Recent speculation about the fate of tropical forests has focused on the rain forest, and much of the public now identifies tropical forest with rain forest. Tropical forests actually embrace a continuum of types classified by ecologists partly on the basis of rainfall, ranging from “dry” forest — which once covered more than half of the tropics — through degrees of “moist” and “wet” forest to the true “rain” and “cloud” forests. In western Meso-america dry forest once enveloped an area the size of France and stretched from northern Mexico to central Panama. Today a scant 2 percent of that area remains in anything approaching its natural state, and less than 0.09 percent has official protection. One of the best opportunities to know and appreciate this endangered ecosystem type is afforded by Guanacaste National Park, which ultimately will protect 280 square miles of rare dry tropical forest.
