Quetzal Jubilee

Sarah: Arizona State University has been working on a project called The Transcendent Icon: The Resplendent Quetzal for years. It's a multi-disciplinary approach with the purpose of collecting information about the quetzal in the context of history, religion, science, politics, and art. The overall goal is to connect interested parties so there is good networking for conservation work. This year, ASU is holding a quetzal conference called the Quetzal Jubilee in Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Panama. The Costa Rica portion of the Jubilee was divided into two parts: one in San Jose at the University of Costa Rica, and the second at QERC.

David went to San Jose to participate in that part of the Jubilee, and he also gave a presentation about the research and education taking place at QERC in the name of quetzal conservation. He really enjoyed presenting, and it was a great opportunity to network with professionals within Costa Rica.

At QERC, the conference lasted all day Saturday with a variety of guest speakers and participants. We had a number of members from our community and guests from around Costa Rica show up. Presenters included Leo Finkenbinder, the original founder and director of QERC; Maarten Kappelle, director of The Nature Conservancy for all of Central America and the Caribbean and expert on montane oak forests; and Arsenio Arguero, director of Los Quetzales National Park. ASU also presented a video about their project. It was a great day and fun to host the event at our facility. It was good to connect with people and share ideas that will hopefully develop into better communication and more collaborations in the future.