Community members and environmentalists of all shapes, sizes, ages and nationalities came out to lend a helping hand at the community tree-planting event on Saturday, June 5th . The event was organized by the Tourism Council of Nosara, ICE and the Ostional chapter of the Ministry of Environment and Energy (MINAE).

Following a ceremony at 8:00am honoring the accomplishment of Guiones Beach having earned the Ecological Blue Flag for the 6th year in a row, some one hundred people united to lend a hand (or a shovel) at the beach’s main entrance where they coordinated and set out in groups to plant 500 saplings. The trees ranged from a variety of species including Yellow Cortez, Black Cortez, Sura, Ceiba, Cedro, Sota Caballo, Caoba, Ron Ron and Cocobolo.

Steve Reyer, Treasurer of the Tourism Council of Nosara, believes that the “great turn out from locals, tourists and plenty of kids…shows how the town can work together to care for and improve our beach environment [and that it’s also] a great lesson for the kids on the importance of volunteer work and giving back to nature.”

Nina Arias, who lives in Guiones, said “it was really a great experience… I wish we could do this once a month, I think it would really make a great difference in the future. Now we really have to take care of [the trees], because if we don’t water them [during the dry season], they won’t make it.”

The following local establishments all signed an agreement with ICE promising to protect the number of trees indicated in parenthesis, and to water them during the dry season: The Tucan Safari School (40), Tica Massage (20), Coconut Harry's Surf Shop (20), Eco Realty (20), Wanderlust (20), Surfing Nosara (20), Century 21 (10), Del Mar Academy (10), Harmony Hotel (40), The Yoga House (10), Nosara Travel (15), Laquaviva (20), Nosara Spanish Institute (10), Guiardino Tropical (40), Casa Romantica (50), Villa Tortuga (10), The Gilded Iguana (20), Nosara Surf Academy (10), Solo Bueno Hostel (20), The Nosara Yoga Institute, Harbor Reef Hotel and Café Paris will share the responsibility of (50) trees.

The beach has been marked off in to sections with lots numbered 1 through 24 and the businesses were assigned a number to their respective lot.

Reyer informs us that “The Nosara Tourism Council will be signing up members soon for $150 per year. [The Council has] many projects planned to help promote Nosara as a premier eco friendly vacation destination for the world to enjoy.” For information on becoming a member of the Council, people can contact him at [email protected].