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What do we do?
Nectandra Institute carries out educational programs for the
general public, and conducts limited scientific
studies to support its educational goals. These
goals are to promote understanding of neotropical
cloud forests: their biodiversity, their ecology,
and their importance to our future.
Where do we do it?
Nectandra Institute carries out its work at a cloud forest
preserve in northern Costa Rica. Located near the
city of San Ramon, the preserve is at an elevation
of 1100-1200m, and has an area of approximately
100ha. The preserve is adjacent to the highway
from San Ramon to La Fortuna, on the Atlantic slope
of the Cordillera Tilaran.
Facilities on location
Our preserve is in two parts. Four hectares, closest to the road,
known as the Garden, is dedicated to public education, with facilities
for horticultural, botanical, scientific exhibits,
a small café, and a small art gallery
featuring subjects and objects from cloud
forests. The remaining area in the preserve
will be restricted to scientific
research.
Our board members
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Nectandras
are trees in the Lauraceae family which
bear small oily fruits related to the
avocado that we are familiar with, but
much smaller--more like olives in size and
appearance. The fruits are either green or
black, with red or green calyx.
These fruits are highly nutritious and
attractive to many species of fruit-eating
birds, such as the resplendent quetzal and
the three-wattled bell bird, two
well-known inhabitants of the cloud
forest. Not all of the 114 species of the
Nectandra genus are found in cloud
forests, but several species, such as
Nectandra salicina, are found in
our forest.
We have adopted the Nectandra
name as a reminder of the importance of
the cloud forest in sustaining many forms
of life, including these much sought after
spectacular birds by visitors to Costa
Rica. Both the quetzals and bell birds are
declining in numbers, and this decline is
believed to be due to the loss of suitable
habitat containing fruit to support their
migrant populations. Our logo is a pair of
black nectandra fruits attached to their
red supporting stems.
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