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1st Quarter 2008 Newsletter: March 2008
US Fundraising and Awareness Trip January 2008
In what has become an annual event, FCF General Manager Keith Roberts and Anti-poaching Coordinator Mike Beckner left sunny and warm Tanzania for cold and blustery Reno, Nevada to attend the Safari Club International Show. The Friedkin Conservation Fund is the only conservation-based organization that has a booth at the SCI Show and as a result generates a lot of interest from stakeholders in the industry and from the general public. This year we shared the booth with one of our sponsors, the Mzuri Wildlife Foundation, and together we were able to promote conservation and further develop the positive relationship that exists between the hunting industry and conservation. One of the highlights of the trip to Reno was the annual dinner hosted by the African Professional Hunters Association (APHA). FCF was recognized as the APHA’s ‘Ox of the Okavango’ for 2007 – an award presented to the conservation organization of the year as decided upon by the members and board of the APHA. Once again, many thanks to all involved.
From Reno Keith and Mike traveled to Las Vegas for the SHOT Show. A massive event, most of the time was spent reaffirming old friendships and developing new ones. The generosity showed to us by Coldsteel, Leupold and Leatherman will ensure that our rangers will continue to be well-equipped and prepared for their job as anti-poaching personnel. Jim and Patti Solomon of “Xplor the Outdoors” hosted Keith and Mike early one morning on their radio program where FCF activities were broadcast to a national audience; thanks Jim and Patti. Please visit their website (www.xplortheoutdoors.com) and check out the link to the ‘Poacher Chronicles’ for detailed anti-poaching operation write-ups by FCF teams in the field.
Once again our fundraising and awareness trip this year proved to be a very worthwhile ‘safari’. FCF looks forward to 2009 and the opportunity to see all our friends in the USA once again … could someone turn up the thermostat before we arrive?
Anti Poaching
2007 ended on a very high note. The anti-poaching teams finished the year with a total of 2,131 arrests and 91 confiscated firearms. We recognized these accomplishments at our annual Christmas Party and Awards Ceremony which is funded by Tanzania Game Tracker Safaris professional hunters. The following were recognized for 2007:
- Team of the Year: Mobile Anti-poaching Unit
- Commander of the Year: Sama Swai, Maswa RAT
- Rangers of the Year: Mosi Amos, Ugalla RAT and Ezekiel Oldorop, Muhesi RAT
- Driver of the Year: Hamidu Mata, Kizigo West and Central RAT
- Special Service Award: Feruzi Katala, Uvinza RAT, for 10 years of dedicated service
Half the teams remained in the field over the holidays and their presence had the intended deterrent effect – very little activity was seen. The Natron team worked in conjunction with our light aircraft, and over what is typically a busy time of year for zebra skin traders no evidence of large-scale zebra slaughter in northern Maasailand was apparent.
Joint FCF & Zonal Anti-Poaching Operation
The end of January saw the deployment of all of our teams back into the field. Rainfall this year has been fairly significant once again and all of our areas (out west in particular) are proving challenging. However, the teams are getting results and in February FCF and Zonal Anti-poaching personnel joined forces and had a very successful operation in the Muhesi-Kizigo Game Reserve:
- 13 men arrested (6 received jail time and 7 were fined approximately $4,200)
- 217 timber planks and 32 unprocessed logs confiscated
- 10 bags of charcoal confiscated
- 6 muzzle loaders confiscated
- 11 poisonous arrows confiscated
- 2 elephant tails and 5 lbs of elephant meat confiscated
- Giraffe skin confiscated
- 2 live love birds confiscated
- 752 cattle, 339 goats and 6 donkeys were removed from within Reserve boundaries
An ongoing operation in the Moyowosi and Uvinza areas is having tremendous results. To date twenty one firearms, including ten AK-47s, have been confiscated or surrendered in little over 3 weeks. Further details will follow once the operation is completed.
2008 is proving to be another busy and challenging year for FCF. A new microlight and microlight pilot, Neville Boardman, as well as a new Mobile Anti-poaching Reactionary Unit, headed by Willem Dolleman, have been added to our program. We expect arrest totals to reach the 2000+ mark for the third year running.
Community Development
Friedkin Conservation Fund has been meeting with communities who border the game reserves of Tanzania’s protected areas to plan projects that will benefit the communities in an environmentally sustainable manner. These projects are funded through the proceeds of tourist hunting in 2007. Through these meetings, communities are made aware of the direct benefits to their village from conservation, the role of FCF as a partner in conservation. As a result, FCF is planning, in coordination with villages and the districts, a variety of projects to be implemented in 2008. These projects include supporting local beekeeping and fish farming cooperatives, providing village environmental committees with equipment to facilitate their patrols, building schools, sponsoring students in secondary education, and creating environmental clubs within primary and secondary schools for tree planting and environmental education awareness projects.
Last year’s projects are already bearing fruit and villagers are eager to partner with FCF in conservation and development initiatives as a result. FCF works to create a long-term partnership with the communities who border the protected areas of Tanzania, and who consequently depend on the natural resources of these protected areas for their livelihoods. The role of the communities in planning the projects with FCF goes towards ensuring the interest of the community and the sustainability of the project. The conservation focus of FCF in all stages of project planning, ensures the environmental sustainability of the project and the longer-term benefit for the community and the protected areas which they border.
Research & GIS
FCF has been granted unprecedented permission from the Director of Wildlife to implement a joint 5 year wildlife survey program with TAWIRI (Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute). To date sample aerial surveys have been carried out in both Kizigo-Muhesi and Ugalla Game Reserves (both a dry season and a wet season for both areas). These surveys have been successful in providing population estimates for a range of ungulate species, and establishing a baseline for progressively analyzing trends in populations in these areas. A ground count for three species - gerenuk, lesser kudu and oryx - was performed in Monduli Open Area and Natron Game Controlled Area in early November. The survey was successful in providing population densities for gerenuk and lesser kudu; these species are mostly sedentary in nature and the estimates are considered healthy and comparable to the literature in these areas. The method is not considered usable for the fringe-eared oryx because they are widely nomadic, therefore a modified aerial survey is proposed for this year as part of the program to estimate the oryx population.
In collaboration with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and Tanzania Mammal Atlas Project (TMAP) FCF conducted a camera trapping project in part of the Moyowosi Game Reserve in November 2007. Forty-six motion-triggered cameras were placed in a grid system based on game trails. These captured the presence of a number of cryptic, rare and/or nocturnal species – amongst them the aardvark, leopard, wild dog, common and large-spotted genet, serval, African civet, marsh mongoose, roan antelope, sable antelope and the bush pig – as well as a relative abundance index for common or conspicuous species such as the savannah elephant, African buffalo, grey duiker, topi and olive baboon.
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