About: 

Finca El Tigre is a private forest reserve located within the El Rodeo Protective Zone, purportedly the last remnant of primary premontane forest in Costa Rica’s Central Valley.  We are located approximately 2 km from the University for Peace and 22 km West of San Jose, latitude 9-54-40 – 9-55-00, longitude 84-17-20 – 84-17-40, altitude: ranges 890 – 560 meters above sea level, area 44.6 hectares.

Finca El Tigre is in a dynamic process of forest regeneration.  70% of the land is covered by old and young growth secondary forest, 18% is composed of several ‘charrales’ (old pasture land in process of forest regeneration) and the remaining area is divided into  horse pastures, orchards and gardens.

We are entirely off the grid, using solar energy with generator back-up and well water to supply the house, stables and other outbuildings.  The climate is pleasantly warm with average temperatures ranging from 21-27 degrees centigrade year round and a six month rainy season beginning in May and tapering off during November. 

Finca El Tigre Mountain is saturated with a network of springs and streams, which in turn supply the watersheds of Jaris and Virilla Rivers.  Micos Creek, running along the northern border of the Finca, is a magical place, though of difficult access, with waterfalls and rapids framed by massive trees. 

Other than recharging fresh water, El Tigre’s other primary feature is conserving the large number of fast growing, CO2 fixing trees, including Ceiba (Ceiba pentandra), Pochote (Bombacopsis quinata), Yuco (Bernoullia flammea), Gallinazo (Schizolobium parahyba), Guanacaste (Enterolobium cyclocarpum), Volador (Gyrocarpus jatrophifolius), and many others.

Missions:

1. Record an inventory of the flora and fauna, beginning with trees, birds and mammals.
2. Document the natural forest regeneration of 7 distinct ‘charrales’, abandoned pastureland, over the next 20 years, as well as to enrich three charrales with hardwoods no longer extant in the forest (eg. Sideroxylon, Peltogyne pupurea, species of Platymiscium and others).
3. Identify and reproduce the many indigenous fruits and vegetables growing in the forest, as well as medicinal remedies once used by the local Huetar population in this area.

History of El Tigre

Much of Finca El Tigre was used for cultivating annual agricultural crops and cattle grazing until about 50 years ago, when the owners began gradually withdrawing these activities, initially from steep slopes down the mountain and eventually everywhere except pastureland located  near the road.  As a result of this gradual abandonment of land use, the Finca now has a wide range of successive forest regeneration, from about 50 years to 30 years to 15 years to 2 years, which are fairly clearly identified by old pasture posts and fence-lines and aerial maps.

Segments of Finca El Tigre

In October, 2005, with support from Forestry Engineer, Manuel Víquez Carazo, we used GPS and survey, topographical and aerial maps to differentiate the segments of land, (Topography Coordinates 04-05 and 10 – 11 from Rodeo Page number 3345-IV-15, of the National Geographical Institute), and entered the data on AutoCAD.  Hundreds of waypoints positioned the streams, trails, large trees and overall type of vegetation on the maps.  In May, 2006, Manuel returned to map out new trails, which we had cut through secondary forest in order to identify and study species found there.

Prepared by Manuel Víquez Carazo.  WWW.MundoForestal.com

Old Growth Secondary Forest (14.9 hectares or 33.43% of total area)

Finca El Tigre’s topography is mountainous, with sharp inclines alternating with relatively flat, naturally terraced land, starting from nearly 900 meters at the top of the mountain to little over 560 meters at the bottom, where the Finca borders Micos Creek.  The oldest forest is located in the middle of the mountain, where only light grazing took place up until 50 years ago with many remnant trees left uncut.  These old trees now tower over the rest of the canopy.  Approximately 15 hectares have been identified and described as ‘Old Growth Secondary’, much of which grows on steep slopes with difficult access.  Most of the huge trees are pioneer trees, both in terms of size and rate of growth.  Approximately 80% of the trees identified belong to the following species:  Cedrela odorata, Cedrela salvadorensis, Ceiba pentandra, Lonchocarpus (various species), Ficus (various species), Anacardium excelsum, Schyzolobium parahyba, Luehea seemanii, Enterolobium cyclocarpum, Castilla elastica, Spondias mombin, Zanthroxylum (various species), Cordia alliodora, Cojoba arborea, Hura crepitans, Calycophyllum candidissimum, Bravaisia integerrima, Brosimum alicastrum, Brosimum colorado, Clarisia racemosa, Bombacopsis quinatum, Lysiloma divaricatum, Sapium (various species), Bernoullia flammea, Terminalia oblonga and others.

Young Secondary Forest (16.1 hectares or 36.11% of total area)

Secondary forest of 25-30 years has been identified on flatter topography on both the northern and southern areas of Finca El Tigre and young forest of 10-15 years is clearly noted on several areas on the southern part of the terrain.  One can clearly define each discreet woodland by old fence lines and surmise how previous owners successively abandoned crops and pastureland as agricultural activities were progressively confined further up the mountain, closer to the road.  There is a wide range of vegetation, depending on the plot of abandoned pasture.  Remnant trees played a role but many emerging trees were seeded by birds brought in from elsewhere throughout the country.  Although much of the plant life is described as belonging to the Pacific North, the plant diversity extends to the lowlands and the Atlantic as well (eg. Vochysia, Castilla elastica, Pseudosamanea saman, etc.).

Each forest segment has distinct features.  Some areas are dominated by Samanea saman, others by Enterolobium, by Diphysa americana, by Hymenea courbaril, by Schizolobium parahyba, etc.  They have in common an abundant quantity of many of the following emergent species:  Acacia species, Allophyllus occidentalis, Albizia species, Annona purpurea, Apeiba tibourbou, Ardisia revoluta, Bauhinia monandra, Croton draco, Bursera simarouba, Byronsima crassifolia, Casearia species, Cassia fistula, Cecropia species, Clethra mexicana, Cochlospermum vitifolium, Cupania species, Desmopsis bibracteata, Ficus species, Godmania aesculifolia, Gyrocarpus jatrophifolius, Garcinia intermedia, Gliricidia sepium, Lysiloma species, Hampea appendiculata, Inga species, Guazuma species, Luehea speciosa, Lonchocarpus species, Miconia argentea, Myrsine coriacea, Ocotea species, Ochroma pyramidale, Picramnia latifolia, Picramnia quaternaria, Randia loniceroides,  Roupala montana,  Spondias purpurea, Schizolobium parahyba, Senna species, Stemmadenia donnell-smithii, Tabebuia species, Thouinidium decandrum, Triplaris melaenodendron Trichilia hirta, Siparuna sp., Vismea baccifera, Zanthroxylum species, and many more less common identified and unidentified.

Cerro El Tigre – Tigre Hill

Tigre Hill is notable for two reasons.  It’s the only area on the Finca with Volcanic soil and it contains a large number of mature hardwoods, such as Delonix regia (Cocobolo), Hymenea courbaril (Guapinol), Acosmium panamense (Guayacan) and Maclura tinctorea (Brasil de Mora).  It is quite extraordinary that these valuable trees were never harvested, considering the easy access of Tigre Hill to both the road and to the Central Valley.  It’s possible that this is among the last remnants of large hardwoods extant in the Central Valley.

Charrales (8.1 hectares – 18.14% of total area)

There are several Charrales (abandoned agricultural or pasture land) occupying approximately 18.14% of the total area of the finca. 

Forest Engineer, Manuel Víquez Carazo, defines Charral this way (translated):

“From an ecological point of view, a Charral is defined as a dynamic, continuously developing ecosystem, notable for a large amount of solar energy, generated by an accelerated production and transformation of plant material.

In other words, a Charral is an efficient natural factory that absorbs atmospheric gases, water and elements from the soil and converts them into organic material, which is eventually recycled into the same ecosystem.

The charrales are a natural reaction to a natural or human aided void, that is the elimination of activities such as agriculture or animal grazing, which results in a gradual transformation back to original forest conditions by using a phenomenon know as ‘natural succession’.  Natural succession is produced when plants and animals create the necessary conditions for the presence and growth of other, more complex species and animals and so on, successively.

Thus, a Charral is nothing more than a transitory ecosystem formed by plants and animals of short life but fast growth and they multiply rapidly – R species, and whose presence creates the conditions for the eventual establishment in the long term, of a primary forest, composed by an infinite quantity of plants and animals of long life but very slow growth and reproduction – K species.

In summary, the only way to reestablish a primary forest in a location where one once stood is by creating or, in the case of Finca El Tigre, allowing nature to create – charrales.”

Finca El Tigre charrales were pastureland until we stopped cutting in January, 2005, immediately after purchasing the property, and is in the process of natural regeneration back to forest.  After two years of walking through the Charrales and taking pictures, it’s become clear that each one is distinct, even though many of the same plants occur in them all.  All include dense populations of herbaceous material such as Triumfetta biloba (Mozote) but the emergent trees vary according to location.

Pastures: 4 hectares (8.96% of total area)

We maintain a total of seven pastures, used by four horses, on relatively flat terrain adjacent to the road and interconnected through young secondary forest by an old trail leading up to the stables.  This is far less pastureland than we purchased back in December, 2004, the rest being now identified as Charral, as described above.  We have identified many interesting plants growing within the pasture with culinary and medicinal uses and will share information in the future. 

The horses are important to Tigre not just for recreation but for the compost they provide for the gardens. 

Administrative Areas (1.5 hectares, 3.36%)

The house, stables, outbuildings, orchards and gardens are all located together on the southeastern corner of Finca El Tigre.  We are entirely off the grid with power generated by solar panels and well water.   The orange orchards have recently been expanded to include many varieties of citrus as well as other tropical fruit trees such as, Litchi, Rose Apple, Water Apple, banana species, Psydium species, Caimito, Annona, Papaya, Soncoya, Jobo, Jocote, Mango, Coco, Cacao and many others.  

We began cultivating edible plants from the forest in the garden area and will share species as identified, such as Chiscasquil, Zorrillo (Cestrum nocturnum), Pitaya (Hylocereus sp.), Granadillas (Passiflora sp.s), Cohombro and many others.     

Students and Researchers welcome by prior appointment for day visits.

Contact us:  kirk.victoria@gmail.com

Check out our forest blog:  http://fincaeltigre.blogspot.com