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Published Tuesday, March 16, 2021
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The park rangers will increase surveillance operations during Holy Week to prevent environmental crimes from being committed.
Among the main security operations are road control, visitor control, marine patrols, prevention of forest fires, detention of suspects of illegal logging or illegal hunting, according to representatives of the National System of Conservation Areas, SINAC.
"The staff will be carrying out a series of actions to monitor and control natural resources, throughout the national territory, with the aim of minimizing problems such as illegal logging and transportation of wood, as well as the robbery of flora and fauna," SINAC said in their statement.
All national parks will remain open during their normal hours throughout the Easter holidays. Visitors must follow the guidelines issued by the health authorities to avoid the spread of covid-19.
More than 350 SINAC staffers will be on the roads near the national parks to provide drivers with information on fire prevention and the consequences of illegal poaching of wildlife.
According to SINAC, an expense of more than $14,000 has been budgeted for the special surveillance operation. The funds will cover expenses for staff food and transportation.
Usually during the holidays the visitation to national parks increases. It’s during that time that visitors tend to take plants or even wild animals as souvenirs, which is illegal in the country. It’s a crime against wildlife.
In the previous year, 33 suspects were taken to the Public Ministry linked to such crimes such as illegal logging, illegal hunting, and theft of flora and fauna, according to data provided by SINAC.
Under the Wildlife Conservation Law, any person who is found responsible for committing an environmental or wildlife crime could face one year prison sentence.
Also, experts from SINAC and Meteorological Institute and Emergency Commission have developed a Forest Fire Prevention plan that includes increasing operational actions of fire detection through the use of satellite images, activation of permanent watchtowers on land and aerial patrols, among other strategies.
Forest fire season usually begins when gusts from 50 kilometers per hour to 100 kilometers per hour are recorded in some regions of the country during the dry season.
More than 950 people, including forest firefighters, park rangers and volunteers were trained to carry out prevention work along with the country for the extinction of forest fires within the national parks.
Every year volunteers visit high-risk communities to inform them about precautionary measures to avoid fires, as well as a prevention campaign developed in the media.
According to firefighter specialists, usually in the dry season, farmers begin cleaning vegetation land using controlled fires. Sugar cane growers routinely burn off the vegetation in their fields to make cutting the cane easier and to eliminate dangerous pests. Those activities may cause forest fires.
The dry months of March and April are the most critical for forest fires to occur due to the increased practices of cleaning land with controlled fires, high winds, high temperature and low humidity, the specialists said.
Park rangers call on visitors to refrain from taking wild plants and animals. As well as avoiding bonfires that can cause forest fires. Any suspected crime against wildlife can be confidentially reported by calling the 911 line.
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