Tuva Project: Of Oxen and Fallen Timber

The Osa Peninsula juts off of Costa Rica’s Pacific Coast, just above Panama. To those who value biological diversity, this is holy ground. The Osa possesses some of the most spectacular primary forest in Central America. A small, sustainable forestry project there is providing an alternative to conventional timber harvesting. Instead of cutting standing trees, only fallen timber is removed, and oxen have replaced forest crunching tractors. Ecologists say the TUVA project proves what they’ve learned after years in the field: like politics, all conservation is local. John Burnett has our report.