Project

Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve
One of the first community administered reserves in Costa Rica

The community of Santa Elena borders the Monteverde Conservation Area. Within this region, 310 hectares (765 acres) have been permanently leased by the Santa Elena community high school. The original vision was to use this land for agricultural research and education in Monteverde. However, the farming proved to be unsuccessful, and in 1989, the land was converted into a cloud forest reserve. Together with Youth Challenge International, a Canadian based non-profit organization, the community established an ecotourism reserve, which officially opened on March 1, 1992.

The reserve was created out of the community's desire to both preserve the cloud forest and use tourism as a means to benefit community development. Entrance fees go to protecting and managing the reserve, as well as providing higher quality education for the schools of Monteverde.

The Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve of Monteverde is one of the first community administered reserves in the country (in the sense that it is not a national park, but under the protection of the Arenal Conservation Area). It is an excellent example of what people can do to preserve – and learn from – the environment they live in.