Director

Stanley Rodríguez Méndez was born on June 1, 1961. His connection with sea turtles is long-standing, passionate, and multifaceted, beginning during his years in the Scout Movement. It was there that he met María Teresa Koberg (“Teté”), who proposed involving scouts in sea turtle conservation. This led to a pioneering project that brought small scout groups to patrol and protect the beaches of Doce Millas in Limón every weekend, relocating nests and saving sea turtles. This community effort lasted 12 years and laid the foundation for what would become a lifelong commitment to conservation. During that period, Teté launched the Sea Turtle Festival, which was celebrated for five years in various locations along the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica, such as Parque Vargas, Cieneguita, Puerto Viejo, and Gandoca. At the same time, the idea of “Equilibrio” was born—an innovative project that rescued eggs directly from the bodies of green turtles slaughtered in processing plants. This initiative lasted six years and marked a turning point in regional environmental activism. Later on, Teté sent Stanley to Playa Grande, where he replicated the scouting experience, working with local partners such as Kike’s Place and Hotel Las Tortugas. During this phase, he received growing support from MINAE, and thanks to Teté’s help, he had the opportunity to participate in two training seasons with the Caribbean Conservation Corporation (CCC, now known as Sea Turtle Conservancy, STC) between 1989 and 1990. Two or three years after beginning work in Playa Grande, Stanley started collaborating with scientists James Spotila and Frank Paladino, founders of The Leatherback Trust, an organization dedicated to protecting Playa Grande since 2000. This partnership strengthened the scientific and technical aspects of the conservation work in the area, especially regarding the emblematic leatherback turtle. Through Teté, Stanley was later introduced to John Denham, founder of the Pacuare Reserve. In 1984, Stanley began collaborating with Denham on protection efforts in the area, alongside the Navy, the Public Force, and the Parks Service. Although the initial focus was not educational, the work was centered on active beach patrols. In 1987, Denham launched a volunteer model involving backpackers, and later in 1988, Ecoteach joined the initiative, led by Ralph Carlson and his wife Margarita, bringing student groups into the project. In 1992, Stanley formally accepted a position with the Pacuare Reserve, and in 1993 he was appointed administrator—a role he held until 1998. During that time, he gradually stepped away from other projects to focus on the development of the reserve. Between 1995 and 1996, as part of his work at Pacuare, Stanley collaborated with renowned herpetologist Peter Pritchard on a project for the Smithsonian Museum, where Pritchard served as president. The work focused on the study of continental turtles for scientific research, adding an academic dimension to the conservation project. In 1999, Stanley stepped away from the reserve and purchased the adjacent property to found Estación Las Tortugas, initially conceived as an additional buffer zone to protect Pacuare’s nesting beach. In the early years, the work focused on collaboration with the Matina Naval and Public Force, successfully removing illegal egg collectors from the beach. By 2002, the first groups of students and researchers began arriving. The first biologist at the station was Cerys Parker, followed by Stamatina Skiros (“Stamie”), who served as lead biologist from 2005 to 2020. Then, from 2024, Carolina M. Santoro Perez has been responsible for the fieldwork and data collection of the project. In addition to his local work, Stanley and Teté served as consultants in 1994 and 1995 for the Organization of American States (OAS), traveling to several countries to demonstrate that sea turtle conservation could be successfully integrated with educational and youth volunteer programs—setting a critical precedent for today’s participatory conservation models.