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Welcome to the World Land Trust eBulletin - a monthly (approximately) roundup of news from the WLT. The eBulletin is maintained by Pete - please email him if you have any comments or questions

Fires threaten Patagonia Reserve

The Fires, photographed by Jose Maria

The World Land Trust has received a dramatic email from José Maria, director of our partner NGO Fundacion Patagonia Naturale (FPN). The photograph (left) and others on our website were all taken by José Maria using a digital camera, and emailed to the WLT.

On Friday 14th February lightning strikes started 5 fires around Puerto Madryn city. One of the fires was less than 20km away from the Esperanza. By nightfall the fire had reached the edge of the reserve, burning about 2% of the land. Despite being in the dry season, 25 mm of rain fell and extinguished the fire.Luckily no animals have been lost to the fire, and the majority of the reserve has escaped unscathed. You can read more about the fire, and see some more of José Maria's dramatic photographs on the WLT website.

www.worldlandtrust.org/news/patagoniafire.htm

sponsored by

BBC Wildlife / WLT Christmas Card Competition
Christmas has come early this year... we are looking for a set of wildlife cards that BBC Wildlife Readers, World Land Trust supporters and Society of Wildlife Artists (SWLA) members will be proud to send out next Christmas. This contest is open to all artists, amateur or professional, anywhere in the world. The top prize is publication of your artwork as the Christmas card of the magazine, the World Land Trust and the SWLA, 100 copies of your card, display of your artwork in the SWLA's annual exhibition and £500. There will be a special prize of £100 for the winning illustration by an artist aged 17 or under: this may also be published as a card. For more details, including examples of past cards, please see our website.

www.worldlandtrust.org/news/christmas.htm

Painting Auction Update
Sadly we have been experiencing problems with using the eBay.co.uk auction website and have not decided to use them to promote the auction of Bruce Pearson paintings. We are looking at alternative websites to use, however the pictures of the Paintings are all still online, and we will consider any serious offers that are made. The signed bowhead whales print is also available at the fixed price of £50 + £5 UK p&p (international postage on request).

If you would like to own a piece of original art please have a look at www.worldlandtrust.org/news/paintings.htm - if you would like to make an offer on any of the pictures, please email the WLT.

New Trustee Joins WLT
Iain Orr, who recently retired as leader of the UK's Foreign & Commonwealth Office Biodiversity team, has joined the WLT as a Trustee. An enthusiastic conservationist throughout his career in the diplomatic service, Iain is fluent in Mandarin, a self confessed 'natural history and island poetry anthologist' and created Biodiplomacy to assist conservation world wide. Iain has been helping the trust for many years, most recently with its books for Sustainable Development programme, which has helped to send out natural history books donated by publishers to NGOs around the world.

FocusonForests.org launched
The new DFID (Department For International Development) funded website will be officially launched on the 31st March at the Rainforest Cafe in London by Bill Oddie. In the meantime the site can be viewed at www.focusonforests.org - Pete would be grateful for any feedback as he reviews the site