Clouds over a Quaker forest: founded by this peace-loving sect, the Monteverde Reserve in Costa-Rica is facing challenges of its booming ecotourism business.

• Author: Gunderson, Jeff

Located along the continental divide in Costa Rica is one of the earth's unique environments and a forest rich in natural treasures. Climate gradients from Pacific and Caribbean-facing slopes collide, giving rise to cloud outbursts that sweep through a dense tropical canopy. Over relatively short distances, temperature, humidity, and elevation change dramatically, creating explosions of abundant biodiversity. Costa Rica's Monteverde Biological Cloud Forest Reserve is regarded as one of the most spectacular ecological areas in the world. Sprawling over twelve thousand acres, the Reserve encompasses several different ecosystems boasting more than three thousand plant species, hundreds of mammal and bird species, and thousands of insects. These ecosystems are as diverse as they are unique. Cloud forests are prevalent among the upper elevations, straddling the continental divide. Seasonally dry forests are found on Pacific-facing slopes. Along the lower reaches of the Caribbean-facing side are lush rain forests, fueled by an average annual rainfall of 240 inches--two and a half times that of the Pacific side.

The Reserve is located in Monteverde, a sprawling mountainous community in the country's central highlands that, due to the Reserve's allure, has gradually been transformed from a remote and sleepy locale into one of the Western Hemisphere's most popular destinations for ecotourism. Incredibly, not one acre of this extraordinary habitat would be protected if not for the conservation efforts of Quakers who migrated from the U.S. state of Alabama nearly fifty-five years ago.

In 1949, Quakers Wilford "Wolf" Guindon, Marvin Rockwell, and Marvin's nephews Howard Junior and Leonard Rockwell, acting as conscientious objectors, were sentenced to a year and a day in prison for refusing to register for the U.S. draft. Quaker philosophy emphasizes peace and opposition to war. They would serve four months before being released on parole.

"The other inmates didn't know what to think of us. They couldn't believe we were in prison for that reason," recalls Marvin Rockwell. While in prison, they began contemplating the possibility of leaving the U.S. "The seed of the idea was planted by the sentencing judge. He told us that if we liked our country then we should obey its laws. And if we don't like it, well then, we ought to move out."

After being released, these Quakers, along with additional members of their community in Alabama, began searching for a country that was more consistent with their philosophies. After considering Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, and Australia, Costa Rica was chosen. Costa Rica had stable social and economic systems, and land ownership policies were favorable for foreigners. But the country's main attraction to the Quakers was the fact that Costa Rica had abolished its military following a revolution in 1948.

A total of forty-four Quakers from Alabama, Iowa, and Ohio emigrated to Costa Rica and stayed temporarily near the capital of San Jose. After an intense search for...