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Number 24, September/October 1998

Air Force Radar Site Becomes Bird-watching Post

Businessman and political activist Raśl Arias de Para is re-modeling an abandoned radar tower into a eco-tourism project that will allow visitors to see at close hand many of Panama's rare tropical birds.

"Bird watching is a useless activity," says Arias de Para, "but it is also the most peaceful activity in the world." Setting his tripod and binoculars atop Canopy Tower in Panama's Sovereignty National Park, he explains the history of the tower.

The U.S. Air Force built the radar tower in the early 1960s for anti-missile defense. In the 1980s the radar was incorporated into the Southern Command's Caribbean network to monitor drug trafficking. Technological developments made it obsolete, and it was transferred to Panama in November 1996.

Environmental studies have identified 96 bird species around the Canopy Tower, as well as many amphibians and mammals, including howler monkies. Arias de Para is renovating the tower to allow up to 20 people to stay overnight. The ecolodge will open for business in January, an excellent example of converting a military site for peaceful civilian uses.

For more information on the Canopy Tower, visit its web-site at: http://canopy.mit.edu/tower.html.