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Students Experience Tropical Ecotourism

By Jenny Bjelland
UW-RF News Bureau

APRIL 8, 2005--While entertainment is a driving force in American tourism, some countries center tourism efforts on their plant and animal biodiversity. In countries like Costa Rica and Nicaragua, ecotourism and agri-tourism may very well become the center of the economy and draw tourists with their natural resource uniqueness and beauty.

To compare ecotourism and agri-tourism in Costa Rica and Nicaragua, UW-River Falls environmental studies Professor Kelly Cain and biology Professor Brad Mogen traveled with 16 UW-RF students to Central America for a comparative study tour on sustainability in Nicaragua and Costa Rica.

According to Cain, the destinations for the trip during January term were chosen for a number of reasons, including that the countries are neighbors. "Costa Rica and Nicaragua lend themselves to both of our areas, especially the ecotourism end of things for which Costa Rica is the best known international model," said Cain. "They also touch the biological conservation end of things with diversity."

In addition, the group had connections in Nicaragua with an instructor at the Universidad Nacional Agraria. Matilde Sombarriba, who attended UW-RF in 2003 through a faculty exchange program, guided, interpreted and traveled with the group throughout the first week of the trip.

Faculty and students spent their first six days visiting points of ecotourism interest throughout Nicaragua. The itinerary included a stay at Selva Negra, a mountain resort of international acclaim combining nature tourism, shade-grown coffee and other sustainable agriculture enterprises; a daylong tour of the El Diablo nature preserve; a boat tour of a unique island archipelago ecosystem; a trip to the El Mombacho volcano nature preserve; and lessons in Nicaraguan history and culture at UNA.

The ecotourism, agri-tourism and New Year’s celebration within Nicaragua was something that students and faculty will remember for years to come, as is the state of development that both the country and the capital city were going through.

"The experience in Nicaragua is something we will never forget," says Mogen. "To be in a country where virtually every store in the capital city has an armed guard, in many cases with a machine gun, sitting outside the door was an enlightening experience for everybody."

Graduate student and study-tour participant Kara De Vriendt believes that Nicaragua has the potential to develop an ecotourism and agri-tourism model close resembling the more developed Costa Rican one.

"The beauty of Nicaragua is surely comparable to that of Costa Rica," said De Vriendt. "However, economic and political unrest reflect the missing factors which will metamorph the caterpillar into the butterfly."

Following a lengthy border crossing into Costa Rica, the group began another six days of adventure. Students experienced much of Costa Rica, from guided hikes at the Santa Rosa National Park, the Monteverde National Park and the Tamarindo Wildlife Refuge to sea canoeing, snorkeling and traveling by elevated walkways and canopy zip-lines. The variety of activities allowed them to view the biodiversity in the flora and fauna of the country.

Through a variety of tours, lessons and presentations, the students discovered the beauty of Costa Rica and Nicaragua's ecotourism and agri-tourism industries.

"It was a good eye opener for [the students] to recognize that ecotourism is a major economic industry within these countries, " said Cain. "They saw the broader view while they, themselves, were paying customers."

He adds that even with the further knowledge of ecotourism "clearly the international experience was the most critical portion of the trip in the sense of how much it really broadens not only students,’ but our own perspectives, in terms of we're just that much better in the classroom with a broader world sort of view."

After observing Costa Rica's and Nicaragua's diverse range of flora and fauna including monkeys and a leatherback sea turtle, UW-RF senior Dain Zimmer believes "the hardest lesson of the whole trip was probably that by experiencing [ecotourism and agri-tourism] we could destroy the biodiversity. So the lesson I really learned was that maybe, just maybe, we can save it and still enjoy it."

The students from Wisconsin, Minnesota, and New York who participated in the study tour are alphabetically listed below by hometown with major and year in school.

WISCONSIN
Cambridge- Amanda Stenjem, graduate student, WRNT
Cedarburg- Ann Grey, senior, animal science
Frederic- Jaime Thompson, junior, conservation
Grafton- Jenny Cassel, sophomore, animal science
Luck- Nathaniel Palmer, junior, conservation
River Falls- Noah Cain, sophomore, geography; Brock Anderson, junior, psychology; Stephanie Johnson, senior, biology; Brian Mogen, student at River Falls High School.

MINNESOTA
Byron- Nina Petersen, senior, biology
Forest Lake- Sherry Zielinski, senior, biology
Ham Lake- Beth Hayes, senior, biology
Minneapolis- Joel Probst, senior, conservation
Owatonna- Kara De Vriendt, graduate student, WRNT
Plaineview- Bekka Nelson, senior, biology

NEW YORK
Chittenango- Dain Zimmer, senior, land use planning

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Last updated: Tuesday, 12-Apr-2005 11:23:11 CDT