Manicaria saccifera is an obligate swamp species, and as most other palms, it thrives in the wet, humid conditions of tropical lowland forests.

Manicaria saccifera is easy to identify by the enormous, broad leaves and clusters of spiked fruit pods visible at the base of the fronds.

Some mammals, such as peccaries, eat the white flesh found inside seeds that have fallen and emerged from the tough outer shell, but human consumption of this fruit is not common (Myers, 1981).

One important area of conservation where Manacaria continues to thrive is in the Tortuguero region on the northeast coast of Costa Rica.

According to the Canadian Organization for Tropical Education and Rainforest Conservation (COTERC) (n.d.), the Tortuguero region is an ancient flood plain with a rainfall exceeding 6,000 mm annually and an average daily temperature of 26 degrees Celsius.

This area is aseasonal (Myers, 1981) and is considered among the most biologically diverse regions in the country (Koens, Dieperink and Miranda, 2009; World Headquarters, 2007).

To learn about the current state of the population and local use of Manicaria saccifera in more detail, an applied Anthropological study of this palm was conducted at the southernmost tip of the Barra del Colorado Wildlife Refuge in Costa Rica by a Laurentian University Anthropology field course, in conjunction with Caño Palma Biological Station.

The station lies along the Caño Palma (Palm Canal) in Tortuguero National Park, which rests within the Barra del Colorado Wildlife Refuge.

Caño Palma is a palm-filled blackwater canal made up of hydromorphic soils that developed due to poor drainage (Myers, 1981) and has an average rainfall greater than 6,000 mm annually.

In order to develop a banana plantation, marshes are drained, streams are channelized, and drainage canals are constructed to prevent flooding of the fields (McCracken 1998).

Palms of all types can be used for "thatch for houses, wood to support dwellings, ropes, strings, weavings, hunting bows, fishing line, hooks, utensils, musical instruments, and various kinds of food and drink" (Kricher, 1997:28).

By 1930-1940 Walter Martinez, along with his children and two or three other families settled into the Tortuguero area and constructed four poled ranchos using palm (Lefevre, 1992).

It was around this time that the permit system was introduced by the Costa Rican government to limit the harvesting of many natural resources, including the Manicaria.

According to Article 1 of Law 7317, its purpose is to regulate and monitor the appropriation and trade of natural resources within Costa Rica and to assure any extraction is done so in a sustainable fashion.

Research conducted during the Laurentian University field course indicates that there has been a drastic shift within the past few decades in regards to the use of Manicaria saccifera as roofing material for dwellings.

Even though there were some obvious advantages to using the Manicaria saccifera for thatch, such as its durability and its ability to help cool down a building as well as being waterproof, many locals were actually moving away from using the palm as roofing material.

It appeared that most people generally now prefer to use tin or plastic as their roofing material since it is relatively cheap and much easier to obtain and use than the Manicaria palm.

In summary, research revealed that what is crucial in terms of the proper management of the Manicaria saccifera is regulating the clearing and draining of land for agriculture, highways, and other developments.