Montreal Forest Development

Montreal Forest Development is a Nature Reserve, adjacent to ‪Braulio Carrillo National Park‬, in the central part of Costa Rica about 30 mi north of San José. This forest is located between 1600-1800 meters (5,249-5,905 ft.) above sea level and extends throughout the mountain range, as much as on the Caribbean slope as on the Pacific.

Temperature ranges between 12 - 18º C (53.6 – 64.4º F), with the average temperature being 15º C (59º F). This life zone displays a great variety of soil conditions and receives 3.707 mm (1,460 in) of annual precipitation. Furthermore; its dry season lasts 30 to 45 days.

In its natural condition, the evergreen forest of this life zone has an average height of 24-40 meters (79-131 feet) and consists of two moderately dense layers, with an abundance of epiphytes, palms and shrubs.

History
In the first months of 1944, Costa Rican businessmen Raúl Gurdián Rojas and Ramón Madrigal Antillón partnered with Spanish businessman Pablo Funtanet Solsona to acquire a 1,749-hectare (4,321 acres) property in the area of La Legua, Barba, located in San Rafael, Vara Blanca. During a three-decade period, the property conserved its primary forest, which coexisted with some insipient activities of cattle pasturing that did not exceed more than 100 hectares (247 acres).

In 1979 Elena, Raúl, Rodolfo, and Cristina Gurdián Montealegre, partners in Cordilleras Centrales, acquired Madrigal and Funtanet´s shares. By that time, the extension of the property had been reduced to 610 hectares (1,507 acres).

That same year, Raúl and Rodolfo Gurdián Montealegre formed the company Ahorro Forestal de Costa Rica and acquired 50% of the Cordilleras Centrales shares to later subscribe reforestation contracts numbers 785 and 791 under the Forestry Incentive Law established May 8, 1978. The reforestation project subsequently began and a 7.5-kilometer (4.6-miles) road was built with its respective bridges communicating San Rafael, Vara Blanca, with the forested areas of the property and edge of the Braulio Carrillo National Park.

Since this was a new experience in the forest field of Costa Rica, forestry expert Jorge Rodríguez Quirós was called upon to oversee development and was assigned the task of Project Director. He recommended the repopulation of pastures with commercial trees such as Alder (Acuminata Alnus) and White Cedar (Lusitanica Cupressus) to initiate their respective breeding and eventual transplanting to open field. Initially, repopulation took place in the existing pasture areas and some adjacent redoubts of primary forest.

The total area of planted forest reached 150 hectares (371 acres). It was abandoned in 1989, and immediately after that the subscribed contracts were suspended. The failure of the project was given to technical factors of a diverse nature that served as an example to professionals in forest sciences of not to replace a primary forest with commercial trees, unless the species chosen are native to the area, in order to reduce the existing problems of adaptability, as in the case of the Alder and White Cedar.

In 1997 the entire property was put under the Voluntary Forest Regime and in 1998 the first Environmental Services Contract was signed using the National Forestry Finance Fund (Fondo Nacional de Financiamiento Forestal-FONAFIFO) and was supervised by the Central Volcanic Mountain Range Foundation (Fundación para el Desarrollo de la Cordillera Volcánica Central-FUNDECOR). At the moment, there are 592 hectares (1,469 acres) assigned to the Environmental Services Program (Payment for ecosystem services) which is equivalent to 97% of the total area of the property.

Flora
Some of the arboreal species that can be seen are the Gum tree (Sapium oligoneurum), Limoncillo (Zanthoxyllum limoncillo), Wooly-leaved Sapote (Casimiroa tetrameria), Quizarrá Amarrillo (Phoebe mollicela), Burío (Heliocarpus appendiculatus), Uruca (Trichilia glabra), Guijarros (Stenmadenia glabra), and Oak (Quercus oocarpa).

Fauna
Some of the fauna species that inhabit this area are the Oncilla (Leopardus tigrinus), Ocelot (Leopardus pardalis), Red brocket ([Mazama americana]]), White-nosed coati (Nasua narica), Resplendent quetzal (Pharomachrus mocinno), Black guan (Chamaeprtes unicolor), Great curassow (Crax rubra), Costa Rican salamander (Bolitoglossa subpalmata), Jaguar (Panthera Onca), Swallow-tailed kite (Elanoides forficatus), Emerald toucanet (Aulacorhynchus prasinus), Hoffman's two-toed sloth (Choleopus hoffmani), Nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus), Gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus), Coyote (Canis latrans), Violet sabrewing (Campylopterus hemileucurus), Tayra (Eira Barbara), Mountain thrush (Turdus plebejus), Sooty thrush (Turdus nigrescens), Black-faced solitaire (Myadestes melanops), Three-wattled bellbird (Procnias tricarunculata), and the Baird's tapir (Tapirus bairdii).

Community Relations
The forest located in the property is considered a protection priority by the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor (GRUAS Project) because of the importance of its flora and fauna. Conserving these wooded areas is important since they are part of a biological corridor for the Braulio Carrillo National Park. This corridor serves as a bridge for the area´s fauna that contribute to the dispersing of seeds and pollen from species of flora, which are, in turn, responsible for the biodiversity of the region. In addition, the land is an important part of the watershed for the San Fernando and Volcán rivers, which form part of the Volcán and Don Pedro hydroelectric projects.