To Safeguard rivers and native forests while strengthening women- and youth-led livelihoods revitalizing indigenous cultural heritage and ecological knowledge while restoring rainforest ecosystems and creating sustainable livelihoods through community-driven ecotourism and education.
Create a thriving demonstration of biocultural regeneration where Indigenous wisdom and regeneration and respect for nature unite.
Protect rainforest biodiversity, restore degraded plots, and safeguard headwaters for climate resilience.
Preserve Bribri and Cabécar culture and language, diversify livelihoods via eco-tourism and agroforestry, and empower youth and women through education.
Indigenous family-led governance; assemblies, school partnerships, workshops; structured volunteer and researcher engagement.
Family run: eco-tourism revenue, cacao/chocolate and handicraft sales; complemented by grants/partnerships; profits reinvested locally.
*This Bioregional Land Node is working with Mycelium to collect and display more information about their land, community, and regenerative practices. Check Back Soon for More Information!
Ecosystem Unity:
Talamanca tropical rainforest socio-ecological system linking peaks to river valleys.
Tropical rainforest climate zone (Af) on the Caribbean slope, transitioning into premontane cloud forest at higher elevations.
Year-round rainfall; peaks typically Nov–Jan and Jul; no pronounced dry season.
18–32 °C
Upper Telire River watershed (headwaters of the Sixaola River).
Abundant springs and shallow aquifers; reliable surface water year-round.
Ceiba, wild cacao, palms, mahogany, orchids; howler and spider monkeys, toucans, peccaries, deer, jaguar, puma, diverse amphibians and reptiles.
Rugged ridgelines, deeply incised valleys, waterfalls, river flats, and cloud-forested highlands.
Ancestral Cabécar and Bribri territories; acknowledgement of traditional custodianship and stewardship.
Mixed-crop fincas beneath forest canopies, ceremony circles, petroglyphs, ancient trails; matrilineal land inheritance patterns.
External pressures from lowland agribusiness and historic cacao disease; recognition of Indigenous reserves since 1977 has strengthened forest protection and cultural continuity.
Core part of a corridor connecting La Amistad protected areas to lower elevation Indigenous forests across the CR–PA frontier.
Remote: ~30 km to Bribrí/Suretka; ~50 km to Puerto Viejo; ~120 km to Limón; ~220 km to San José.
