Panama Bridges
One of the world’s most crucial Neotropical research and education sites faces a significant challenge—not in existence, but in accessibility.
We have a straightforward solution: repairing 11 miles of road and 10 wooden bridges in Soberania National Park, Panama.
With your support, we can create some of the world’s most extraordinary bridges.
Your donation allows us to continue educating thousands of K-12 and undergraduate students, as well as eco-tourists from around the globe, every year.
Together, we can sustain the world’s longest-running capture-recapture study of Neotropical birds. Together, we can connect local communities with science and outreach opportunities, making a substantial economic impact and diversifying the field.
We need your help to build bridges—bridges between cultures, between questions and discoveries, and between the entrance of Pipeline Road and the wonders of its ecosystem, accessible by a single road.
Donate now, and then read on for details about this singular road and its
10 essential bridges.
The Story: A Panamanian Road Making Global Connections
There are only a handful of accessible places in the world where you can walk an 11-mile long road--crossing wood and steel bridges that span clear streams--and see or hear over 525 bird species, 105 mammal species, 79 reptile species, 55 amphibian species, and 31 species of freshwater fish. Pipeline Road in central Panama, adjacent to the Panama Canal, is one of these rare places. As you cross over each bridge, you can capture a glimpse of sunbitterns, grison, and caiman in the river, and with each bridge crossed, the forest gets wetter, and the community of plants and animals change.
Pipeline Road was built in the 1930’s by the U.S. Navy to service an Ocean to Ocean oil pipeline designed to provide trans-ocean oil if the Panama Canal was ever attacked. The Pipeline was never used and in 1980, the area became part of Soberania National Park, a 22,000 ha tropical lowland forest in central Panama. For decades, Pipeline Road has been visited each year by thousands of tourists, scientists, and students wanting to learn about this diverse tropical world.
The Neotropical forest of this region is virtually unnavigable. Pipeline Road is the portal to the forest. Its 10 bridges make it possible to cross rivers imbedded within steep ravines. Unfortunately, the bridges are falling apart and the road is quickly disappearing as the forest takes back over. For the last year, much of the road has been virtually inaccessible.
It has been almost 15 years since the road and bridges have been repaired. The forest has spent over a decade taking back the road, wearing away the bridges. Without Pipeline Road and its bridges, the research, education, and ecotourism taking place there would be lost. It would be a major economic hardship for the region, and it would be an irreplaceable casualty for scientific knowledge of the Neotropics.
Today, because of Pipeline Road’s biodiversity and accessibility, researchers and budding scientists from over 20 different countries come to this place annually to ask novel questions only answerable here. They follow an important tradition: researchers have been making scientific discoveries on Pipeline Road for over 50 years.
For example, the longest-running capture-recapture study of birds in the Neotropics, now in its 43rd year, occurs on Pipeline Road. This study is critically important for predicting how bird communities and biodiversity may be altered due to climate change. Plants have been monitored there annually for over 20 years now. This ongoing research is important for understanding how climate change impacts forest carbon stocks. Studies of bats look at how they learn, how they forage, and how they help plant communities through pollination and seed dispersal. Studies of big cats, like jaguars and ocelots, help us examine the status of these iconic tropical predators. These are just a few of the many studies that occur along Pipeline Rd. All of this research spans the forest, from the ground to the 40m-high (130 ft) tree tops, and includes studies across all different taxa .
Building bridges toward hope
For the past year, one engineer and over 100 young scientists and residents have volunteered their time and labor to painstakingly rebuild bridges and fix the Pipeline Road. We are the OVS (Oleoducto Volunteer Services) Construction Team, led by Andrew Coates of Cresolus, an engineering company aimed at sustainable development in protected areas within the tropics.
With this team of dedicated people, we are building bridges among people from different countries and cultures. We build towards a common goal of making this road accessible. We want to make Pipeline Road a place that can, once again, be used by the 5-year-old who wants to find their first poison dart frog. By the 20-year-old student conducting his first-ever experiment, and for the 40-year-old scientist who has spent her career here, asking questions about biodiversity. Pipeline Road can once again be a site of wonder and learning for the 70-year-old couple who is walking along the road together with their binoculars and camera in hand.
Now, the bridges need you.
We’ve done what we can. Now, we need funds for specific equipment, including a concrete mixer, wheel barrows, trailer to carry wood, pumps, safety equipment, and more. Your donation will help us buy this equipment, essential for the next phase of building the bridges and fixing Pipeline Road.
Pipeline Road is a magical place with lots of new discoveries yet to be made. With the help of your donation, we will be able to continue to use Pipeline Road for research, education, outreach, and discovery for years to come. Thank you and we hope to see you out on the Road!