WLT Spring 2015

WLTnewsInside this issue...• Big Cat Appeal update

• New Buy an Acre project

• WLT Action Fund saves moreland in Ecuador

• International Trail CameraCompetition: the results

• Steve Backshall raises fundsfor ‘deadly’ frog

ISSUE No. 49 SPRING 2015

Saving habitatsSaving species

www.worldlandtrust.org

2 www.worldlandtrust.org

World Land TrustBlyth House, Bridge Street

Halesworth, SuffolkIP19 8AB, UK

Tel: 01986 874422Fax: 01986 874425

Email:[email protected]

Registered Charity1001291

On track to save tigersand other wild cathabitatsTime is running out for big cats in the wild andspecies such as Bengal Tiger, Jaguar and Puma areat risk.

World Land Trust is currently putting the spotlighton feline predators with a major appeal to raisefunds to save habitat for big cats.

As we go to press £350,000raised for Big CatsTarget: £500,000With £150,000 left to raise we areconfident that our supporters willrespond generously and help usreach our target soon.

Saving tigers in IndiaThe Chilkiya-Kota Corridor in Uttarakhand -keeping humans and tigers separate.

A major project being funded through WLT’s BigCat Appeal is the creation of the Chilkiya-KotaCorridor which will allow safe passage for tigers andelephants moving between Corbett Tiger Reserveand Ramnagar Division Forest. The route of thecorridor crosses the Kosi River, where the settlementof Sunderkhal is overshadowed by steep hills onboth sides of the river.

Protecting the corridor is a complex processinvolving voluntarily relocation of residents awayfrom the corridor to safe land and houses elsewhere.This means that there are many stakeholders andgovernment departments involved. However,villagers are keen to be moved away from danger,as, according to the latest information from ourpartner, Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), five or six tigersregularly use the corridor and, since 2010, sevenpeople have been killed by tigers in the area.

Roger Wilson (Senior Conservationist at WLT)and David Wright (WLT Head of Programmes) madea site visit to India in December to check on theprogress of the project. While there they saw severalfresh tiger pug marks close to the river, adjacent tothe settlement of Sunderkhal. They also saw twotigers in Corbett Tiger Reserve at a distance of some30 metres.

More land for Pumas, Jaguarand Caucasian LeopardsBig Cat Appeal funds have helped secure a further59 acres (24 hectares) for a small group of Pumasthat roam in the Atlantic forest of Brazil. The propertyis strategically significant because it is part of awildlife corridor linking land owned by ReservaEcológica de Guapi Assu (REGUA), WLT’s partner inBrazil, and other protected areas.

In Armenia, WLT has funded leases and landpurchase to extend the Caucasus Wildlife Refuge,directly buffering the state owned Khosrov Reserve.This extends the refuge by a further 3,150 acres(1,275 hectares). Meanwhile, in Iran, WLT is workingwith the Iranian Cheetah Society on a corridorproject in north west Iran to benefit CaucasianLeopards.

In Mexico, WLT’s partner Grupo Ecológico SierraGorda (GESG) has been recording Jaguar with trailcameras for several years. More land purchase isplanned to extend habitat through land purchase thatwill not only benefit Jaguars but other wild cats too.

Special Appeal

Tigers aremagnificentcreatures. Itwould be atragedy of trulymonumentalproportions if theywere to be lost tothe world. Not onlythat, it would be totallyinexcusable on our part but if we don’tact fast to provide them with suitableterritory to live in, they will disappear.We mustn’t let that happen.World Land Trust’s Big Cat Appeal

gives us an opportunity to save animportant population of Bengal Tigersin India. And we can save habitat forother wild cats too. I hope you willgive generously to this importantappeal.

Sir David Attenborough, Patron, WLT

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Big Cat Appeal

Please support the Big Cat Appeal to enableus to create safe havens for tigers, Jaguars,Pumas and other wild cats


Update on BorneoRainforest AppealIn 2014 WLTsuccessfully raised onemillion pounds tosave remnant forestsfor Orang-utans andother rare and threatened wildlife of theKinabatangan floodplain in Sabah,Mayalsia.

Protection of strategically important parcelsof land is helping create the Keruak WildlifeCorridor to link Keruak Virgin Jungle reservewith the Lower Kinabatangan WildlifeSanctuary. These are riverine propertiesvital to a priority population of BorneanOrang-utans who would otherwise havefallen victim to the devastating effects ofhabitat fragmentation due to the rapidspread of oil palm plantations.

We hope to raise more funds to widenthe corridor oncethis land has beensecured.Meanwhile thankyou to everyonewho supportedthe BorneoRainforest Appeal.

Cover imageSierra Gorda provides forests forMonarch Butterflies

Monarch Butterflies migrate between1,200 and 2,800 miles from the UnitedStates and Canada to the forests of centralMexico. There the butterflies hibernate inthe mountain forests, where a less extremeclimate provides them with a betterchance of survival.

Loss of milkweed habitat on which theyfeed in North America, together withtropical forest loss in Mexico and climatechange, have resulted in a catastrophicdecline in Monarch Butterfly numbers.Some estimates record a 90 per centdecline over the past two decades, fromabout 1 billion butterflies in the mid-1990sto just 35 million individuals last winter.

Conservation groups have been worriedabout this decline for several years, and in

January the US Fish and Wildlife Serviceconfirmed that Monarch Butterflieswould be considered for protectionunder the Endangered Species Act.

Roberto Pedraza photographed thesebutterflies last November in the SierraGorda forests of Mexico, protected withhelp from WLT.

Roberto said:Last autumn

the Monarchsappeared around 20days later thanusual, on theirmigration to the firforests furthersouth. I remember asa child them arrivingon Day of the Dead,which is celebratedin Mexico on the first two days ofNovember, and gave rise to an oldtradition here about them representingthe souls of the dead.I went to where I remembered

seeing them many years ago, when theoak branches bent downwards undertheir weight. I photographed them in acedar tree and they were also in theoaks nearby but in very small numberscompared to the past. But it is good toknow that they ‘remember’ theirwintering grounds in central Mexico,and that at Sierra Gorda we areproviding them with forests in whichto rest on their long route. I think it isquite amazing.

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Spotlight on ArmeniaRecording top predators:Caucasian Leopard and Lynx

On my field trip last year to theUrtsadzor mountains to set up thetrail cameras and make sureeverything is working properly, Imade an exciting discovery. I foundanimal faeces which I’m sure werethose of the Caucasian Leopard.Months before, in early March, I wasable to detect the leopard’s paw printon fresh snow. These two findingsprovide tangible evidence that theleopard that we recorded in summer2013 with our camera traps is still inour area.The Caucasian Leopard isn’t the

only wild cat that we are recording inthe Caucasus Wildlife Refuge. We

recently hadcamera trapfootage of aCaucasian Lynx(Lynx lynxdinniki), quite arare subspecies in the SouthCaucasian Mountains. There arealmost no studies on smaller andmedium sized felines in Armenia andthere is no information about dinnikiin the Red Book of Armenia. We areso pleased to know that we areprotecting them here.I’m sure that the lynx on our

footage can be identified as aCaucasian Lynx as this subspecies

has some very characteristic features.The animal is bigger and heavier thanthe other subspecies and the fur hasmany clearly defined spots.

See videos of wildlife in Armeniaon the World Land Trust YouTubechannel

Head ranger Manuk Manukyan, aWLT Keeper of the Wild, reports onsightings in the Caucasus Wildlife

A Caucasian Lynx recorded inArmenia showing its distinctive tuftedears and clearly defined spots

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Saving Yungas forest in Jujuy province of Argentina El Pantanoso Reserve

The Yungas (pronounced Jungas)encompasses an area of around 55,000square kilometres in Peru, Bolivia andnorthern Argentina. WLT’s project siteis in Argentina where the forestoccupies a narrow fringe along the

Andean eastern slopes in theprovinces of Salta, Jujuy and Tucumán.

More than 90 per cent of Yungasfoothill forests have been cleared foragriculture, and all land outsideprotected areas is subjected to intensive

logging. While logging does not alwaysresult in complete forest clearance itdoes significantly alter forestcomposition, exacerbate habitatfragmentation and open up access tohunters and illegal loggers.

NEW Buy anAcre project

Brazil

Argentina

Buy an Acre

BrazilParaguayChile

Argentina Uruguay

Yungusforest

El Pantanoso

What is Yungasforest?

‘Yungas’ means rainy, humid and warm.These forests are extremely diverse, rangingfrom moist lowland forest to evergreen

montane forest andcloud forest. Acomplex mosaic ofhabitats occur withinthe changing altitudesand the landscape isformed by valleys,fluvial mountain trailsand streams. It isextremely rugged andvaried. These areasshelter forests high inbiodiversity and thebiologicaldistinctiveness of thisecoregion warrants itsstatus as RegionallyOutstanding andVulnerable at theregional scale and as aconservation priority inArgentina.

Good news for wildcats in El Pantanoso‘The El PantanosoReserve will protectan astonishingarray of wildlife,and funding fromWLT’s Big CatAppeal is beingdirected here tocreate a safe haven formany wild cat species. TheOcelot on the left was captured by trailcamera in the reserve area and there areknown to be at least four individualJaguars using this territory. Puma,Jaguarundi, Margay and Pampas Cat alloccur here too, making it an importantstronghold for wild cats in northernArgentina.

Other animals recorded by trail camerainclude Brazilian Tapir, Rufous Agouti,White-lipped and Collared Peccaries,Brazilian Porcupine and Woolly Oppossum.

Argentina is marked in green in themap of South America above. TheYungas runs in a narrow band alongthe eastern slopes of the Andes inPeru, Bolivia and northern Argentina

Buy an Acre projectSave one acre for £100 (half an acre for£50 or quarter of an acre for £25)See donation form enclosed or donate www.worldlandtrust.org

Life on the coastal steppe of Patagonia

WLT Chairman, Simon Lyster (aboveright), has just returned from a site visitto WLT-funded Estancia la Esperanza(Ranch of Hope).

While there he and his wife, Sandra,met with biologist Santi (in thephotographs above) who had justrecorded a Puma on a trail camera set onthe reserve.

The grassland and bushes of thePatagonian scrub are recovering frommore than 100 years of overgrazing, butnow the sheep have been replaced bynative Guanacos, whose numbers haverisen from 100 to more than 850. TheGuanacos’ successful population increasehas lured back their top predator: thePuma. A natural balance is being restored.

El Pantanoso continued

Wildlife atEl PantanosoBiodiversity studies in the area haveidentified 120 species of mammal, 140species of butterfly and more than 120species of tree. Amphibians and reptilesare yet to be counted but they arenumerous, and a rare marsupial frog isknown to occur in the locality.

Bird species number at least 350,which is half of all bird species recorded inArgentina. There are hopes that theTucumán Amazon (Amazona tucumana),an extremely rare parrot restricted tosmall areas of Yungas forest in northernArgentina,and southeast Bolivia,will occuron thereserve. Thisis primehabitatwithin theirrange.

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Update on the Emerald Green Corridor, MisionesJohn Burton reports

Over recent months we have experiencedsetbacks in agreeing an access path to theland acquired with WLT funding. This isessential for the Guaraní communities wholive in the reserve area, so that they haveaccess to medical supplies. However, weare now at the point where agreement hasbeen reached and this access will also beused for limited visits by tourists interestedin the wildlife.

The Provincial Government continues

to support the project by providingrangers to control illegal immigration(mostly from across the Uruguay River, inBrazil). Fundación Biodiversidad Argentinahas been carrying out surveys of thewildlife, to help develop a long termmanagement plan with the support of theindigenous communities. A WLT site visitin June is planned, to discuss extendingthe protected areas, and the long termplans for the Yabotí Biosphere Reserve.

Buy anAcre

Looking across the Uruguay River from the Emerald GreenCorridor. This land was secured through a multiculturalAgreement with three Guaraní communities, theirneighbours who were the titleholders of the land, and theprovincial government, settling a 16 year dispute over thefuture of their shared land

The rareTucumán Amazon, a species of parrotfound only in Yungas habitats ofBolivia and northern Argentina

Argentina: three projectsProtecting Yungas forest, Atlantic forestand coastal steppe

Emerald GreenCorridor,Misiones Province.Atlantic forest

Argentina

Brazil

Paraguay

Bolivia

Chile

SouthAtlanticOcean

SouthPacificOcean

Buenos Aires .Uruguay

El Pantanoso,Jujuy Province. Yungas forest

Estancia la Esperanza(Ranch of Hope),Patagonia,Coastal steppe

El Pantanoso in northernArgentina protects Yungasforest

The Emerald GreenCorridor in Misionesprovince, Argentinaprotects Atlantic forest

Estancia la Esperanza(Ranch of Hope) inPatagonia protects coastalsteppe

The El Pantanoso projectarea is marked with a redsquare in northernArgentina. This Buy anAcre protect protectsimportant Yungas forestand will secure anecological corridor to thenearby Calilegua NationalPark.

In Bolivia, WLT is helping itsconservation partner, AsociaciónArmonía, protect and expand the BarbaAzul Nature Reserve which lies in thesouth west corner of the Amazon basin.This is the only breeding ground of the

Critically Endangered Blue-throatedMacaw. In 2007 a roosting site for over70 individuals was discovered - gloriousnews for a bird that previously was onlyrecorded in isolated pairs on widelydistributed, privately owned cattle ranches.


BoliviaLand purchase made possible through WLT supportersMore land to be saved - £100 an acre

BOLIVIA

Peru

Paraguay

ArgentinaChile

SouthPacificOcean

Barba AzulNatureReserve

Brazil

NEWS from Buyan Acre projects

Buy an Acre

Beni Savanna: Bolivia’s conservation jewel

Safeguarding the Blue-throated MacawBarba Azul protects the global populationstronghold of theBlue-throatedMacaw. Thesebirds feedprimarily on theMotacu (Attaleaphalerata) palmfruit and the treealso providesnesting cavities.Armonía’sresearch indicatesbetween 350 and400 individualsare present onthe reserve.

A haven for rare birds250 bird species have been recorded onthe reserve including the Near ThreatenedOrinoco Goose and Greater Rhea.

Resident birds in the tall grass includethe endangered Cock-tailed Tyrant,Sharp-tailed Tyrant and Streamer-tailedTyrant and the Black-masked Finch.A paradise for water birds there are largenumbers of egrets, spoonbills, Jabiru Storksand waterfowl. Nine species of NorthAmerican migrant shorebirds have beenrecorded, including over 1,000 Buff-breasted Sandpipers (Near Threatened),recorded in one day, making the reservean important migrant stopover site.

And mammalsThe reserve also has many mammal speciessuch as Jaguar, Puma, Maned Wolf, GiantAnteater, Marsh Deer, Pampas Deer, RedBrocket Deer and Grey Brocket Deer,Southern Tamandua, Black HowlerMonkey, Capybara and Nine-bandedArmadillo.

The tall grassland is perfect habitatfor species such as the GreaterRhea and the Pampas Deer, bothlisted by IUCN as Near Threatened

Can I visit?Barba Azul has a field station forresearchers and small numbers of tourists.The cost is US$150 per night per person,with a three night minimum stay. Theprice is all inclusive (lodging in theresearch station, food, boat and horses),and offers complete access to the reserve.There is horse and small plane access yearround with vehicle access only possiblefrom May to October. If you are interestedin visiting please contact WLT in the firstinstance.

It is great to know that WLTis making the Beni savanna apriority through its Buy an Acrefund. With more funding we canextend the protected savanna andprovide more habitat for threatened

species such as Jaguar, Puma, ManedWolf and, of course, the Blue-throated Macaw. A plea from Bolivia:please donate generously to help usachieve more. Thank you.

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A message from Bennett Hennessy, Director of Armonía

The Barba Azul Reserve is a jewel of natural savanna, containing fivedistinctive habitats: savanna, cerrado, forest islands, gallery forests and marshwetlands. Flooding is due to heavy seasonal rainfall and river overflow. Thiscycle of flooding creates the natural savanna habitat and forested islands

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Colombia & EcuadorLand purchase made possible through WLT supporters.More land to be saved - £100 an acre


GalapagosIslands

Pacific Ocean

Caribbean SeaPANAMA

PERU

ECUADOR

COLOMBIA

Buy an Acre

Land purchase andprotection of Chocó forestChocó habitat extends south fromPanama, through north-westernColombia south into northern Ecuador.It is one of the worlds’ wettest and mostbiodiverse habitats and holds manyspecies threatened with extinction.

WLT is supporting ProAves’ work tosave more Chocó from expandingagriculture, illegal logging and mining.

For the moment WLT can still buyChocó habitat for around £100 an acreand current priorities are to extend theAndivia Wren and Lora CarirosadaReserves in the western Andes. This willsafeguard vital habitat for the CriticallyEndangered Munchique Wood Wren(Henicorhina negreti) and VulnerableTanager Finch (Oreothraupis arremonops);it will also create protected habitat forthreatened amphibians such as Lehmann'sPoison Frog (Oophaga lehmanni) (below).

World renowned field biologist, DrGeorge Schaller recently visited MaycúReserve in the Nangaritza Valley tolook for areas that could shelter Jaguarpopulations. The reserve is owned andmanaged by Naturaleza y CulturaEcuador (NCE).

During one week the team exploredmany properties purchased with thesupport from WLT. They found signs ofJaguar as well as collecting testimoniesfrom villagers who confirmed thepresence of Jaguar. In the image aboveSchaller is pointing to claw marks of a bigcat (Jaguar or Puma) on the bark of atree. This photo was taken within a WLT-funded reserve.

The lush foothill rainforest of theNangaritza Valley protects the lastremaining extensive bank of foothillforest connecting the Andean mountainsaround southern Ecuador’s PodocarpusNational Park with the lowland Amazonin bordering Peru. Most other Amazonianfoothill forests to the north have beendegraded due to clearing land for cattlegrazing, and nowhere else in Ecuador isthere a corridor of forests that connectsthe high Andes to the Amazon rainforest.

As well as Jaguar and Puma, theNangaritza Valley is home to othercharismatic animals including Ocelot,Spectacled Bear and Mountain Tapir.

This region around PodocarpusNational Park has an astonishing 600 birdspecies, including 60 species ofhummingbirds and 80 different tanagers.It also has one of the highestconcentrations of endangered plants inthe world, and over 40 per cent of thepark’s 3,500 plant species are endemic tothis area.

WLT will use Buy an Acre funds topurchase forest in the Amazonianprovince of Zamora Chinchipe, alongthe Nangaritza River Basin. This is acomplex mosaic of ecosystems andcontains a confluence of speciescoming from Amazonian lowlands andAndean foothills.

Dr Schaller is an American mammalogist,biologist, conservationist and author, andis recognised as one of the world’sgreatest field biologists. He has studiedwildlife throughout Africa, Asia and SouthAmerica.

New Buy an Acre projects in theChocó of Colombia will protecthabitat for threatened amphibianssuch as Lehmann’s Poison Frog.See also back page: SteveBackshall’s fundraising which willfund land purchase and Keepers ofthe Wild

Signs of big cats in Nangaritza Reserve, Ecuador

Chocó forest


Buy an Acre projects in Mexico will save more of Sierra Gorda’s amazingrange of habitats. Big Cat Appeal funds are also being used to save Jaguarand Puma habitat

Magnolia species new to science found in Sierra Gorda

Land purchase fundedby WLT Action FundDonations to theAction Fund haveextendedFundaciónEcoMinga’s Cerro Candelaria Reserve inEcuador by 111 acres (45 hectares).

Continued extension of CerroCandelaria Reserve is a top priority, notonly because of its exceptional biodiversitybut also because it occupies a gap betweentwo large national parks, Sangay to thesouth, and Los Llanganates to the north.Every new land purchase is a step towardsclosing the gap between the two nationalparks. The corridor is a large tract of virginforest, with unique diversity of endemicorchids and endangered species.

Saving Paddington BearWith public attention focused on the filmversion of English literature’s most famousSpectacled Bear – Paddington – we arepleased to report a trail camera recordingof a Spectacled Bear close to CerroCandelaria Reserve.

Lou Jost, of EcoMinga, told us how thefilm of the bear was recorded.“Some neighbours who farm near

the reserve had complained to us

about bears eating their corn, soReserves Manager, Juan Pablo Reyes,and Keeper of the Wild, Luis, set up acamera trap to identify the culprit.Interestingly the bear captured on

film is not one of the eightindividuals that had been filmed

before in our reserve.”EcoMinga has compensated the

owners of the corn field for the cost ofthe damage caused by the bear, so thatthe wildlife that live in the reserve donot cause resentment among localpeople.

MexicoLand purchase made possible through WLT supportersMore land to be saved - £100 an acre


Buy an Acre

Three new species of magnolia have beendiscovered in Sierra Gorda by RobertoPedraza Ruiz, Technical Officer of GrupoEcológico Sierra Gorda; one of the newspecies has been named after him.

Magnolia specialist Dr Antonio Vázquez iscurrently completing their descriptions.

“To find three new tree species incentral Mexico, where supposedlyeverything has been labelled, is quiteoutstanding.” said Roberto, who is pleasedthat the one he is holding will be given hisname pedrazae.

The other two species are named rzedowskii(after Dr Jerry Rzedowsky, the leadingbotanist in Mexico) and sierragordae.

Little did I know when Robertowas telling me about his magnoliafinds, at the WLT partner syposium inKew Gardens lastyear that two newmagnolia specieswere also to bediscovered in our RíoZuñac Reserve! It wasan extraordinarycoincidence thatbotanists workingwith EcoMinga staffshould discover them at this time.Another fortuitous coincidence was

that Dr Antonio Vázquez, the verysame Mexican expert who describedRoberto’s species, happened to havebeen hired temporarily by theEcuadorian government to helpimprove the academic status of ourlocal university, just a few kilometres

from Río Zuñac Reserve.Dr Vázquez and EcoMinga staff

made anotherexpedition intothe reserve tosearch forflowers, andthanks to thedaring tree-climbing abilitiesof our rangers,they weresuccessful in

finding flowers of one of the species.Luis Recalde, a WLT Keeper of theWild, was among the first tophotograph the new species.Later in the year, a third expedition

revealed flowers of the second speciesand we were also able to photographthe beetles that pollinate themagnolias.

And more new magnolia species in EcuadorLou Jost reports from Fundación EcoMinga

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The Action Fund is WLT’s unrestricted conservation fund and allows the Trust todirect funding quickly to where it is most urgently needed. The fund is used forany of WLT’s key funds and appeals. It is also used to respond to urgent requestsfrom overseas project partners

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Action Fund update Narupa Reserveexpansion extendswinter habitat forCerulean Warbler

The Cerulean Warbler (Dendroica cerulea),one of the Americas’ fastest decliningmigratory birds, now has more protectedwintering habitat in Ecuador, thanks to asuccessful international effort to extendNarupa Reserve on the eastern slopes ofthe Andes.

Funds for the 117 acre (47 hectare)extension were allocated from WLTAction Fund and boosted bycontributions from American BirdConservancy and the MarchConservation Fund.

The Narupa Reserve is owned by WLTpartner Fundación Jocotoco. Created in2006 with an initial purchase of 250acres (100 hectares), Narupa has beengradually expanded over the years. Withthis latest addition it now measures1,871 acres (757 hectares). Situated inthe province of Napo at elevationsranging from 3,300 to 5,250 feet abovesea level, the Andean foothill rainforesthas a remarkable convergence of lowlandand highland wildlife species.

This is what our Friends told us: 2015 questionnaireAt the beginning of 2015 we invitedFriends to have their say.

The response to our questionnaire hasbeen truly overwhelming, with anamazing 25 per cent returned already.In addition to ensuring that all contactdetails are correct, the survey gave usinsight into what key supporters think ofthe way we handle communications.

Friends were almost unanimous aboutliking the fact that we do not bombardthem with appeals for funds. ClearlyFriends are generous and many supporta range of worthy causes, particularlylocal Wildlife Trusts, RSPB, WWF andvarious health charities.

Other comments are extremelyvaluable and gratifying. There were so

many that were very supportive, with acommon theme: “You are doing animportant job well. Keep on doingmore of the same and you willcontinue to have my support”(J Barrett); “You are the solebeneficiary of my will” (J King);“WLT is my favourite because it doesso many things better than others –please continue” (D Belfield); “Of allthe charities I give to, this is the oneI feel most worthwhile and userfriendly” (P Ballard). There were dozensmore along similar lines. Please beassured that we are taking note of allcomments.

Thank you to all Friends who returnedthe questionnaire.

The importance ofWLT Action Fund Action Fund

Become a WLT Friend andyour regular donations willbe used for our mosturgent projects. Regularmonthly contributionsmade by Friends aretremendously importantbecause knowing fundshave been pledged inadvance enables us to planfuture land purchase andconservation projects.

The number of Friends hasbeen increasingly steadily andhas now reached 1,500. Weinvited WLT’s 1,500th Friend to tell us whyhe supports the Trust.

He told us: “I donate to World LandTrust because their model ofconservation is perfectly designed toreverse the catastrophic loss of globalecosystems. By reclaiming landownership for nature they are

securing it for thefuture. By givingproject control to localpeople they arestimulating asustainablerelationship betweenthe environment andits human inhabitants.

These interventions areessential in order toconserve biodiversity and

combat environmental degradation.”In return for a monthly donation of £5

(or more) WLT Friends receive an annualFriend Card, early notification of WLTevents and, if requested, regular newsupdates (WLT News three times a yearand/or monthly eBulletins). We do notoffer ‘free’ gifts or constantly ask fordonations.

WLT Friends’ donations supportthe Action Fund

Please consider becoming a WLT Friend or giving the Gift of Friendship

www.worldlandtrust.org/supporting/friends

Photo credits: Cover: Roberto Pedraza Ruiz; Page 3:FPWC (lynx), Chris Perrett/naturesart.co.uk (Orang-utan); Page 3: Kevin Schaffer/naturepl.com (forest),Fundación Biodiversidad (ocelot); Page 5: WLT(Misiones), Gerda Coetzee (Tucumán Amazon);Sandra Charity (Patagonia); Page 6: WLT (macaws),Bennett Hennessey/Armonίa (reserve); Page 7:Naturaleza y Cultura Ecuador (Dr Schaller), PhilSavoie/naturepl.com (frog); Page 8: Roberto PedrazoRuiz (magnolia, Mexico), Lou Jost (magnolia Ecuador);Page 9: getintobirds/audubon.org (warbler); Page 10:Guyra Paraguay (jaguar), Botswana PredatorConservation Trust (leopard); Page 11: Jack Hill/TheTimes (judging); Instituto Biotrópicos, Brazil (ManedWolf); Back page: Bethan John (poison frog), SteveBackshall, Kamilla Zahno.

Alex, WLT’s1,500th Friend


Classic animal portraitand overall winnerThe image of a Jaguar, recorded at ThreeGiants Biological Station in the Chaco-Pantanal Reserve, Paraguay, was votedthe overall winner. Pictured right, thewinning image was first published in TheTimes on 28 February 2015.

Guyra Paraguay, WLT’s conservationpartner in Paraguay, submitted the imageand wins an award of £5,000.

Simon Barnes, writer and WLT Councilmember, was one of the competitionjudges. He explained why this image wonthe top award:“Spotty cats have an unfair

advantage when it comes to makinghumans viewers go ‘phwoar’. A fewyears ago David Bebber and I strolledon that very path, flooded in thisimage, as we worked on a storyabout conservation. It’s the way thecat ignores the camera that makesthe picture work so well: slouchingout of frame with feline contempt forhumans and their works.”

Unusual behaviourTrash is often a problem in areas withwildlife-based tourism industries and animage of a leopard carrying a waterbottle won the award for unusualbehaviour.Simon commented: “The leopard,carrying a plastic water-bottle forreasons best known to himself, wonthe behaviour category: anuncomfortable and vivid reminderthat all non-human animals mustthese days live their lives in thecontext of their ever-more-numerousneighbours.”

Botswana Predator Conservation Trustsubmitted the image, which wins them£2,000.

International Trail Camera Competition

Paraguayan Jaguar image wins top prize

An image of a leopard carrying a water bottle wins top prize in the unusualbehaviour category. It was submitted by Botswana Predator Conservation Trust

Winner: unusual behaviour

The overall winnerAn image of a Jaguar inParaguay has scooped theoverall prize in the WLTInternational Trail CameraCompetition, run inconjunction with The Times

New competition for 2015We are currently discussing the nexttrail camera competition and hope toannounce it shortly.

You can see a video of the judging ofthe shortlisted images for theInternational Trail Camera Competitionon the World Land Trust YouTubechannel.

The International Trail Camera Competition closed on 31 January 2015.

There were four categories - three for still images: classic animal portrait,unusual animal behaviour, endangered species and new discoveries and amoving image category: wildlife behaviour.

The winner of each category won a prize of £2,000 for their wildlifeconservation organisation and the overall winner collected an additional£3,000 to make their top prize £5,000. This was won by Guyra Paraguay.

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Winner: endangered speciesThe award for the endangered speciescategory (and the People’s Choice) went tothis image of a melanistic Maned Wolf. TheManed Wolf is the tallest of the wild canidsand usually has reddish brown to goldenorange fur. This is the first black Maned Wolfto ever have been observed. The ManedWolf is listed as Near Threatened by IUCNand is extinct over much of its former range.

Instituto Biotrópicos submitted theimage, which was recorded in Veredas doAcari Sustainable Reserve, Minas Gerais,Brazil, by park rangers who were assisting aspecies inventory of the area. The imagewins them £2,000.

Of this image Simon commented:“The Maned Wolf is a strange speciesat best, usually described as a fox on

stilts. But this individual is not in theusual foxy colours but in fashionableblack: a strange dark animal lurkingin the greater darkness andwondering what its human neighbourshave left out on the trail.”

Winner: endangered speciesA film of an Asiatic Cheetah at a drinkingpoint in Miandasht Wildlife Refuge in northKhorasan, Iran won the video categoryaward. Although perhaps it was the camelthat won the day. According to Simon:“It was the one category that sparkedno debate: we were unanimous fromthe first viewing. It’s a glorious tale inminiature and it begins – but onlybegins – with a camel.”The video was recorded by Iranian CheetahSociety and wins £2,000.To watch this video go to the World LandTrust YouTube channel.

Chance-driven images testify to wonderfulconservation efforts across the world

Thanks to our sponsors: Enterprise Plants whosponsored the cash prizes andBushnell who donated thetrail camera for the winner ofthe People’s Choice

Reviewing the short-listed images, SimonBarnes commented:

We have here somebreath-taking chance-drivenimages. They tell us of themany wonderful conservationefforts going on across theworld, the sort of thing WorldLand Trust exists to help. Buteven more than that, they tellus of the still more wonderfulwild animals that we – still –share our planet with:creatures that inspirescientists and conservationorganisations and for thatmatter, millions and millions ofhuman beings all around thiscrowded and troubled planet.

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The judges at workJoining Simon Barnes (centre) on thejudging panel were (l-r) Sue Connolly(The Times Picture Editor), JohnBurton, WLT Chief Executive, DavidBebber (freelance photographer) andJack Hill (The Times Photographer)

The People’s ChoiceWLT invited people to vote online for their favourite trail camera image from amongthe 16 images shortlisted for the International Trail Camera Competition.

The resounding winner was the Maned Wolf who clearly captured the imaginationof our voters. We are delighted that Instituto Biotrópicos will receive the Bushnell trailcamera Natureview 119440, and look forward to seeing more of the institute’sstunning camera trap images in the future.

Last wordWLT News is printedon Carbon BalancedPaper. By using CarbonBalanced Paperthrough World Land Trust publications, in2014 we have saved 2566kg of Carbonand preserved 216 sqm ofcritically threatened tropicalforest. Carbon BalancedPaper is one of the mostsustainable forms ofcommunication and willreduce your carbon footprintand promote CSR.www.carbonbalancedpaper.comPrinted on Revive 100 Recycled paper, availablefrom PaperlinX. Printed by Kingfisher Press Ltd,wide format, digital and Litho CarbonBalanced Printer based in Suffolk.www.kingfisher-press.com

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Easter Weekend,4/5 AprilSteve Backshall and his fellow paddler,George Barnicoat, will start early in themorning on Easter Saturday from Devizes,aiming to reach the Houses of Parliamentwithin 24 hours in the classic DW race.

As we go to press Steve has raised awonderful £13,000 which is beingmatched by a WLT Council member. Theaim is to raise £30,000 to purchase andprotect an area of Colombian rainforest,saving it from potential exploitation andlogging.

As followers of Steve will know, he has apassion for all things ‘deadly’. He hastravelled the world and been inspired bysome of the planet’s most dangerouspredators. He has had close encounters withsharks, tarantula and giant squid, as well asbeing charged by elephants. Despite manyterrifying experiences, he still maintains that

wild animals pose no threat to people – infact quite the opposite.

One of the animals that he is most inawe of is the Golden Poison Frog(Phyllobates terribilis) (above). Possibly theworld’s most poisonous frog, the species isprotected by the Rana Terribilis AmphibianReserve in westernmost Colombia. Goodluck Steve and George and thank youfrom everyone at WLT!Says Steve:

I spend a lot of time inrainforest environments. I getto see how fast they aredisappearing. It is frightening.

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Going that extra mile to raise funds for WLTSteve Backshall is fundraising for WLT to save rainforest and their deadly creatures in Colombia

“ “Steve and George are attempting tokayak 125 miles non-stop from Devizesin Wiltshire to the Houses of Parliament

Kamila’s StoryWLT supporter Kamila Zahno hasgenerously agreed to be the public faceof the Trust’s legacy fundraisingcampaign.

To launch the campaign WLT hasreleased a short film about Kamila and herreasons for leaving a bequest to the Trust.

Under the direction of freelance filmeditor Claire Whittenbury, working forWLT, four students from Norwich CityCollege helped make the film.Southwold was the location andafterwards Kamila visited WLT’soffice in Halesworth.

During her career she workedwith the community andvoluntary sector, and sheapproves of the social dimensionto the Trust’s work.

As she puts it: “World LandTrust isn’t just about land. Itisn’t just about wildlife. It’sabout the whole - which doesinclude people as well.”

WLT staff have been movedby Kamila’s honesty and the

unflinching way in which she describesher future. The film, Kamila’s Story, is amoving tribute to someone determinedto live life to the full and to leave a lastinglegacy for the wild world. She told us: “Ithink it’s really good that my spiritwill live on in some land in SouthAmerica.”View the film on the World Land TrustYouTube channel.

Kamila (seated on the left) with the crew fromNorwich City College

Documents

WLT Spring 2015