Information and observations about land use change during the 40 year period from 1966 to 2006 are presented by ten-year periods for five regions in this text. Following the sections on land use change in each region, this text explores specific aspects of deforestation / reforestation, conservation efforts, government policies and legislation, and market economics with respect to land use change. Land use changes are related to the observations on the Land Use Change (LUC) study sites monitored by the author from 1966 to 2006. Finally, a summary of what social, economic, and political factors influenced land use change in Costa Rica, and the implications to land use change modeling is provided.

The author has a background in scientific research, but he made an effort to compose this book in a manner that it should be interesting to both scientists, who themselves conduct research in land use change or modeling, as well as others who have other interests in the land resource, the history of Costa Rica, or the social, economic, and political factors related to land use. The book should also be interesting to new residents of Costa Rica, students, and tourists visiting Costa Rica even if their desire is only to increase their general knowledge of Costa Rica.

In order to provide a better understanding of the land use than can be portrayed by text alone, the author has included an assortment of photography that he took to show land use and land use activities and a series of images acquired by cameras flown in aircraft. The aerial images acquired over the study sites are presented such that the 1966 image can be compared with a 2005 image to see the change in land use.