From cattle ranch to rainforest sanctuary
In 1976, Jack Ewing — a biologist from the United States — arrived at a working cattle ranch on Costa Rica's South Pacific coast and made one quiet decision: hunting was banned. There was no eco-tourism industry to capture, no carbon market to access. There was only a biologist who could see what was on the land.
By 1990, the cattle herd had been sold and 150 hectares of pasture released to natural regeneration. The Ewings did not plant a new forest — they stopped working against the one that wanted to return. In the same year, ASANA was founded to anchor the Path of the Tapir Biological Corridor, a 50-kilometre ecological seam from the Talamanca highlands to the Osa Peninsula.
On 6 October 1995, Decreto Ejecutivo Nº 24639-MIRENEM was published in La Gaceta Nº 190, declaring the 330-hectare property a Refugio Nacional de Vida Silvestre — one of Costa Rica's earliest private wildlife refuges. Forty years of stewardship, now entering its next chapter.
Decreto Ejecutivo Nº 24639-MIRENEM · La Gaceta Nº 190 · 6 October 1995 · Refugio Nacional de Vida Silvestre — Categoría Mixta
330 hectares of protected rainforest,
beach, and biological corridor
Protected since 1995
Refugio Nacional de Vida Silvestre — Categoría Mixta
Bird species recorded
Plus all four Costa Rican TINTIN species, sloths, and scarlet macaws
Continuous beach
Pristine Costa Ballena coastline within the refuge boundary
Path of the Tapir corridor
Connecting Talamanca highlands to the Osa Peninsula
Forty years of stewardship
Pre-1500Boruca territory
The Costa Ballena coast lay within the ancestral lands of the Brunca (Boruca) peoples — one of the indigenous nations that inhabited Costa Rica's South Pacific long before European arrival. Their relationship with the land established the deep-time cultural foundation that any contemporary stewardship project must acknowledge.
- 1972
Cattle ranch
The earliest documented aerial photograph of the property shows it operating as a conventional cattle ranch on the Costa Ballena. Pastures and rice paddies stretched where forest now stands. This is the baseline against which forty years of regeneration would be measured.
- 1976
Jack and Diane Ewing arrive
Jack and Diane Ewing arrived from the United States and made the first regenerative decision: hunting was banned on the property. A biologist by training, Jack would spend the next half-century turning a working ranch into one of Costa Rica's most respected private wildlife refuges.
1987First guests
Hacienda Barú began receiving its first visitors — birders, biologists, and eco-travelers drawn by the recovering ecosystem. The ecolodge operation took its first form, and a reputation began to compound that, four decades later, would extend across the international conservation community.
- 1990
Cattle sold · ASANA founded
The cattle herd was sold and approximately 150 hectares of pasture and rice paddy were released to natural regeneration. In the same year, ASANA — the Asociación de Amigos de la Naturaleza del Pacífico Central y Sur — was founded, anchoring what would become the Path of the Tapir Biological Corridor connecting the Talamanca highlands to the Osa Peninsula.
Low-res source — re-source in v1.1
1995National Wildlife Refuge declared
On 6 October 1995, Decreto Ejecutivo Nº 24639-MIRENEM was published in La Gaceta Nº 190, declaring the 330-hectare property a Refugio Nacional de Vida Silvestre — Categoría Mixta. Signed by President José María Figueres Olsen, the decree gave the refuge its enduring legal protection. A renewal followed in 2000 (Decreto Nº 28979-MINAE).
2014Plan General de Manejo
On 19 June 2014, the formal Plan General de Manejo was adopted as resolution R-SINAC-CONAC-021-2014, establishing the operative governance framework for ecotourism, scientific research, conservation, and community programs within the refuge.
2020sMature secondary forest
The reforested portion of the property — once pasture — now stands as mature secondary forest. Three hundred and sixty-five bird species have been recorded on the property. All four Costa Rican TINTIN species — capuchin, howler, spider, and squirrel — are in residence. Sloths, scarlet macaws, and the occasional puma share the canopy and trails.
Low-res source — re-source in v1.1
2026Nido Farms
The refuge enters a new chapter. Nido Farms — Barú Lodge reimagines Hacienda Barú as a family-centered regenerative hospitality experience. Children become the primary users. Parents become the beneficiaries. Nature remains the main teacher. The fortieth year of stewardship continues into the next generation.
Boruca territory
The keepers of this place
Four organisations that have made, and continue to make, the refuge what it is.
Founder · 1976–present
Jack Ewing
A Kansas cattle rancher who arrived in 1976 and over four decades transformed the property into a 330-hectare national wildlife refuge. Author of 'TINTINs Are Made of Chocolate' and co-founder of ASANA, Jack's forty-year stewardship is the ethical anchor of the Nido Farms reposition.
Family Stewards
The Nido Team
The Ewing family and the Nido Farms hospitality team carry the stewardship ethic forward into the family-centered reposition, designing an experience where childhood in nature is the central offering.
Living Systems Design
Regenesis Group
A globally recognized regenerative design consultancy providing watershed-level systems thinking and living-systems design support for the Barú Lodge reposition.
Regional Conservation Partner
ASANA
Asociación de Amigos de la Naturaleza del Pacífico Central y Sur — co-founded by Jack Ewing, ASANA anchors the 50-km Path of the Tapir biological corridor connecting the refuge to adjacent protected lands.