Under a midday sun, I guided my horse up a steep, dusty slope, eventually emerging at the top of a ridge overlooking a brown valley, roads crisscrossing the landscape. Though it was the dry season on Nicaragua’s Pacific coast, this area seemed more void of life than normal. Above, a large hawk circled, riding thermals up and down the ridgelines, searching for small prey before settling in a large tree, one of the few still standing.

We should have been riding under the cover of dense forest canopy. Instead my skin, pale from the New York winter, steadily acquired a burn.

The landscape

Every 5 meters were small saplings planted in rows lining the hillside. Around each sapling, the surrounding ground vegetation was removed, presumably to give the young trees the space and sunlight they needed to grow. I had expected to see more dramatic results, but I had to keep reminding myself that these trees were just planted two years ago, and it would take 10-15 years for this degraded former pastureland to resemble a forest.

I was in the middle of a 400 hectare reforestation project of 35,000 saplings of 70 different species of native trees, witnessing the start of what would some day be a dense dry tropical forest filled with spider monkeys, yellow-naped parrots, and ocelots.

Julie Martinez, educational director for the environmental NGO Paso Pacifico, was our guide for the afternoon. She was showing us their reforestation project at Las Fincas de Escamequita, a private eco-development 15 minutes south of San Juan del Sur, an idyllic tourist town on the coast near the Costa Rican border.

The author with Julie Martinez

The reforestation project, aptly named Return to the Forest, is the result of a partnership between the owners of Las Fincas de Escamequita, and Southern California based Paso Pacifico. Donn Wilson, a San Diego native and owner of Las Fincas, bought the property with the intention of returning parts of the land to their natural state.

“Paso Pacifico wanted to use us as a sort of poster child for sound development,” Wilson said. “They showed up at the right time and really helped with our reforestation efforts. [They] saved me from making some obvious mistakes.”

Paso Pacifico, who’s mission is to “restore and conserve the natural ecosystems along Central America’s Pacific slope” was able to finance the reforestation project by partnering with Carbonfund.org, a Washington DC based nonprofit that funds carbon offset projects and then sells those carbon credits to individuals or businesses.

The idea is simple. Trees remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and sequester the carbon as they grow. Because concentrations of carbon dioxide quickly disperse throughout the atmosphere, efforts to reduce CO2 emissions are not location specific. For example, if I wanted to offset the carbon I emitted due to my plane ride to Nicaragua, one way to do this would be to make sure that those tons of CO2 were removed from some other place in the world. Over 40 years Paso Pacifico’s reforestation project will remove 170,000 tons of CO2 from the atmosphere. In the process, the newly planted forest will create habitat for wildlife, and provide jobs and education for the local community.

Saplings waiting to be planted

Another part of the Return to Forest project is the larger goal of creating the Paso del Istmo Conservation Corridor. Paso del Istmo or “Passage of the Isthmus” is a narrow strip of land between Lake Nicaragua and the Pacific Ocean that for millions of years has served as a bridge for animals to migrate between North and South America.

The majority of Nicaragua’s population lives in this western portion of the country, and as a consequence, much of the original forest has been removed for agriculture, pasture, or firewood.

Biological corridors have become popular initiatives in wildlife conservation science. The idea is that animals do not recognize lines humans have drawn on a map and can be quite migratory in their habits. Instead of conservation areas existing as a patchwork across the region, promoters want to link these disparate reserves to allow animals the possibility of moving between habitats.

The need to establish these corridors may become more apparent as climate change alters local ecosystems. Individual species may not be able to live in altered habitats, and will be forced to migrate to a more accommodating climate. Biological corridors will then act as a resilience mechanism, giving many species a better chance to adapt to a changing world.

A howler monkey

In Nicaragua, the extent of deforestation in the second half of the 20th century became especially apparent during Hurricane Mitch in 1998. The hurricane devastated large swaths of Central America, damage estimates surpassed $1 billion and over 750,000 people lost their homes. The death toll in Nicaragua was over 3,800, with another 7,000 unaccounted for. Areas where severe landslides and floods occurred were in areas where hillsides had been removed of their natural forest cover.

After the hurricane, the government and the World Bank embarked on a $9 million project to help reforest areas of the country with the intention of avoiding future catastrophes.

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Nicaragua’s bizarre historical relationship with America sometimes seems like it could have been lifted straight from the pages of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude. In the middle of the 19th century, the major trade route between New York and San Francisco ran through Nicaragua. Boats from New York would travel down to the Caribbean, up the San Juan River, and sail across lake Nicaragua to Rivas. Goods and people would then be transported the remaining 20 km to San Juan del Sur by stagecoach to be loaded onto steamers bound for San Francisco. The American Transit Company, owned by Cornelius Vanderbilt, had a monopoly on this route.

In the 1850s, a civil war was raging in Nicaragua. In 1855, the rebel faction hired an American filibuster named William Walker as a mercenary who led a private force from southern California and succeeded in conquering the country. After installing himself as president, he established black slavery and launched conquering expeditions against other Central American states. He also revoked the American Transit Company’s charter to operate, which infuriated Vanderbilt. In 1857, a rival group of mercenaries financed by Vanderbilt defeated Walker and his men at the battle of Rivas.

Between 1909 and 1933, the US government was involved in the internal political struggles of the country – particularly because of a proposed canal connecting the Atlantic and Pacific. American influence eventually allowed Anastasio Somoza Garcia (favored because he spoke English) to take control of the country, which his family ruled until 1979.

Beginning in the 1970s, Nicaragua was embroiled in a another brutal civil war, pitting the socialist inspired Sandinista movement against the corrupt ruling Somoza regime. The Sandinistas, led by Daniel Ortega (and current president of Nicaragua), ultimately succeeded overthrowing the Somoza regime and forming a new government in 1979, inheriting a country with over 50,000 dead, hundreds of thousands displaced, and an economy in shambles.

In the 70s and 80s, Nicaragua was seen as a vital front line in the cold war. President Ronald Regan, alarmed by the close ties between the Sandinistas and governments in the Soviet bloc, began supporting (some say ‘created’) the Contras – opposition forces comprised of former leaders of the Somoza government’s National Guard and Sandinista dissidents – in their struggle against the Sandinistas. The US provided arms and training to the Contras, who operated out of sanctuaries in Honduras and Costa Rica.

After the Iran-Contra scandal of 1986-87, US military aid dried up, and, along with mutual exhaustion and mediation by neighboring governments, the Contras and the Sandinista government signed a cease-fire in 1989, ending nearly 20 years of conflict.

As is the case in many countries with lengthy periods of internal conflict, an unintended consequence of the years of civil war and economic stagnation in Nicaragua was that it helped preserve large swaths of the natural environment.

But now, the stable political situation and cheap prices are drawing more and more tourists and property developers. This is in turn driving up the price of land, and putting increasing strain on the natural environment.

“One of the biggest threats is local people selling their land,” Sarah Otterstrom, director of Paso Pacifico said. “People will sell their land and move to Rivas or San Juan del Sur, further deepening the cycle of poverty.” Paso Pacifico aims to not only help create better environments for animal populations, but for the local community too, through an integrated approach to community based ecosystem management.

For example, Nicaraguan youth often do not have a lot of opportunities for entertainment so a popular pastime has become shooting local birds with slingshots. After educating children about different species through field trips and special school programs, kids are given the chance to trade in their slingshots for binoculars – similar to guns buyback programs found in many cities.

“The kids love learning about the different kinds of birds,” Ms. Martinez of Paso Pacifico said. “I am always amazed that the kids know more common names for birds than I do.”

Martinez leads Paso Pacifico’s environmental education program, which involves students from six area schools. She takes them on field trips to the beaches and forest sites where Paso Pacifico is doing work. The idea is to instill the ethic of conservation in children, who will hopefully then bring these ideas to their families

As it will be nearly impossible to create large-scale reserves that are void of people, integrating the population into the conservation plan is essential for its viability. By giving the local population an incentive to conserve the local flora and fauna instead of harvesting it, the hope is to allow both people and wildlife to thrive.

Just down the road from Las Fincas and the reforestation project, we stopped for lunch at Rancho Tere, a local restaurant. Under a thatch roof next to papaya and mango trees, Jose Adan Merlot Dinarte and his wife Teresa Avendano served us a plate of chicken, fried plantains, and pico gallo, followed by a fresh pineapple fruit shake for dessert. Though their skills as restaurateurs were not in doubt (the $5 meal was one of the better meals I had in the country), Jose had bigger plans in the works.

“This area is very close to nature, and because there are not a lot of people here yet, me and some of my fellow business owners are trying to start an ecotourism cooperative,” he said as he handed us a homemade flyer advertising a horseback excursion to the nearby beach and national park. “When Paso Pacifico started doing the reforestation project on the finca nearby, it made us realize the potential of the area.”

A map of the biological corridor

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Back in San Juan del Sur, the furious pace of real estate development was visible everywhere I turned. Expensive looking villas – some half-built – covered the surrounding brown and sparsely vegetated hillsides overlooking the small cove. A mixture of traditional fishing boats, larger industrial trawlers, and massive pleasure yachts bobbed in the natural harbor. The streets in town are laid out in a grid, with small one-story businesses occupying most of the real estate. As in many other towns in Nicaragua, the building paint schemes rely heavily on brightly colored pastels.

Driving out along any of the dusty, potholed roads leading away from town, we passed countless Century 21 Real Estate signs next to dusty parcels of scrubland enclosed by rusty barbed wire fencing. Occasionally we saw massive billboards showing pictures of soon to be built vacation villas next to locked gates and impressive walls. These signs are half in Spanish, half in English, as the developers know who many of their future owners will be.

Ryan Benson, a 35 year old Minnesotan was in San Juan, finalizing the paperwork on a piece of property overlooking Playa Yankee (Yankee Beach), a small cove a 20 minute drive south of town. He was getting a prime piece of real estate in exchange for creating a website for the property development firm, Full Moon LLC. When he first started working with Full Moon two years ago, plots of land were selling for $30,000. Within nine months, those same plots were worth between $90,000 – $100,000.

“I am looking at this as an investment,” Benson said. “I would love to see San Juan stay the way it is – a small, chilled-out fishing village, but I know that’s not going to happen. And in some ways, I want it to happen, the more tourism that comes to the area, the more my investment is worth.”

Perhaps as a testament to how many Americans are buying properties in Nicaragua; land values have dropped within the last few months. The sub-prime mortgage crisis that devastated the US housing market affected the property market in Nicaragua as well, with lot prices falling around 10% over 6 months. Many Americans are no longer able to get a second mortgage to finance a purchase.

Paradise Development Holdings SA, one of the US-based real estate development companies that is selling properties in and around San Juan del Sur, sees Nicaragua as the next big vacation destination. Their website describes their vision for the area: “The transformation of this site is now underway, and just as Newport Beach, St. Tropez, The French Riviera, and Cabo San Lucas, were once a figment of someone’s imagination. Paradise Bay, along the south west coast of Nicaragua, is destined to draw a world of trendsetters. From private residences to vacation villas, each built with unparalleled elegance, style and luxury, will take ocean view living to new heights.”

Donn Wilson, explained his motivations for partnering with Paso Pacifico in the reforestation project and creating the eco-community. He came to this part of Nicaragua chasing some of the world-class surf and fell in love with the people and environment.

“I felt there were others like me who didn’t want another Southern California to be built down here. We are all trying to escape that, and yet that’s all people were offering down here. I wanted to prove we could be environmentally sound, socially conscious and eco-friendly,” he said.

Wilson was worried about all of the development. “If it isn’t kept in check, we could turn in to another Acapulco or Cancun. People really just trash the environment and count on others to save or protect it,” he said.

The day after touring the reforestation project, a massive cruise ship dropped anchor just outside the bay of San Juan del Sur. In town, groups of obese American tourists were wandering the streets, looking for something to buy. Aside from a few shops selling local art, the many trinket shops, and some restaurants and bars, there wasn’t much for them to acquire

What will San Juan del Sur look like in 5, 10, or 20 years? By all indications, a lot different than it does now. And what about the natural environment?

Developers are building hotels and condos around San Juan without considering some of the long-term sustainability issues, Otterstrom believes. “There’s not enough water to support the number of houses and hotels in the area,” she said.

Donn Wilson agreed, “above all, Nicaraguans need jobs. More tourists mean more jobs. Those living on the grid need to be concerned about the pending implosion of the existing poor infrastructure. Water and sewage are a problem already in the town and with more people coming it will surely be further overburdened.”

A new resort development on the hillside overlooking San Juan del Sur

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Benson was leaving the next day for Minnesota, but was already planning another vacation, this time with his wife and young daughter. I could see why – the sunny weather, gorgeous beaches, and friendly locals were the perfect mix for an epic vacation. He was already brainstorming about what kind of place he wanted to build, a spot to bring his new family for years to come.

“I’m an American, that’s what we do, we go into a little town, buy some property, open up a t-shirt shop, and make some money,” Benson said.

On the ground, it looks like Nicaragua is quickly becoming the next Costa Rica – a real estate developer’s gold mine and an American retiree’s dream. Impoverished locals are cashing in on skyrocketing land price and selling out to development groups.

Is this the latest wave in a long history of American invasions? The record of US intervention in the country has rarely resulted in outcomes that have been beneficial to the Nicaraguan people, and so far, the number of developers out to make a quick buck dwarf those who are genuinely trying to improve the livelihoods and natural environment of the area.

Donn Wilson has now moved to San Juan del Sur to manage his eco-development full time. “The bummer is that there are more of them and fewer of us involved in the battle,” he said. “I can’t save the world, but I can save my little corner of it.”

Sunset at the beach