Los Quetzales National Park covers 4,117.09 hectares in Copey district, Dota canton, San José province. Created on April 25, 2006, by Decree 32981-MINAE, the park reaches from 1,240 to 3,190 meters above sea level and receives an average of 2,648 millimeters of rain each year. The figures below come from the SINAC official park page, the SINAC diagnosis published in 2016, the SINAC management plan for 2018–2027, and an ICT brochure published in 2024.
Contents
- Park size, location, and elevation
- Climate, water, and conservation geography
- Habitats, soils, and zoning
- Plants, birds, and focal ecosystems
- Mammals and wildlife measurements
- Trails, hours, fees, and services
- Management, budgets, and land status
Park size, location, and elevation
The SINAC diagnosis from 2016 gives the park an official area of 4,117.09 hectares and a perimeter of 56,454 meters. Its mean elevation is 2,449 meters above sea level. The SINAC official park page places the park 76.5 kilometers south of Costa Rica’s capital city and records a minimum elevation of 1,240 meters and a maximum of 3,190 meters.
| Measure | Reported figure | Source and period |
|---|---|---|
| Creation date | April 25, 2006 | SINAC diagnosis, 2016 |
| Area | 4,117.09 ha | SINAC diagnosis, 2016 |
| Perimeter | 56,454 m | SINAC diagnosis, 2016 |
| Mean elevation | 2,449 m above sea level | SINAC diagnosis, 2016 |
| Elevation range | 1,240–3,190 m above sea level | SINAC official park page |
| Distance south of the capital | 76.5 km | SINAC official park page |
Los Quetzales is within the Pacífico Central conservation area, known as ACOPAC. The 2016 SINAC diagnosis describes ACOPAC as covering 547,785 hectares, equivalent to 10.7% of Costa Rica’s territory. Within that conservation area, the Los Santos subregion covers 110,000 hectares.
The park’s northern boundary is separated from the La Amistad Pacifico Conservation Area by the Interamerican Highway. To the northwest, it borders the Cerro Las Vueltas Biological Reserve. The SINAC official park page also identifies connections with the Savegre River basin, Pirris basin, and Reventazón–Parismina basin.
Climate, water, and conservation geography
The park’s temperature range is 5°C to 14°C, according to the SINAC official park page. The 2016 diagnosis lists annual precipitation at park-relevant stations from 2,648 to 3,372 millimeters, while the station table reports annual temperatures from 10.9°C to 11.9°C. The rainy season lasts eight months, from April through December. July and August form the mid-year dry spell known as the veranillo.
Los Quetzales drains toward three basins: Savegre, Parrita, and Reventazón. The Savegre basin is especially well quantified in the SINAC diagnosis. It covers 603.73 square kilometers, or 1.18% of Costa Rica’s area, and the park covers 6.6% of that basin, reported as 3,955 hectares. The basin contains 3,048 kilometers of channels and has an average drainage density of 5.63 kilometers per square kilometer.
The Savegre basin’s average river flow is 46.5 cubic meters per second. Its annual recharge is 667 millimeters, and its annual water supply is 1,118.50 cubic hectometers under normal climate conditions. The diagnosis reports a demand-to-supply ratio of 0.03%, with 98.8% of granted flow used for tourism. The basin has about 3,800 inhabitants across 26 communities, 71% forest cover, and average annual precipitation of 4,600 millimeters.
Other drainage statistics describe the surrounding mountain system. The Parrita basin begins at 2,900 meters above sea level, and the average annual flow of the Pirris River is 9.84 cubic meters per second. The Reventazón basin sector influenced by the park receives between 3,000 and 7,000 millimeters of annual rainfall.
Habitats, soils, and zoning
The 2016 SINAC diagnosis divides the park’s vegetation zones into three measured categories. Bosque Pluvial Montano covers about 76% of the park, Bosque Muy Humedo Montano Bajo covers 23%, and Bosque Pluvial Montano Bajo covers 1%.
The same diagnosis identifies three principal soil associations by area share: Araucaria covers 65.2% of the park, Savegre covers 9.0%, and Buena Vista covers 12.8%. These percentages describe named soil associations in the diagnosis and should not be read as a complete accounting of every soil category.
The SINAC management plan for 2018–2027 assigns 98.91% of the park, or 4,071.00 hectares, to minimum or no intervention. The low-intervention zone covers 0.01%, or 0.40 hectares; the medium-intervention zone covers 0.13%, or 5.41 hectares; and the high-intervention zone covers 0.06%, or 1.98 hectares. A road/corridor zone covers 0.70%, or 28.98 hectares, while the ICE easement zone covers 0.20%, or 8.10 hectares. The total zoned area is listed as 4,115.8 hectares.
Visitor capacity is also expressed through zoning rules. In the low-intervention zone, each trail allows up to three visitor groups per day, with a maximum of 12 people per group; access is guided and limited to daytime. In the medium-intervention zone, each trail allows up to four groups per day, with a maximum of 10 people per group, also with guided daytime-only access.
Plants, birds, and focal ecosystems
The 2016 SINAC diagnosis records 979 plant species in the park and its influence zone. The arboreal component contains 119 tree species. The “lanas” group, covering mosses and liverworts, contains 164 species, while the fern group contains 148 species.
The park’s five focal management elements are turbera, lotic ecosystems, forest ecosystems, felids and ungulates, and avifauna. SINAC assigned all five focal elements either good or very good viability: three were rated very good and two were rated good.
For birds, the diagnosis reports 216 species in the biogeographic region where the park sits. Of those, 49 are endemic, 32 are migratory, four are red-listed, and seven are classified as rare. A separate Savegre basin list contains 429 resident species and 79 latitudinal migrants. Within the resident total, 346 are permanent residents and 31 are altitudinal migrants.
The basin’s montane bird group includes 25 montane-low species, reported as 14% of the 508 species listed for the basin, and 21 montane-high species, reported as 15% of the basin list. Family-level counts in these two elevation groups include 18 and 13 Parulidae species, 13 and 10 Thraupidae species, 16 and 10 hummingbird species, and 10 and 8 Accipitridae species, respectively.
Mammals and wildlife measurements
The park reports six felid species and three ungulate species. The SINAC diagnosis includes species-level measurements, ranges, and activity observations rather than a single population total.
Leopardus pardalis can weigh up to 14.5 kilograms and shows 90.69% nocturnal activity. Its reported action area is 0.8 to 14.6 square kilometers, with a density range of 5 to 100 individuals per 100 square kilometers. Leopardus tigrinus occurs from 1,500 to 3,626 meters above sea level and can weigh up to 2.8 kilograms. Leopardus wiedii occurs from 0 to 3,300 meters and can weigh up to 5 kilograms.
Puma yagouaroundi can weigh up to 9 kilograms, with a reported density of 0.01 to 0.05 individuals per square kilometer. Panthera onca can weigh up to 100 kilograms. The diagnosis reports a female jaguar home range of 8 to 10 square kilometers and telemetered movements of 10 to 120 square kilometers. Puma concolor can weigh up to 65 kilograms and occurs from 0 to 3,800 meters above sea level.
Among the ungulates, Pecari tajacu can weigh up to 26 kilograms and lives in groups of about 3 to 30 individuals. Its territories average 118 hectares. Mazama temama weighs 12 to 32 kilograms and occupies elevations from 0 to 2,800 meters. Tapirus bairdii can weigh up to 300 kilograms; its reported diet is 51.4% stems, 48.3% leaves, and 0.3% fruits.
The park estimates a mean density of 0.63 tapir tracks per kilometer. The diagnosis also records at least seven tapir roadkills between 2010 and 2015 in the Cerro de la Muerte area. These are historical observations for the stated period, not a current annual roadkill rate.
Trails, hours, fees, and services
The ICT brochure from 2024 identifies the main entrance as reachable from the Interamerican Highway, Route 2. The SINAC official park page lists daily hours from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., with last entry at 2:00 p.m.
The cemented Zeledonia trail is 480 meters long and takes about 30 minutes. The Ojo de Agua trail is approximately 2 kilometers long and takes about two hours; its maximum slope is 40%.
| Visitor detail | Reported figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| National/resident visitor over 13 | CRC 1,130 | SINAC official park page |
| Nonresident visitor over 13 | USD 11.30 | SINAC official park page |
| Free admission | Children under 2 and national visitors over 65 | SINAC official park page |
| Listed on-site services | 4 | SINAC official park page |
The four listed on-site services are drinking water, restrooms, vehicle parking, and a hand-washing area. The hours, fees, services, and trail details above are those reported by the official park page; visitors should confirm current operating information before traveling.
Management, budgets, and land status
The park’s management plan spans 2018 to 2027, a 10-year planning horizon. The 2016 SINAC diagnosis identifies eight conservation and management objectives. Its 2016 management-effectiveness score was globally classified as not acceptable. Social management and natural/cultural management were also classified as not acceptable, while administrative management was classified as little acceptable.
The 2016 financial figures are reported in Costa Rican colones. Direct-execution budget was CRC 3,714,755. The ordinary budget for operation and salaries was CRC 60,751,601, while reported expenditures reached CRC 66,190,846. The diagnosis lists a 2016 deficit of CRC 5,439,245.
Land status was also documented historically. In 2007, the park had seven unfixed land parcels, with approximately 150 hectares in private ownership. That figure describes the situation recorded for 2007 in the SINAC diagnosis and is not presented as a current cadastral measurement.