Watershed Monitoring
Participants will collect water samples in different watersheds and evaluate environmental quality. Measurements will include in-field dissolved oxygen, pH, conductivity, temperature, transparency, and flow.  Water samples will be collected and analyzed for nitrate, ammonia, soluble reactive phosphorus, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), suspended solids, and total solids.

Conservation Policy Tools
Students will describe and assess conservation policy designs and tools utilized by Costa Rica’s National Park System.  They will be introduced to the institutional structures and politics of conservation policy and the range of policy tools utilized to protect rainforests like international agreements, regional treaties, ecotourism, and national programs that rely on authority, incentives, and symbolism.

Bird Mammal Diversity
Participants will conduct field studies of bird and mammal occurrences in the sample watersheds.  They will assist in an unlimited-radius point count where trained observers record all birds seen or heard from a point during a 3, 5, or 10 minute period.  Students will deploy infrared cameras at bait stations to detect the presence of larger mammals.