Category: Saving Nature Collection

New Orchid Discovered

June 6, 2020 erinwilligan

June 5, 2020: In remote places on earth, there ares still species unknown to science. Our project in the Western Andes of Colombia is one such place, where a new species of orchid has been discovered, described, and named.

New Orchid Discovered

Western Andes Cloud Forest

The cloud forests of Colombia’s Western Andes are a very special place for biodiversity, especially when it comes to orchids. The climate here is ideal for a wide variety of tropical plants, with mountain peaks enveloped by the mist that forms when warm air meets chillier mountain currents. Its remoteness also make it an ideal location to discover new species.

Dracula irmelinae

In fact, these forests are home to over 200 species of orchids in all forms and sizes, from miniature Andinia, Stelis and Lepanthes, to larger Masdevallia, Maxillaria and Dracula. And the rangers have only begun to explore, forging trails with names like “Transylvania” for the variety of Dracula orchids found here.

The Transylvania Trail rises to 9,700 feet (2,950m), winding through montane forests and stunted subparamo vegetation. Along the ascent, Dracula orchid species like D. gorgona, D. chimaera, D. iricolor, D. andrettae and D. gorgonella adorn the forest. It was on this very trail, that Ubiel Rendon, a Hummingbird Conservancy Ranger, noticed an unusual orchid and wondered about its classification. After conferring with two Dracula experts, Nicolas Pelaez and Gary Meyer, the team confirmed the discovery of an entirely new species.

As anyone who has read The Orchid Thief knows, it is amazing that any species of orchid has escaped discovery in a region of Colombia that has been scoured for Draculas since the Victorian orchid craze. Perhaps it was because this new orchid species is endemic to a small area in the Western Cordillera of Colombia that it had escaped the notice of obsessed orchid collectors. In total, it’s Area of Occupancy is no more than 500 km2 (193 square miles), a virtual needle in the haystack of the Andes Mountains.

Making It Official

The new Dracula orchid is now official, with publication of its description in in Volume 20, Number 2 issue of Lankesteriana International Journal of Orchidiology. Its name, Dracula irmelinae, honors Irmelin Indenbirken, Leonardo DiCaprio’s mother, in appreciation of his commitment to conservation efforts. Through his foundation, his generous support of Saving Nature’s projects has helped ensure the survival of orchids and countless other species struggling for safe haven in the Western Andes of Colombia and other biodiversity hotspots around the world.

Protecting Wild Orchids

Sadly, although newly discovered, Dracula irmelinae is already Endangered (EN) according to criteria established by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, due to habitat loss in the area. Saving Nature is working with The Hummingbird Conservancy to change that. Our project here is restoring this area for orchids and other species.

Learn More About Our Project in COLOMBIA

Categories: Colombia, News, Saving Nature Collection

Earth Day 2020

April 21, 2020 erinwilligan

April 22, 2020: Saving Nature's President, Stuart Pimm, reflects on the state of the planet 50 years after the first Earth Day.

Today is the 50th Earth Day

HOW ARE WE DOING?

We’ll celebrate Earth Day 2020 under the house arrest COVID-19 has imposed. Let’s not miss that this has happened because we have failed in the task of saving nature.

The current pandemic is just one of a series. The lessons before from MERS, SARS, and the 2009 H1N1 is that there’s a lot of nasty things out there — and they want to flourish by infecting us.

The more we move into nature, chopping down forests, killing animals for bushmeat or putative medicines, the more likely we will encounter these and similar diseases. They come from the habitats we destroy, from the forest edges where susceptible people contact infected species that are disease reservoirs.

Or when we enter the forests: butchering apes or bats or pangolins is a bloody, unsanitary business. While some societies must depend on wild-caught species, for many it’s a luxury good. This Earth Day, human society is paying an appalling price for their indulgence.

So what can we do to honor Earth Day?

Protect nature as best we can. We can minimise that edge between us and nature. Keep the forests we have. Restore ones we have destroyed. More technically, we need to reduce those edges for they are very much greater than they need to be because we have fragmented natural habitats. That’s what we do at Saving Nature. It’s not an accident: we’ve long understood we need to keep nature intact.

Second, how are our projects doing during COVID19?

Not well. A lot of our partners depend on tourists on one kind or another. Tourism has stopped. The communities where our partners work and often live were poor to start with. The threats of poaching and logging have increased along with the diminished funds to pay staff to stop them. And, of course, our partners have the same fears for their friends and families as we do.

If you want to help — to reforest to reduce the edges, to help our partners, to Save Nature — please be in touch. We know these are difficult times.

The Planet Needs your help

Learn more about the facts here.

Categories: News, Saving Nature Collection, Sumatra

Good News From Sumatra

March 19, 2020 erinwilligan

Saving Nature is creating a wildlife corriidor for wildlife protection in Sumatra

March 19, 2020

We are pleased to announce that we have funded a significant land acquisition for biodiversity conservation in the Leuser Ecosystem of Sumatra.

Saving Nature expands Forest Protections in Sumatra

Working in partnership with Forum Konservasi Leuser (FKL), a leading NGO on the frontlines of conservation efforts in the region.

The newly acquired 208-acre parcel is part of a larger initiative to build a wildlife corridor in Sumatra to combat the loss of habitat, re-establish elephant migration routes, and build a buffer against poachers. This latest addition nearly doubles to size of the existing corridor, significantly narrowing the gap between two large forest blocks in the northeast Leuser Ecosystem. Restoration of the corridor with native trees will sequester over 2,150 tons of carbon dioxide each year to combat climate change.

Saving Nature launched this visionary 3-year project in 2018. Our long-term goal is to create a 1,260-acre wildlife corridor that strategically leverages established conservation protections for a great diversity of flora and fauna. Our plan is to connect a 13,500-acre area recently designated by the Indonesian government as an elephant conservation area with over 740,000 acres of protected forest.

Acquisition of the land was made possible through the generosity of individuals committed to restoring critical habitat for threatened and endangered species. Consistent with our operating philosophy of building local capacity for long-term success, Saving Nature has partnered with Forum Konservasi Leuser (FKL), a leading NGO on the frontlines of conservation efforts in the region. Together, we are working to create a sustainable for the unique biodiversity of Sumatra.

"Together with Forum Konservasi Leuser, we are establishing an important wildlife corridor in Leuser that will help ensure that threatened and endangered species can move freely, preventing populations from becoming isolated. Without this corridor, increasing human development will further sever the connections among forest blocks, impeding wildlife movement and undermining their resiliency. The new corridor will rebuild habitat and sequester carbon for decades to come."

Stuart Pimm, President of Saving Nature Tweet

sumatra's wildlife needS A refuge

Help build a connection to the future for the wildlife of Leuser. Take a stand for their last refuge by rescuing this vanishing ecosystem, preventing the loss of biodiversity, and building resilience to fight the impacts of climate change.

Categories: News, Saving Nature Collection, Sumatra

All Conservation is Local

March 6, 2020 erinwilligan

Rudi Putra, Saving Nature's Local Conservation Partner in Sumatra

March 4, 2020

All Conservation is Local

A FILM BY JAMES ROBINSON

Stuart Pimm of Saving Nature makes the case for why conservation must be local to be successful. At Saving Nature, we firmly believe that partnering with local conservation organizations is the only way to ensure long-term success.

We believe that local conservation groups are closest to the restoration and management challenges of each project and best positioned for long-term success. As a result, we do not own any land. Instead, we provide resources to promote conservation and community engagement, including advising on science and technology, funding land purchases, mentoring local conservation groups, and providing resource and guidance for monitoring and research.

Rudi Petra, FKL, our local partner in Sumatra

Play Video

Categories: Camera Trapping, Saving Nature Collection, Science Corner, Sumatra

Camera Trapping Challenges

March 5, 2020 erinwilligan

March 4, 2020

Camera Trapping Challenges

A FILM BY JAMES ROBINSON and JACOB LEVINE

We are very lucky to work with a talented team of Duke University students to support our camera trap program. Jacob Levine has helped establish and manage our monitoring program in Sumatra. James Robinson, a talented young documentary film student has helped us tell our story.

Together they created this short film about the unexpected challenges of camera trapping! We hope you enjoy this as much as we did.

Play Video

Categories: Camera Trapping, Saving Nature Collection, Science Corner, Sumatra

The World’s Great Forests You’ve Never Heard Of

February 4, 2020 erinwilligan

February 5, 2020

Andrew Schiffer takes a global tour of the world’s greatest forests and makes the case for taking “remote ownership” of their protection. His call to action encourages people to learn more about the world around us and get involved in saving these special places.

The World's Great Forests You've Never Heard Of

by Andrew Schiffer

With limited funding and climate change upon us, conservationists must decide which forests to focus on and preserve. Although every forest possesses its own value, in order to prioritize funding, it is critical for our humanity to identify ‘biodiversity hotspots’ where the highest concentrations of endemic species are facing the largest loss of habitat.

I have narrowed down the candidates to five particularly vital hotspots: Brazil’s Atlantic Forest, Choc/Darien/Western Ecuador, Western Ghats/Sri Lanka, Indo-Burma, and the Tropical Andes.

These hot spots all contain a treasure trove of critical, different wildlife and plant species. In addition, many of them are brimming with life endemic only to the area. In learning more about these crucial hotspots, specifically about the statistical number of species that inhabits each area, we will learn some important facts that are compelling for each of us to take “remote ownership” and learn more.

These numbers are more shocking when “In contrast, the United States and Canada, with an expanse 8.8 times larger than the 25 hotspots combined, have only two endemic families of plants.” Although we are providing a brief overview of the importance of conserving each forest, there is still a lot to learn and we encourage you to explore the Saving Nature website to learn more and hopefully be inspired to carry out some research on your own!

South America

First off, Brazil’s Atlantic Forest makes up such a huge amount of the Earth’s surface that it contains two of the world’s largest cities: Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. The forest spans over 3,000 km along the coast of Brazil and into Paraguay and Argentina. The forest is home to the biggest big cat in South America, the jaguar, as well as two indigenous tribes: The Tupi and the Guarani. In 1832, Charles Darwin explored the forest during his expedition on the Beagle. The forest is also home to over 2% of both the world’s endemic plants and vertebrates. It boasts the third largest number of endemic plants in the world, topping 8,000. However, in the face of growing threats, the forest has recently lost all, but 7.5% of its original primary vegetation and species, threatening the very existence of the native Jaguar.

The Tropical Andes, also located in South America, stands as an equally special woodland. Holding over 20,000 endemic plants as of yet discovered; the forest has long fascinated scientists. 1,666 bird species call it their home, a number that far exceeds any other hotspot in the world. Furthermore, the Tropical Andes contains at least 2% of the total endemic plants and vertebrates worldwide. With jaw-dropping statistics such as this, as well as 6.7% of all plant species extinct, we must give it our utmost attention.

Rounding out the South America candidates, the Choco/Darien/Western Ecuador forest presents its own case for being saved, struggling to maintain the mere 4.9% of its primary vegetation that remains. Due to its isolation, the forest is particularly attractive to endemic life. This stems from the forests on the western side of the Andes having evolved entirely differently from their counterparts on the eastern side.

The numbers are quite staggering: 830 birds (85 endemic), 235 mammals (60 endemic), 210 reptiles (63 endemic), and 350 amphibian species (210 endemic). Without question, the forests are one of the primary sources of endemic life. They also contain 0.8% of the global total of endemic plants and 1.5% of the world total endemic vertebrates.

They run along the entire Columbian coast and are made up of mountains, rain forests, and coastal areas. Species include jaguars, ocelots, giant anteaters, tapirs, and tamarins. The adorable cotton-top tamarin can only be found there and could risk extinction without our immediate intervention. Such profound data compel us to consider the Choco/Darien/Western Ecuador Forest’s significance.

Tropical Asia

As we travel to the 2 million km of tropical Asia and the lowlands of the Mekong Delta in Vietnam, we find the Indo-Burma forests. With 1,170 bird species, 329 mammal species, 202 amphibian species, and 484 reptile species, these forests contain many of the world’s great animals: leaf deer, kouprey, white-eared night-herons, Mekong giant catfish, and Jullien’s golden carps to name but a few.

However, with only 4.9% of its primary vegetation remaining, these species and more remain under threat. Indo-Burma is home to 2.3% of global endemic plants and 1.9% of global endemic vertebrates. 140 endemic bird species, 73 endemic mammal species, 201 endemic reptile species, 202 endemic amphibian species, not to mention 7.0 species per area of 100 km² of endemic plants and 0.5 species per area of endemic vertebrates…the sheer immensity of life in danger demands our immediate action.

Nearby stretches the last of the five highlighted forests: the Western Ghats/Sri Lanka forests. The Western Ghats region of India contains more than 30% of all plant, fish, herpetofauna, bird and mammal species found in the country, yet account for less than 6% of the national land area. Once again the numbers are staggering: 528 bird species (40 endemic), 140 mammal species (38 endemic), 259 reptile species (161 endemic), 146 amphibian species (116 endemic). Species include the mountain shrew, the slender loris, the grizzled squirrel, Layard’s striped squirrel, 144 aquatic birds, the black-spined toad, the skittering frog, the Indian bullfrog, and the Malabar torrent toad.

Furthermore, these forests are home to 0.7% of the world’s endemic plant species. In 200 square kilometers, you’ll find an average of 35 species of plants found nowhere else on earth. You’ll also find 1.3% of the world’s endemic vertebrates – that’s an average of almost 6 species found only here. With only 6.8% of its primary vegetation remaining, the Western Ghats/Sri Lanka forests call out for our help.

Caring for Our Great Forests

If we do not help save these one of a kind, crucial, magical places, the world will face mass extinction, causing millions of species to die out. This will cause an alarming imbalance in our ecosystem and cause unforeseen damage to our ecosystem and our daily life as humans. While we may feel comfortably safe here now, and these magical forests may feel far away, still there is a crucial role each of us can play in saving our magical, treasured species, and in saving nature. Feel proud and be a part of this vanishing opportunity—do not stand idly by! Thankfully, and excitedly, together we can all play a critical role in saving nature. YOU HAVE MADE A GREAT FIRST START IN LEARNING MORE.

Although they are far away for many of us, these forests contain some of the most important endemic species and vegetation in the world. We need to answer the call! It is time to come together as one and explore ways to support conservation efforts. It is daunting to take on the task of conserving the world. Common questions are likely to come up: How do we get started? What are the most important places? How could my effort even make a difference? Very little information is provided to us directly about actual concrete ways to make real, effective change. It can be difficult to know how to make a real difference and ensure that your hard work will be effective. Well, not only can you make a difference, but we can help you get started today.

There are many great organizations out there. One that is particularly relevant is Saving Nature because, coincidentally, it is focused on saving the very same forests we just talked about. Go for a life-saving adventure and explore their projects. Together, we can save our planet, one forest at a time. Together, we can help zero in on helping save the most important hotspots in the world and make real, lasting beautiful change. Do not stand idly by—you can make yourself and our planet earth proud! Along with your other great qualities, you are now a proud nature-saver! If we do not act now, there will not be enough time to save these magical, critical species and our planet. Please kindly act now and help Saving Nature. Grateful for you, nature-saver!

help save the world's great forests

Saving Nature works in biodiversity hotspots around the world to prevent extinctions and fight climate change. Guided by science, using annual surveys with drones and camera traps, we show donors where the forests and species are returning.

Categories: Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Saving Nature Collection, Science Corner, Sumatra

2019 Excellence in Wilderness Stewardship Research

January 5, 2020 erinwilligan

national assessment of conservation values (a) and climate-change vulnerability as has been indicated by forward climate velocity (b) to guide conservation strategies (c)

January 6, 2020

Saving Nature’s Dr. Clinton Jenkins in collaboration with the Wilderness Society was recently recognized by the U.S. Forest Service for a pair of papers he co-authored with a team of scientists exploring how to set conservation priorities in an era of climate change. The papers consider how the migration of species challenges traditional approaches and suggest an approach to anticipate future priorities.

2019 Excellence in Wilderness Stewardship Research

The U.S. Forest Service has awarded a team of scientists, including Saving Nature’s Dr. Clinton Jenkins, with their 2019 Excellence in Wilderness Stewardship Research. The award recognizes their innovative spatial assessment of conservation values that provides guidance on conservation strategies for the National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS). In this pair of award-winning papers, the authors consider how to set conservation priorities and management strategies to build resilience and protect biodiversity in an era of climate change.

The team, led by Travis Belote of the Wilderness Society, investigated how to best maintain biodiversity and ecological processes in the face of habitat fragmentation and climate change, while considering what a resilient system of protected areas in the United States would look like. The team developed maps that visualized ecological integrity, connectivity, representation of ecosystems, and biodiversity priorities. Their analysis revealed that wilderness areas are of high conservation value, but their quality depends on the protection level of surrounding lands. These maps provide an important visual reference to land managers for evaluating the relationship between the National Wilderness Preservation System and other public and private lands.

In their first paper, “Wild, connected, and diverse: building a more resilient system of protected areas.“, the authors construct an approach for delivering a more resilient system for protecting the nation’s biological heritage. In doing so, they use geospatial data to assess priorities for expanding protected areas within the contiguous United States to include the least human‐modified wildlands, establish a connected network, and better represent ecosystem diversity and hotspots of biodiversity.

In their second paper, “Mapping Conservation Strategies under a Changing Climate”, the authors rethink conservation strategies in an era of climate change. Rather than focusing on protecting ecosystems within reserves and restoring degraded lands that were missing key historical structures, processes, or species, they explore how to integrate climate induced factors, like invasive species and cross reserve boundaries create moving targets for preservation and restoration.

In doing so, the authors construct a wildland conservation value by mapping indices of ecological integrity, connectivity, and ecosystem and endemic-species representation in protected areas. They cross-reference these areas with a climate vulnerability assessment to identify areas where conservation interventions are most critical.

Categories: Climate Change, News, Research, Saving Nature Collection, Science, Science Corner

Stuart Pimm’s Annual Letter

December 27, 2019 erinwilligan

December 26, 2019

Annual Letter from Stuart Pimm

The shortest day of the year always seems an obvious time to reflect on what we’ve accomplished in the last twelve months. Days will soon get longer, prompting energetic efforts to plan for the New Year and assessments of what we accomplished this year. I’m all too aware that most of our projects are in the tropics — where day length changes little throughout the year — and some are in the southern hemisphere, where now is midsummer. On a cold winter’s day in North Carolina, it’s OK to recall that blast of warm humid air when one deplanes in Colombia or Brazil or Sumatra.

In a way, the major news this year was our name change. I founded SavingSpecies in 2006 using funds from the Heineken Prize, awarded to me by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. The idea of reconnecting fragmented forest landscapes by helping local conservation groups acquire land and plant native trees was unassailable. I had no idea what would be involved. After several years of help from other non-profits we eventually became an independent non-profit.

We grew and we grew — and so did our trees.

So, too, did our experiences of what we did well. Recognizing that our impact went beyond saving species to fighting climate change and helping local communities, Professor Clinton Jenkins (Vice President), Dr. Gerry Post (Board member), Erin Willigan, (Executive Director), and I decided to re-brand as Saving Nature. Our very distinguished Science Board, Professors Ed Wilson, Peter Raven, Patricia Wright, Trevor Price, and Tom Lovejoy enthusiastically supported the move.

The most obvious change is that we got a new website. Please visit it! It captures the expanded scope of what we do. Its carbon calculator will tell you how much you need to give to our tree planting to offset your annual carbon sin. We also added substantial expertise to the management team in recruiting Mr. Brian Rodgers, a commercial real estate investor/developer and enthusiastic supporter who has traveled with us to meet most of our partners, Dr. Dan Martin, formerly of the McArthur and Moore Foundations’ environment programmes, and Ms.Cassidy Horn, a philanthropist committed to environmental conservation.

Planting the right trees in the right places to fight climate change and species extinctions.

In a more important way, the major news is that, simply, we are doing what we did before — except much more. We are continuing to bring the best scientific insights to practical, cost-effective conservation actions. We don’t just help our partners acquire land and plant trees — we plant them in the best places to connect landscapes and prevent extinctions. We are addressing global warming – our projects plant prodigious numbers of trees to offset carbon emissions. The forests we plant create corridors, not only good to connect once-isolated populations of threatened species, but to allow all species to move upslope as the climate heats. We are also addressing local issues – it’s the local community we employ to develop nurseries of native trees and to plant them. Like politics, all conservation is local. Projects cannot succeed without the support of the local communities.

Our newest project is in the lower Magdalena Valley in Colombia.

Cattle ranching has destroyed much of its rich mixture of wetlands and forests, but this area remained. It’s remote and protected on one side by the Magdalena river. Fundación Biodiversa Colombia approached us and other partners with an urgent request for help in July to expand their existing El Silencio Reserve. We had visited this area early in 2018. (I always stress that we do not use Saving Nature’s funds for such trips.) I’ve never seen so many parrots or so many species anywhere else in the world. This region is an oasis where endangered American manatees and critically endangered Magdalena river turtles swim in the lakes. Jaguars, tapirs, endangered varied capuchin monkeys, white-footed tamarins, critically endangered brown spider monkeys, and blue-billed curassows all live in this forest. Truly a lovely place. We were happy to prevent pieces of it being logged and to encourage reforestation.

Our most ambitious project returns to coastal Brazil, the site of our first project in 2007.

Looking at this photo, you’ll likely explain, “it’s just road works.” Exactly so! The satellite photo taken a couple of weeks ago shows what will become a bridge across BR101, a major highway that separates the Poço das Antes Biological Reserve to the south (bottom of photo) to the land to the north (top) for which we raised the funds for our Brazilian partners, Associação Mico Leão Dourado. That bridge will have native forest on top of it — a first for Brazil and surely one of the very few habitat bridges anywhere in the tropics.

I can’t write about all our projects, so my final story is about how we are monitoring them and mentoring future scientists.

I have a large team of very motivated students from the local math and science magnet high school, undergraduates, and those working on their masters and Ph.Ds. Our science programme has put out scores of camera traps into the forest. The students’ job is to decide whether they’ve captured a branch moving or a mammal or bird walking past. If the latter, then what is it? Some are easy. Some are not and lead to spirited discussions in the lab. Most afternoons, I hear an excited “you have to watch this!” as we discover something wonderful. What we capture in the camera traps is truly inspiring — a lot of species start using the corridors when they are only a few years old. I’m not sure we scientists knew how effective new corridors would be.

Board member Brian Rogers has become our drone master and we are taking thousands of high resolution images of our trees as they grow. The trick then is to combine them into a single mosaic — I can manage that. But it takes my technically very talented students to combine them in a way that drapes them over a 3D map, then “fly over” the landscape. From those videos we learn a lot about how tall the trees are growing and, sometimes, where they are not growing as well as we’d like.

Science apart, the videos we’re getting are just delightful. Please check them out on our video pages. Be sure to watch the ones of pumas playing. We’re continuing to fund our partners in Sumatra, of course. So, check out what we are getting there too!

Thank you so much for all you do to support our efforts at Saving Nature.

Categories: Saving Nature Collection, Uncategorized

The Frozen Zoo

December 11, 2019 erinwilligan

December 11, 2019

In Season 2, Episode 8 of their Overheard Podcast, National Geographic explores cryotechnology and the possibilities it holds for resurrecting extinct species. Stuart Pimm of Saving Natures argues for caution.

The Frozen Zoo

San Diego is home to the world’s first frozen zoo—a genetic library where scientists are racing to bank the tissues and stem cells of disappearing animals. What does conservation look like as we head into what some scientists may believe to be our next great extinction?

This podcast by National Geographic explores the role of cryotechnology in reversing the unprecedented loss of species at the hands of mankind.

Stuart Pimm shares his views on the extinction crisis and the moral hazards of embracing the potential for de-extinction as the silver bullet.

Can we just keep species alive as frozen embryos then bring them back at will, if we lose the last populations in the wild? It’s complicated — I’m all for trying new ideas, but keeping species in the wild is the ultimate aim.”

Categories: News, Saving Nature Collection, Science, Science Corner, Technology

A Baby Elephant’s Rescue

October 30, 2019 erinwilligan

Remembering Baby Salma

Sadly, Salma died from her injuries sustained from a poacher’s snare on early on Friday, February 7, 2020. We are very saddened by this senseless loss. In sharing the news about Salma’s passing, Rudi Petra writes:

“Forgive us for failing to return you to the mother who gave birth to you, Salma. We understand your longing for your mother & best friends. We know the task of saving you is only a small part of the burden we carry. We will never give up. We will continue to fight and protect your relatives, families that are still alive and your home. We believe that one day we can save them from extinction, because only by protecting the place you play we can survive for life. Rest in peace Salma.”

We share the story of her rescue to honor those who work tirelessly to save her.

Surviving a Poacher's Snare

June 16th, 2019

by Rudi Petra, Leuser Conservation Forum (FKL)

In the afternoon of June 16^th, 2019, a local community member notified Leuser Conservation Forum (FKL) staff that a baby elephant had been caught by a snare on her leg at a village in rural part of Aceh Timur. At that moment, our staff contacted a veterinarian to save this baby elephant. The next day, the mission to save the elephant began.

Elephants are known to be very smart, and instinctively find a way to save injured members of their group. Working in the Leuser Ecocystem, the FKL rangers get calls about elephants bringing their injured young to an area nearby a community village – maybe hoping someone will help rescue them. Several rescue missions the FKL rangers have conducted with Aceh’s Natural Resources Conservation Agency have been very close to settlements.

A recovery team set out, following the footsteps of the baby elephant, including FKL’s Elephant Protection Team, the veterinarian, Aceh Natural Resources Conservation Agency staff, Forest Management Unit Regional 3, and local community members.

After two days of tracking the baby elephant through the forest, parts of her footsteps were lost….The team became more and more hopeless, but remained determined to continue until they found and treated the baby.

The Rescue

The team continued to search and walked until they came across a hole approximately 2 meters deep. It was inside this hole, a soft sound was heard.

The team tried to find the source of the sound, and that is where they found the weak baby elephant. Lying there distraught, maybe the elephant is no longer able to walk and wants to end her life there until her final breath.

Two members of the Elephant Patrol Team braved themselves to enter the cave to save the elephant, but her rescue was far from certain. Despite being very weak, the injured baby elephant still showed her wild nature.

With two rangers pushing below in the darkness of the cave, and another dozen using ropes from above, the team tried their very best to pull Salma from the hole.

The Frontlines of conservation

FKL’s team of 148 trained rangers patrol 13,500 square kilometers in Sumatra’s Leuser Ecosystem. In 2018, they found 843 snares set by poachers targeting protected wildlife.

In 2019, FKL’s rangers rescued 3 elephants and 1 sun bear caught in snares. They also recovered 2 hornbills and 1 orangutan from villagers intending to sell them on the black market.

Sumatran elephants, rhinos, tigers, pangolins, helmeted hornbills, and orangutans are all listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List. Their populations are declining worldwide due to poaching and habitat loss. As they disappear from other forests, the survivors face even more pressures. International poachers move into the last places where supply can be found for body parts for the Chinese black market.

Poaching is rising at an alarming rate in the last of Sumatra’s forests, with an influx of hunters from Central Sumatra and other Asian countries targeting elephants, rhinos, tigers, pangolins, hornbills, and wild birds.

With insatiable demand on the black market for tusks, horns, feathers, skins, and other body parts used in traditional medicine, cultural rituals, and decorative arts, species are moving closer to extinction.

The Leuser Ecosystem offers one of the last places where there is hope to rescue them from the brink of extinction. Connecting the two large remaining protected areas will help enormously. Restoring forests hinders access deeper into untouched areas. Returning failed farms and plantations to forest is vital to a sustainable future.

But time is critical in the race against the relentless demand. As the forests continue to recede, access becomes easier for poachers. Already driven to extinction in other parts of Indonesia, these vulnerable species, the last of their kind on earth, are now in the cross hairs.

In 2018, Saving Nature launched a 3-year initiative to build a wildlife corridor in Leuser to combat the loss of habitat, reestablish elephant migration routes, and build a buffer against poachers.

Our long-term goal is to connect a 5,500-ha area recently designated by the government as an elephant conservation area with nearly 300,000 ha of protected forest.

Field Triage

Finally, at 5 o’clock in the afternoon, the elephant was out of the dark cave. The veterinarian immediately injected anesthesia into the elephant, and worked to remove the snare, clean, and treat the wound.

The snare resulted in a very deep wound that came close to injuring the bones. Infection also could have killed this amazing creature.

We were very pessimistic looking at the condition of this baby elephant, but whatever the risk facing ahead, this elephant must be saved.

The Evacuation

To evacuate this little elephant was no easy feat. The location was very far from the nearest settlement. The team used a boat to go along the river to the closest settlement before it is brought on to a car.

In the middle of the night, we received help from the local community who provided the boat that is then used to bring the elephant. The elephant’s long journey began. To reach the closest settlement took 2 hours, then a 7-hour drive on land.

It was not over yet. ..

The elephant took another boat ride to reach the elephant camp, Conservation Research Unit (CRU) Serbajadi, in East Aceh. She will spend her time recovering here until she is ready to be released back in the wild to meet her family.

The recovery

With all our willpower, we try our best to ensure the rescue of the elephant.

The first weeks was a very difficult time for the elephant to live among humans. But at the very least, she feels comfortable. She is able to sleep surrounded by humans and happy to be fed milk.

Our staff is on standby monitoring 24 hours, 7 days a week. She is now recovering, socializing with other tame elephants at the camp, and has recently started eating grass as well.

The cute elephant is loved by the team and staff at the camp. It is unthinkable that anyone would injure her. The elephant is later named Salma (an acronym for “Save the Wildlife in Leuser and Aceh Communities” in Bahasa Indonesia).

sumatra's wildlife needS A refuge

Help build a connection to the future for the wildlife of Leuser. Take a stand for their last refuge by rescuing this vanishing ecosystem, preventing the loss of biodiversity, and building resilience to fight the impacts of climate change.

ABOUT LEUSER CONSERVATION FORUM (FKL)

Leuser Conservation Forum (FKL) was founded in 2013 with a mission to help save the Leuser Ecosystem in Aceh and North Sumatra Provinces. The Leuser Ecosystem is a 2.6 million hectares expanse of forest rich in biodiversity. Today, FKL deploys 26 units of Wildlife Protection Team across the Leuser Ecosystem in Aceh specifically to treat, rescue elephants and other wildlife injured. With more than 200 people in the field, FKL’s protection unit is the biggest managed by a local NGO in Indonesia.

Categories: Saving Nature Collection, Sumatra

June 5, 2020: In remote places on earth, there ares still species unknown to science. Our project in the Western Andes of Colombia is one such place, where a new species of orchid has been discovered, described, and named.

New Orchid Discovered

Western Andes Cloud Forest

Dracula irmelinae

Making It Official

Protecting Wild Orchids

Learn More About Our Project in COLOMBIA

April 22, 2020: Saving Nature's President, Stuart Pimm, reflects on the state of the planet 50 years after the first Earth Day.

Today is the 50th Earth Day

HOW ARE WE DOING?

So what can we do to honor Earth Day?

Second, how are our projects doing during COVID19?

The Planet Needs your help

Saving Nature expands Forest Protections in Sumatra

sumatra's wildlife needS A refuge

Help build a connection to the future for the wildlife of Leuser. Take a stand for their last refuge by rescuing this vanishing ecosystem, preventing the loss of biodiversity, and building resilience to fight the impacts of climate change.

All Conservation is Local

Camera Trapping Challenges

The World's Great Forests You've Never Heard Of

South America

Tropical Asia

Caring for Our Great Forests

help save the world's great forests

2019 Excellence in Wilderness Stewardship Research

Annual Letter from Stuart Pimm

We grew and we grew — and so did our trees.

Planting the right trees in the right places to fight climate change and species extinctions.

Our newest project is in the lower Magdalena Valley in Colombia.

Our most ambitious project returns to coastal Brazil, the site of our first project in 2007.

I can’t write about all our projects, so my final story is about how we are monitoring them and mentoring future scientists.

Thank you so much for all you do to support our efforts at Saving Nature.

The Frozen Zoo

Remembering Baby Salma

Surviving a Poacher's Snare

The Rescue

The Frontlines of conservation

In 2019, FKL’s rangers rescued 3 elephants and 1 sun bear caught in snares. They also recovered 2 hornbills and 1 orangutan from villagers intending to sell them on the black market.

With insatiable demand on the black market for tusks, horns, feathers, skins, and other body parts used in traditional medicine, cultural rituals, and decorative arts, species are moving closer to extinction.

Field Triage

The Evacuation

The recovery

sumatra's wildlife needS A refuge

Help build a connection to the future for the wildlife of Leuser. Take a stand for their last refuge by rescuing this vanishing ecosystem, preventing the loss of biodiversity, and building resilience to fight the impacts of climate change.

ABOUT LEUSER CONSERVATION FORUM (FKL)

Help Us Have a Bigger Impact

before you fly

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