Album: Costa Rica Science Exchange

Continental Divide Research Learning Center

The connections between Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) in Estes Park, Colorado and Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve in Monteverde, Costa Rica (CR) have created an opportunity to make global scale preservation a reality. This goal is achieved through exchanging high school youth from both Estes Park and Monterverde to conduct citizen science projects that focus on conservation issues that both parks share. High School youth from both places spend 10 days experiencing the ecosystems, wildlife, and culture of each other’s homes. The citizen science projects conducted in RMNP parallel projects conducted in CR. This program provides exposure for today’s youth to better understand scientific data collection and how it relates to global conservation efforts.