Meet Our Team and Directors
Ara Manzanillo Project Team
Ara Manzanillo relies on a small and dedicated staff for our day-to-day operations. The staff is composed of young local community leaders that have been with the project for several years. They have been trained in bird husbandry, forestry, tree climbing skills, and community outreach activities. Throughout the year staff are joined by dozens of volunteers from around the world who learn about the birds in their care, and monitor them in the wild. Learn more about our wonderful staff below:
Duaro is a certified naturalist guide and a Bribri native of the Kekoldi Indigenous Territory in Talamanca, Costa Rica. Raised on his family’s agroforestry farm, he was actively involved in a conservation project breeding endangered Green Iguanas for release, helping restore populations affected by overhunting.
With over a decade of experience in ecotourism and nature guiding, Duaro has contributed to ornithological research with the Kekoldi Hawk Watch, assisting U.S. scientists in raptor identification, netting, and banding across six migration seasons. He has received international training in parrot care and conservation at the Hagen Avicultural Research Institute (HARI) in Canada and holds professional certifications in canopy access and tree-climbing safety through Costa Rica’s INA and ICT.
At Ara Manzanillo, Marcelo spearheads the daily visitation activities, ensuring the upkeep of the grounds and fostering community engagement to provide informative and enjoyable experiences for all visitors. Leveraging his background in mentorship, Marcelo is a highly sought-after educator during our school outreach programs, adept at connecting with students to convey the significance of Great Green Macaw conservation and their rainforest habitat.
Ara Manzanillo is very fortunate to regularly receive energetic and dedicated people, from around the world and all walks of life, who donate their time to work with our team.
Volunteers stay for a minimum of one month, though many participate three months or longer, often to return in subsequent years.
Volunteers contribute a vital part of the organization’s efforts and work hard in tasks including the day-to-day care and maintenance of the birds and infrastructure. We also receive interns and specialized volunteers who work within their disciplines, such as visiting vets, biologists, builders, landscapers and graphic designers.
Volunteers live onsite at the field station and enjoy the rewarding experience of hands-on conservation of the Great Green Macaws. The cultural enrichment of living in a Costa Rican coastal rainforest amongst people from diverse backgrounds is a major plus.
Board of Directors
Ara Manzanillo is a Costa Rican licensed, government-supervised, conservation organization operated by the non-profit organization Asociación El Proyecto Ara. The Board of Directors is comprised of hands-on professionals who oversee the association, including the following members:
As a principal founder of the non-profit El Proyecto Ara, as well as Ara Manzanillo, his contributions have resulted in successfully reintroducing the Great Green Macaw back to Talamanca. He currently resides adjacent to the field station and continues to be a hands-on board member.
She has a Masters in Sustainable Development and Conservation with an emphasis on indigenous communities from the University of Costa Rica. She is a Notary Public and has worked in the private sector and now as an attorney with the international NGO, Interamerican Association for Environmental Defense. She also teaches university law classes and is active with the Environmental Commission of the Costa Rican Bar Association.
Camilo bridges his expertise as an architect to bring harmony between human habitation and nature, particularly demonstrated through planting a vibrant forest of fruit and mountain almond trees on his neighboring property, enriching the local ecosystem to provide habitat for the native wildlife. Camilo's initiatives make him an asset to our community's pursuit of conservation and stewardship.
Emily resides in the South Caribbean region of Costa Rica where she has established conservation easements and other mechanisms to protect valuable eco-systems and local land rights. She is a dual national US/CR, a founding board member and property owner at the Ara Manzanillo reintroduction site.
Wendy was in charge of the Biology Department’s Genetics Laboratory at UCR where she performed standardized DNA extractions, quantifications, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), prepared samples and interpreted and analyzed results. She presently resides in Sweden.
Joining the World Parrot Trust in 1997, Cristiana volunteered as a translator for PsittaScene, WPT’s quarterly magazine. Over time Cristiana became the Trust’s representative in Italy, and in 2000, became a WPT Trustee.
Cristiana’s work with the Trust has focused on researching the issues related to the wild-caught trade, along with representing the WPT at bird-trade related meetings with the EU Commission, DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) and CITES. Her latest role at the Trust is as the Social Media Coordinator / Bird Trade Specialist where she uses her talents to manage WPT’s social networks – Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube – as well she helps to facilitate all aspects of WPT’s efforts to end the international trade in wild-caught birds.