WILD

Elephants Don’t Carry Passports

This week is a critical one for the elephants of Africa. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species meets in Doha, Qater all week, and one of the hot-topics up for discussion and vote is the proposed one-off sale of ivory and delisting of the elephant from the more strict and regulated Appendix I - proposed by Tanzania and Zambia. Tanzania and Zambia support their proposal with research showing that the elephant populations in their countries are healthy, even increasing in the past few years. Neighboring countries rightfully counter argue that elephants don’t carry passports, and that elephant ... Read More

Winners of 2010 Tyler Environmental Prize Announced

Re-posted from Tyler Environmental Prize Announcement. Laurie Marker of the Cheetah Conservation Fund and Stuart Pimm of Duke University recognized for scientific and management contributions to the understanding and restoration of ecosystems. Two conservationists whose careers have centered on understanding ecosystem functions as the essential foundation for ecosystem restoration will share the 2010 Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement. The award, consisting of a $200,000 cash prize and gold medals, will go to Dr. Laurie Marker, the co-founder and executive director of the Cheetah Conservation Fund in Otjiwarongo, Namibia, and Professor Stuart Pimm, the Doris Duke Professor of Conservation Ecology at Duke University ... Read More

Toasting to Wilderness in Africa with Mexican Tequila

The WILD Foundation was born in the African wilderness. Last month I was in Southern Africa to review a few of our projects, attend board meetings, and to be with our network of colleagues and friends who form the backbone of our work there for wilderness, wildlife and people. It was a productive, warm, and enjoyable rainy season. Among many projects visited, for the first time in several years I went to the Cheetah Conservation Fund in Namibia. CCF was within WILD for 11 years, I am still a Trustee, and we remain good and close partners. Laurie Marker, Bruce ... Read More

Breaking News – Save the Elephants Camp Hit by Floods

Save the Elephants Research Camp Hit by Floods Early this morning Save the Elephants (STE) research facility and Elephant Watch Safari Camp located in Samburu National Reserve, Kenya, were completely destroyed by unexpected flooding of the Ewaso Ng’iro River, along with seven other neighbouring lodges. At approximately 5am this morning, a wall of water akin to a Tsunami surged through Elephant Watch Camp, catching tourists and staff unawares and sweeping away tents and facilities. It has been confirmed that camp owner Oria Douglas-Hamilton and guests managed to escape to safety by climbing to higher ground. Several members of staff were trapped ... Read More

Ivory Sell-Off Proposal Raises Concern for African Elephant Herds

The Republic of Tanzania and Zambia have submitted a controversial proposal to CITES, the Convention on the International Trade of Endangered Species, for a one time sell-off of over 80 tons of ivory.  The 15th CITES conference will convene from March 13-25th in Doha, Qatar and these two countries will need 66% of the 175 country votes in order to proceed.  Some other African countries support lifting the ban on sales, notably South Africa, Namibia and Botswana. Kenya, the Republic of Congo, Ghana, Liberia, Mali, Rwanda and Sierra Leone are offering a counter proposal, calling for a 20 year moratorium on ... Read More

Conservation-Rancher Parternship Assists Northern Jaguars

In a press release on 15 Feburary, Sky Island Alliance biologist Sergio Avila  commented:  “Northern jaguars are a reality and they want to stay. Jaguars don’t recognize political boundaries; instead they choose robust prey populations, open space and safe corridors. This healthy feline represents our chance to recover this species in the region.” Carlos R. Elias, co-owner of the El Aribabi ranch located just 30 miles south of the US/Mexico Border in the Mexican state of Sonora, is working closely with the Sky Islands Alliance as part of the Northern Mexico Conservation Program.   This conservation-rancer collaboration partnership celebrated last week, when a jaguar ... Read More

Project Report from Isandlwana

EDUCATION: EDUPEG: 7 Schools within the programme at present but the project is not really achieving the required results. It appears that most schools are only using the materials when the Edu-peg educators visit the village and are not really integrating this into their daily teaching plans. This is very frustrating as it is a question of relying on the teachers themselves to drive the project. Complaints were received from Edu-peg that the Wild ward assistants were not available to assist with translation when workshops were held and that Elizabeth can not split herself between classes. They also wanted ... Read More

Eco-Leads

[caption id="attachment_9813" align="alignleft" width="198" caption="Morgan at WildSpeak at WILD9"][/caption] Inspired by her work as a photo-journalist and by her blog (The Nature Files), Morgan Heim, a great friend of WILD and an Emerging League member of the International League of Conservation Photographers, has just launched a great new newsletter.  Eco-Leads (the newsletter) can serve as news source, but is primarily aimed at inspiring photography projects around the globe. What I like most about this project is that it promotes collaboration and sharing of information.  If we're going to create positive change, we have to work together, and I think that Eco-Leads is ... Read More

The WWC Chronicles – Carla Mora-Trejos

My experience at the Wilderness Management Seminar and WILD9, Carla Mora-Trejos, Clemson University Graduate Student I visited wilderness in my home country, and in one of these places I found a reason to live, it showed me where I am supposed to go. Unfortunately, after having an 8 to 5 job and then working on graduate school I had forgotten this place and the main reason why I started to study this in the first place. Going back to this place in my heart with other people, helped me make sense of wilderness, I knew it before hand, but I didn’t ... Read More

BC Government Vows to Ban Mining in Flathead River Valley

On Tuesday afternoon, as we were sitting in a creative meeting on some long-term goals for WILD, Harvey Locke, WILD's VP for Conservation Strategy, noticed that his phone continued to ring.  Recognizing that perhaps the many calls were an indication of something important, he stepped away from our meeting.  A few moments later we heard whoops and hollers of excitement. We knew something was up, and hoped for the best.  When Harvey returned, we listened with great anticipation as he described the breaking news from British Columbia.  In just a few short hours, he said, it was anticipated that Lt. Governor ... Read More