Las Camelias Lake Wildlife Refuge ( es, Refugio de Vida Silvestre Laguna Las Camelias), is a

wildlife refuge A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...

that is part of the

Arenal Huetar Norte Conservation Area Arenal Huetar Norte Conservation Area ( es, Área de Conservación Arenal Huetar Norte, ACAHN), is an administrative area which is managed by SINAC for the purposes of conservation in the northern part of Costa Rica. It contains a national park, a ...

, in the northern part of

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

, near

Upala Upala is a district of the Upala canton, in the Alajuela province of Costa Rica. History Upala was granted the title of "ciudad" (city) by a law of May 4, 1970. Geography Upala has an area of km² and an elevation of metres. It is in the ...

in the

Alajuela Province Alajuela () is a province of Costa Rica. It is located in the north-central part of the country, bordering Nicaragua to the north. It also borders the provinces of Heredia to the east, San José to the south, Puntarenas to the southwest and G ...

, close to the border with

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the cou ...

. It protects

palustrine Palustrine wetlands include any inland wetland that contains ocean-derived salts in concentrations of less than 0.5 parts per thousand, and is non-tidal. The word ''palustrine'' comes from the Latin word ''palus'' or marsh. Wetlands within this ca ...

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

s and forests which serve as a feeding and

breeding ground In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

for 240 species of birds, including the

Muscovy duck The Muscovy duck (''Cairina moschata'') is a large duck native to the Americas, from the Rio Grande Valley of Texas and Mexico south to Argentina and Uruguay. Small wild and feral breeding populations have established themselves in the United Sta ...

and

jabiru The jabiru ( or ; ''Jabiru mycteria'') is a large stork found in the Americas from Mexico to Argentina, except west of the Andes. It sometimes wanders into the United States, usually in Texas, but has been reported as far north as Mississippi. ...

. It was created in 1994 by decree 22753-MIRENEM.

References

Geography of Alajuela Province Nature reserves in Costa Rica Protected areas established in 1994 {{CostaRica-protected-area-stub