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If you admire majestic trees like the Spanish cedar in the photo, there is something you can do to help in the fight against their extinction. No, you don't have to come live in the tropics (although you can get residency in Costa Rica by investing in reforestation). On the Finca Leola plantation, we currently grow teak and several native species of tropical hardwoods that you can own. See the links at the left side of this page for pictures of what each wood looks like. Even if you are not interested in owning trees, we hope that you will give to the Tree Avalanche.

Not only are we preserving rain forest by planting commercially viable tropical hardwood species, but we have reserved 40 percent of our land for encouraging the spread of natural growth forest. Do you notice that the Spanish cedar seems even more majestic because it stands alone? Imagine what this land looked like before farmers began to rely on cattle as a cash crop — it was entirely rainforest. (Click to see more tree photos.)

Many different kinds of tropical hardwoods and semihardwoods are grown on plantations, the most popular in Costa Rica being teak, and there are approximately 55 native species grown here as well. As part of our research for Finca Leola, we have started gathering information on these tree species, such as where they grow best and commercial uses for each variety of hardwood.

We plan to continually use this area of the website as a place to share what we and others are discovering, either from research or personal experience, about the many species of tropical hardwoods in Costa Rica. Also, since we do not want to reproduce the contents of other sites, please review the Tree Links section for more in-depth treatment of some topics. If you are a woodcarver or cabinetmaker who wants to know more about the suitability of each tropical hardwood for specific types of woodworking projects, there are some good information sources there.

You may notice some similarities between the articles on the following pages and the material in the book Timber Trees of Costa Rica, which covers 55 tropical hardwood species. That's because one of the authors is our director of research, who writes the articles. If you come to visit, you may buy the the book from the ITCR bookstore, or see the ordering information below.

Árboles maderables de Costa Rica
Quírico Jímenez M. Freddy Rojas R., Víctor Rojas Ch., Lucía Rodríguez S.
ISBN 9968-702-70-6
U.S. $20 plus $9 S&H

In order to protect our forests, first we need to know them, and this work is a very concrete step in this direction. It is the result of a joint work of the Tecnological Institute of Costa Rica (ITCR) and the National Institute of Biodiversity (INBio), dedicated as much to informing the Costa Rican as the foreigner about the wood resources of Costa Rica.

To order the book, send a check for $29 made out to INSTITUTO TECNOLOGICO DE COSTA RICA to this address, preferably by certified mail. Include this note: "Este cheque es para comprar el libro titulado Árboles maderables de Costa Rica con ISBN 9968-702-70-6." CALL FIRST TO CHECK AVAILABILITY AT 506-2-550-2336.

EDITORIAL TECNOLOGICA DE COSTA RICA
APARTADO 159-7050
Costa Rica

Para proteger nuestros bosques primero hay que conocerlos, y esta obra es un paso muy concreto en esa dirección. Se trata de un trabajo conjunto del Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica (ITCR) y el Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad (INBio), dedicado a informar tanto al costarricense como al extranjero, sobre los recursos maderables de Costa Rica.

El cheque debe ser contra un banco de Estados Unidos y confeccionarse a
nombre de INSTITUTO TECNOLOGICO DE COSTA RICA.

Y debe enviarse a:

EDITORIAL TECNOLOGICA DE COSTA RICA
APARTADO 159-7050
Costa Rica

Preferiblemente por correo certificado.

The Wood Explorer website and CD provide critical woodworking knowledge for the forest profession, academic research, furniture designers, architectural engineers, commercial retailers, wholesalers, and woodworking craftsmen. If you purchase the CD or a membership with them by clicking on the above link, Finca Leola receives a commission, which we will use to plant trees that won't ever be harvested.