Professors will immerse students in different aspects of Human Ecology, such as Worldviews and Natural History, Art and Ecology, Protected Areas and People, and Agroecology, each specific to Finca Isla del Cielo.  This course allows student to assess the intricate relationship between humans and their environment, especially the fierce competition between resource use and conservation and restoration of ecosystems.  A major focus will be on implanting environmentally safe farming techniques on this property. 

The more science-based course is Tropical Ecology, in which students will explore the physical geography of Costa Rica, the biodiversity theory, and data collection and analysis methods of conservation and restoration ecology options.  This also provides “hands-on-experience, with identification of key groups of tropical organisms and techniques used to quantify them.”  The last course is a directed independent study project in Human or Tropical Ecology.  Before going abroad, the program requires one year of Spanish or its equivalent, and permission of instructors for the Tropical Ecology course, which they will take while abroad. Students will earn 4.5 credits.  Carol Brandt hopes for all five Claremont Colleges to apply for this program in the future because she believes this program is “interdisciplinary education in its most beautiful form.”

For more information and beautiful photographs, please consult the following web sites:

http://costarica.jsd.claremont.edu

http://www.pitzer.edu/academics/ilcenter/external_studies/costarica/