Imagine hoisting your backpack in Guatemala and heading south on a trail that leads you through protected rain forests in all seven Central American countries.

The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), working with conservation groups and government agencies in Guatemala, El Salvador, Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama, has embarked on a major initiative to make such a trek possible. The ambitious goal of the Mesoamerican Trail Project is to develop new trails and link existing ones from north to south and Caribbean to Pacific, crisscrossing the isthmus over land and rivers and along coasts.

According to Jim Barborak, project director for WCS's Mesoamerican and Caribbean Program, the initiative will help bolster protection of some of the most important conservation areas in the region that form part of the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor, a planned greenway that would stretch from Mexico to Panama along the Caribbean coast.

"Compared to most of the developing world, Central American nations have gazetted more of their territory as protected areas," he notes. "However, many parks have weak protection, research, environmental education and outdoor recreation programs. They lack adequate planning, funding, staff, and facilities. They are not user-friendly and lack enough advocates." The last is particularly important, he says, because, "parks without strong public support fail."

While local support is essential, international fans are also important. "We need to create a critical mass of distinct constituencies who will love a wild area enough to counteract those who might want to destroy it," Barborak says.

The Mesoamerican Trail concept could attract such advocates, just as the Appalachian Trial along the east coast of the United States has ardent supporters poised to fight for the trail's protection all along its 2,050-mile route through 14 states.

The Mesoamerican Trail Project, which will include routes for mountain bikes, coastal kayakers and sailing yachts, will employ local residents as nature guides and build and maintain trails and related infrastructure, such as interpretive signs, overlooks, and overnight shelters.

Barborak recalls the success of the Civilian Conservation Corp in the 1930s, when the U.S. government hired thousands of unemployed men, including his father, to work in natural resources protection. CCC crews built many of the trails and facilities still un use today in U.S. state and national parks.

With $92,000 from the World Bank and the Dutch government, WCS has begun the first phase of the project, which involves gathering data on existing trails and where routes to link protected areas could be built. This work is being done in conjunction with partner conservation groups in each country.

The partner group in Costa Rica is Fundacion Neotropica, which has long been involved in green corridor protection. "The right political and technical climate exists mow to establish corridors and trails in Mesoamerica," explains Vera Varela, executive director of Neotropica.

The trails project is particularly important, she says, because it will help connect parks in the region, which will ensure the survival of flora and fauna that require extensive areas of healthy rain forest.

This month Neotropica and WCS will host a regional workshop where conservation groups, government agencies, researchers, and tourism operators will gather to lay the groundwork for the regional trail system.