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Conservation Project News

Conservation projects news from the World Land Trust, an international wildlife conservation charity working to protect threatened wildlife habitats worldwide.

This page shows the most recent projects news updates, or a selection of posts in the same category. To read older posts, use the projects news archive in the navigation bar on this page. The newest posts can always be found at www.worldlandtrust.org/news/projects-news.htm.

Conservation projects news on this page:

Monday, 7 December 2009:

Margay rescued at Sierra Gorda, Mexico 

A young Margay (Leopardus weidii) rescued by World Land Trust partners Grupo Ecológico Sierra Gorda (GESG) proved quite a challenge but there was a heart warming outcome.

The kitten was found in a house, in a very distressed state with a rope around her neck.

Nina, a rescued Margay kitten. Click on the image to see a larger version. (Photo © Roberto Pedraza.)

Roberto Pedraza (GESG technical adviser) said:
"As she was so young we knew we were not able to release her back to the forest straight away, so we reared her for a few months. First we fed her with milk and kitten food, then after a while some dead mice and then some alive ones."

Roberto proudly watched over Nina, as she had become known, until he felt that she had the learned the necessary skills to survive in the wild. He added that although she liked interacting with humans, she kept her wild side. "She never became tame at all; she liked me because I was the 'food-guy', but she was always ferocious in her own way."

Happily, Nina was released in one of Sierra Gorda's Cloud forest reserves in the Hoya del Hielo area. "Previously we photographed two jaguars, one puma, an ocelot and a margay here, so it is quite the right place for her" says Roberto.

The World Land Trust's work in Mexico has included funding the purchase of 720 hectares of land as part of the Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve in the state of Queretaro and work on reforestation and assisted regeneration for our carbon projects. Find out more about the projects on our Mexico page.

Labels: Mexico

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Wednesday, 29 April 2009:

First ever sighting of Tayra at Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve (Mexico) 

An abundance of wildlife is protected by the Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve where the World Land Trust (WLT) has helped purchase and protect more than 1,800 acres. This exceptionally diverse reserve has 15 vegetation types, including tropical evergreen forest, tropical deciduous forest, xerophyllus scrub (flowering grasses), oak forest, coniferous forest, pine-oak forests and cloud forests which make it a haven for a huge variety of species.

Top: macaws and above: a Tayra. Click on the images to see larger versions. (Photos by Roberto Pedraza.)

Over recent weeks there have been remarkable sightings of wildlife, including 60 macaws which were photographed at El Barro, one of the many impressive sinkholes on the Reserve. The photographer, Roberto Pedraza, Technical Advisor for WLT's partners, Grupo Ecologica Sierra Gorda, also photographed several green parakeets at another sinkhole not far from Las Arenitas.

He was also lucky enough to record the first ever sighting of a Tayra (Eira barbara) on the reserve. The Tayra is a member of the weasel family also known locally as "weird cat" and "old man's head". Although listed by IUCN as of Least Concern, numbers of Tayra are decreasing, especially in Mexico, due to loss of habitat for agriculture. Roberto was especially excited by the sighting, writing in an email: "Yesterday we had a once in a life-time experience, a close encounter with a rare species, three beautiful Tayras, never seen before and never expected, as they are extremely rare. We had the chance because I really wanted to photograph green parakeets in a sinkhole (not so far from the Arenitas) so we arrived there quite early. After an hour and half we heard noise in the litter and the Tayras just appeared!! One of the three climbed a nearby tree and just stared at us, so we had the chance to take several photos that turned out extremely well."

Learn more about the Sierra Gorda Reserve

Labels: Mexico

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Thursday, 4 December 2008:

Carbon offsetting and tree planting restores over 460 ha of degraded habitat 

Javier Robaio tending to tree saplings in a nursery (top) at Buenaventura Reserve, Ecuador. (See a larger image of the forest at Buenaventura.) Photos by Renton Righelato

2008 has been another successful year for the World Land Trust's carbon offsetting and tree-planting initiatives. Under WLT's tree planting agreement with Scottish and Southern Energy our project partners in Ecuador, Brazil and Paraguay have planted an impressive 410,500 trees, that's over 1,100 trees a day! The planting has restored some 410 hectares of degraded habitat which extends and buffers existing reserves and helps to further protect endangered species such as the Great Green Macaw and El Oro Parakeet.

Carbon offset funds raised through the Carbon Balanced programme have enabled the purchase, protection and restoration of 58 hectares of threatened land in Ecuador and Mexico. Our Mexican project partner, Grupo Ecologica Sierra Gorda, has developed an incentive scheme to deliver their offsets, paying small-scale landowners to plant up cleared land. This not only provides benefits for climate change, biodiversity and watershed protection but also a valuable income source for an impoverished Mexican community.

We should all be doing what we can to reduce the emissions that we are responsible for. To this end the Carbon Balanced website has a page with links to useful energy reduction advice and greener living sites. When you have done what you can to reduce your carbon emissions, please support WLT's vital habitat restoration work: Calculate and offset your unavoidable emissions with Carbon Balanced.

Labels: Brazil, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay

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Monday, 27 October 2008:

New land purchase in Mexico 

Jaguars are known to occur in the newly purchased area of oak forest (the insert shows an oak tree). The jaguar photo was taken using a camera trap. These cameras are put up around the reserve by Roberto Pedraza, along with Ben and Alina Lenth.

With financial support from the Farrington Trust, the World Land Trust has been able to fund the purchase of 741 acres (300 ha) of threatened Oak forest earlier this month, working with WLT Partners, Grupo Ecologico Sierra Gorda (GESG) in Mexico.

In addition to this area Sierra Gorda are currently finalising negotiations for the purchase of a further 494 acres (200 ha) in Pine and Oak Cloud Forest within the Biosphere Reserve. GESG were able to negotiate a price lower than previously quoted by the owners for both these properties meaning that the balance can be used towards the next forest purchase. GESG has its eye on a 494 acre (200 ha) property with more pine-oak and old growth cloud forest, and if they are successful in securing this property it will significantly increase the area under protection for the benefit of its biodiversity.

All six of Mexico's cat species are found in this region: Jaguars, Ocelots, Jaguarundis, Margays, Pumas and Bobcats.

Learn more about the Sierra Gorda Reserve in Mexico

Labels: Mexico

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Thursday, 24 April 2008:

More wild cats - and other animals - captured on camera (Mexico) 

Ocelot, Puma, Gray Fox and Javelinas. (Click on the images to see larger versions.) Camera traps put up by Roberto Pedraza, along with Ben and Alina Lenth.

Roberto from Grupo Ecológico Sierra Gorda in Mexico has been busy collecting camera trap images from the Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve and surrounding areas and recently wrote to us:

"I'm attaching some of our latest cat photos, an ocelot and a beautiful puma. The ocelot pic happened in one of the private nature reserves properties of one of our local partners, Asociacion Filantropica Cummins, that is under our management and the puma in one of the core areas of the reserve, in a beautiful old growth cloud forest of firs, white cedars and yews, it is so rewarding to know they are still present and doing fine."

"I'm also attaching a nice gray fox photo of the same camera and javelinas* (the local pizzas for jaguar and pumas!) from another site."

They are all great images, but WLT's favourite has to be this extreme close up of a jaguar Roberto sent us a couple of weeks later, captured by the camera in the Arenitas area:

And a day in the field doesn't just result in amazing camera trap images: here are some 'live' discoveries Roberto made:

"We went to place the camera traps in the Arenitas area, and just after a hundred meters from the jeep we found a pair of red-crowned parrots, a highly endangered Mexican endemic which I have recorded before for the reserve, but first time in the Arenitas area. And later finally I found an ornate hawk-eagle (Spizaetus ornatus) a very rare eagle that for years I was hoping to record for the sierra, and finally appeared in that area!"

Learn more about the Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve in Mexico

(* Javelina is another name for a Peccary, or Musk hog)

Labels: Mexico

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Tuesday, 27 November 2007:

Second jaguar photographed (Mexico) 

This jaguar, believed to be a male, was snapped by the camera trap no less than seven times! (Click on the images to see larger versions.)
The photo were taken by camera traps put up around the reserve by Roberto Pedraza, along with Ben and Alina Lenth.

We just received these images in an email from Roberto Pedraza of Grupo Ecológico Sierra Gorda in Mexico. About the photos, which were taken with camera traps, Roberto wrote:

It was again in the Joya del Hielo area (in one of our private nature reserves), were we photographed the first jaguar and now this one, but we are sure is not the same. This is a huge fat guy and has a different spot pattern, so I guess the first one was the lady (also because they are sharing the same area) and this guy is the male. It was so much joy to find these photos!

Robeto was on his own when checking the cameras and after seeing the photos of this large cat he spent the rest of the trip feeling like a potential jaguar meal... He continued:

Now we have some new cameras and will be placing them in an excellent area, so I hope in three weeks be able to share with all of you more of the Life in Sierra Gorda's forests.

We can't wait to see what animals the new camera traps will catch!

More information

• See the first camera trap photo of a jaguar in Sierra Gorda here
• Learn more about the Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve in Mexico

Labels: Mexico

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Thursday, 18 October 2007:

New projects page for project at Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve (Mexico) 

The WLT website has now been updated with a page about our new project in Mexico. See http://www.worldlandtrust.org/projects/mexico.htm

Labels: Mexico

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Thursday, 26 April 2007:

Roadrunner and puma captured by remote cameras, and a letter from the field (Mexico) 

Having previously photographed a jaguar, Roberto Pedraza of Grupo Ecológico Sierra Gorda sent these photos, also captured by remote controlled cameras to WLT: "Today we found some quite nice surprises. I'm attaching a photo of another big cat, a mountain lion (Puma), and a very nice photo of a roadrunner, as you may see he was quite curious about the trap." Click on the images to see larger versions. These camera traps are put up around the reserve by Roberto Pedraza, along with Ben and Alina Lenth.

Extract taken from an email sent to WLT last month from Programme Manager, Kirsty Burgess, during her visit to look at a new project site in Central Mexico.

26th March 2007, Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve, Mexico

Dear WLT,

All going well here out here in Sierra Gorda, and it has certainly been a very productive visit so far. We've spent part of our time meeting with the local organisation, Grupo Ecologico Sierra Gorda at their offices, then the rest of the time in the field looking at previous land purchase projects, potential forest restoration sites and watershed restoration/erosion prevention projects. Last Friday was particularily interesting, as we travelled to the far north-eastern tip of the Biosphere Reserve to look at a potential 400ha land purchase site in an area of humid, but high altitude oak-pine forest with thousand-year-old endemic cycads in abundance there.

The range of habitats here is great - diverse, and not at all what I have been familiar with. Driving to Jalpan (where the organisation's office is located) through the biosphere reserve, there's fairly sharp transitions from semi-desert scrub (with some great cacti) to cloud forest mostly of pine and oak and then to dry deciduous forest. Although its spring here, and the oak forest is also just putting out its new leaves, the new leaves are various shades of brown and red, so it looks like a UK autumn. Only a few wildlife sightings so far - although plenty of Jaguar evidence including paw prints, and scats. Another interesting element is that the whole area is limestone, so there are sink holes all over the place, plus lots of un explored caves with no doubt a healthy bat population!

Best wishes and see you all soon,
Kirsty

Labels: Mexico

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Friday, 16 March 2007:

Jaguar in Sierra Gorda photographed (Mexico) 

Jaguar photographed in Sierra Gorda. See a larger image of the jaguar here. The jaguar photo was taken using a camera trap, put up by Roberto Pedraza, along with Ben and Alina Lenth.

"Dear friends, I just wanted to share with you our first photo of a Sierra Gorda jaguar", wrote Roberto Pedraza in an email from Mexico.

"We placed the cameras in one of the core areas of the reserve, very near to the two properties we just purchased with the support of the Netherlands National IUCN Committee. We got this picture just yesterday. I went there with my dog, Camila, who is usually very exuberant, but on this occasion she was really nervous and shy - I'm sure the jaguar was in the area and Camila felt its presence. We are very excited to find a Jaguar in the area as we didn't know they occurred there and were expecting to get Puma on camera. We think this is a young animal and believe that the mother is also in the area as we found quite big tracks. Will be placing the cameras there again and can't wait to see what we photograph. Vivan los jaguares!!!"

Kirsty Burgess, Programme Manager of the World Land Trust, and Roger Wilson are currently visiting Mexico to meet with Roberto Pedraza of Grupo Ecológico Sierra Gorda, to discuss land purchase and tree planting opportunities for WLT.

Labels: Mexico

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