Macaw Landing Foundation

SURVEYS AND PROTECTION OF ENDANGERED WILDLIFE (MILITARY MACAWS, COCKS-OF-THE-ROCK, WOOLLY AND SPIDER MONKEYS, SPECTACLED BEARS, AND JAGUARS) IN THE MOST DRAMATIC AND BIOLOGICALLY-DIVERSE TROPICAL CANYON IN THE WORLD--THE PONGO DE MAINIQUE ON THE URUBAMBA RIVER PERU

Goals:
To survey and then actively protect extraordinary populations of endangered, charismatic "photo safari" or "flagship" species in the most dramatic tropical canyon in the world--the 3,000-foot deep, two-mile-long Pongo de Mainique Canyon on the Urubamba River in Peru. This canyon is found in the lowland and foothill rainforests of the State of Cusco

Personnel:
This project is co-directed by Dr. Charles A. Munn, the head of a nonprofit WCS partner group named "Tropical Nature", and Mr. Daniel Blanco, president of the Cusco-based WCS partner group "Selva Sur". Dr. Munn, who from 1984 until September 2000 worked for WCS as a field scientist, is the world's leading expert on wild macaws and one of a handful of leading experts on rainforest ecotourism. From 1997 to the present Munn has gradually shifted his attention from pure wildlife research to a mixture of pure and applied research. This method involves using research findings about rare, photogenic animals to inform the design and immediate implementation of ecotourism networks that create conservation-related jobs. The jobs created by this method depend nearly entirely on strict protection of the "flagship" species, which creates a positive conservation feedback loop at the local level, which is where real conservation battles are either won or lost. Neither Munn, Blanco, or any other board member of the nonprofit conservation groups working under the umbrella of Tropical Nature have any personal financial interest in any tourism activities. Rather, the network of lodges and travel agencies are entirely or largely owned and controlled by tropical country nonprofit groups created by Munn to generate ecosystem protection in perpetuity through judicious use of the ecotourism marketplace. Since 1997, Tropical Nature has created 200 ecotourism jobs in a total of 10 sites in Peru and Brazil, and the system is expanding by 2-3 sites per year. Mr. Blanco and Dr. Munn have collaborated for years on macaw research and have helped produce two cover stories for National Geographic and numerous TV specials about Amazonian wildlife (including an Emmy-winning Discovery Channel film about Manu National Park in Peru).

Activities:
The following lines of work will combine to make the Pongo canyon the "next big thing" in Amazonian ecotourism and biodiversity conservation, with the tourism designed to generate ecosystem protection in perpetuity.

1) Surveys of large, endangered, "flagship" vertebrates in the forests of the Pongo de Mainique canyon. These include Military Macaws, Andean Cocks-of-the-Rock, two monkey species, Spectacled Bears, and Jaguars.

A field team will set up a small field camp in the uninhabited Pongo de Mainique canyon and carry out monthly walking and/or "point transect" surveys of three globally-endanged species of charismatic flagship vertebrates (the Military Macaw, Spectacled Bear, and Jaguar). The 140 member countries of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species have banned all international trade in these species. Additionally, all three are especially attractive to international nature tourists. Using viewing methods already tested and proven by Munn and Blanco, these three flagship species could become major attractions for the lowland rainforest of the Urubamba River in and around the Pongo de Mainique Canyon.

The survey team simultaneously will count and map the occurrence of other, slightly less endangered but extraordinarily photogenic wildlife species such as the blazing red Andean Cock-of-the-Rock, the Black Spider Monkey, and the Common Woolly Monkey. Finally, the team will survey all other monkeys and birds of conservation interest THAT ALSO HAVE ECOTOURISM APPLICATION. These include the Red Howler, Brown Capuchin, and Squirrel Monkeys, the Amazonian Umbrellabird (confirmed and common in the Pongo), and others.

WCS wishes to protect the Pongo because the lowland rainforests and mid-montane cloud forests within a radius of five miles of the Pongo possibly comprise the single most biologically-diverse site on the face of the Earth. This unique species richness stems from three facts:

a) the Pongo is located in the middle of the Amazonian foothills of the Tropical Andes, which are considered by far the richest region in the world for biodiversity;

b) the Pongo features an enormous altitudinal range of forest types within a very small area;

d) the forest-covered walls of the canyon rise 3,000 feet above the Urubamba River, which flows at 1,300 above sea level. The forest at the base of the canyon walls and adjacent to the northern (downstream) end of the canyon is 100%-intact lowland Amazonian rainforest. The slopes and ridges above the canyon, however, are covered with a variety of montane cloud forests.

In addition to the great diversity of forests and elevations of the Pongo, it is nothing short of a miracle that its biological riches are totally intact while forests on either side of it have been impacted to different degrees by meat hunting and forest clearing for subsistence and cash-cropping. From the glacial headwaters of the Urubamba River near Cusco to the mouth of the mighty Amazon in eastern Brazil, the Pongo is the ONLY location where unhunted, unlogged, uncut forest borders the river. The forests of the canyon are entirely intact because they are so steep that local people prefer to hunt and log the flat forests on either side of it. Additionally, some powerful white-water rapids in the center of the Pongo make the river too difficult to navigate safely with conventional paddle or motor canoes. For these reasons, the Pongo is the ONLY location from the headwaters of the Amazon (either on the Urubamba or on the adjacent, ultimate Amazon headwaters on the Apurimac River) where one can see large game meat species such as Black Spider Monkeys and Common Woolly Monkeys literally hanging on tree branches over the river.

Finally, the high rainfall in the cloud forests of the upper ridges above the Pongo feeds 30 small, but especially beautiful waterfalls along the two-mile length of the canyon. These falls help make the Pongo one of the top two or three locations in the entire Amazon basin for scenic photography. All the water in the 400-foot-wide Urubamba River must squeeze through the 130-foot-wide canyon, which thereby creates standing waves and class I or II white-water rapids in one spot. These brief but exciting rapids make a boat ride through the Pongo not only scenic but also exciting. Fortunately, though the rapids may seem risky, they are, in fact, not dangerous when one uses appropriate boats, motors, life vests, and rafting helmets. A well-planned boat ride through the Pongo can therefore represent an ideal "soft adventure" experience for the upmarket ecotourists who soon will be visiting the Pongo by the hundreds or low thousands.

Most international tourists who have seen the Pongo consider it 20-40% as spectacular as Machu Picchu, which is saying quite a lot as there are only a handful of locations in South America that would be considered even "10% of a Machu Picchu". Tourists with an active interest in wildlife tourism and wilderness scenery consider the Pongo to be as impressive or even more impressive than Machu Picchu, which has much less "nature content" and much more "culture content" than the Pongo. Furthermore, in the mystical realm, the Pongo is the most sacred site of the 10,000-strong Machiguenga Indian Nation of the Peruvian Amazon, which makes the Pongo as mystical and mysterious as Machu Picchu. (Most tourists who visit the Pongo while staying at a recently-inaugurated 100%-Machiguenga-owned lodge find the canyon to be as emotionally and spiritually appealing as a visit to Machu Picchu.). The Machiguengas were made famous by Peruvian novelist Mario Vargas Llosa's 1985 work "The Storyteller" and in Discovery Channel's Emmy-winning 1993 film "Spirits of the Rainforest".

d) produce permanent protection of the wildlife and forest by having a team on-site the entire time to patrol and deter poachers from even trying to hunt there.

A second, less complicated, but perhaps ultimately more important activity of this project will be the simple presence and patrolling of the field team year round in the Pongo itself. By having a team present carrying out surveys it will be impossible for poachers or loggers to approach the canyon. But in addition to the survey work, the team will have additional personnel and capacity so that systematic, thorough patrolling can take place to prevent poaching. The basic aspects of this patrol function will be radios to keep the patrols in touch with the headquarters so that police can be called in if needed to arrest or chase away poachers. Poaching pressure is relatively light in this part of the world as none of the wildlife species is worth even 5% of the black market value of rhino horns or tiger bones, for instance. Nevertheless, without active protection, the precious wildlife resources of the Pongo could be wiped out in only a few visits by hunters or loggers. Patrolling and protection will ensure that the wildlife treasures of the Pongo no only stay intact, but become more visible, which will facilitate adding value to the forest and the wildlife through tourism.

For upmarket travelers the best current access to the Pongo region is by economically-viable, 50-minute charter flights from Cusco to a community-owned landing strip that lies only 45 minutes by boat from the Pongo. The strip is licenced to operate planes as large as Twin Otters, which are twin-engine turboprops with a capacity for 18 tourists (and two pilots). The Machiguenga community that owns the landing strip has recently opened a 100%-community-owned, 20-bed lodge catering to mid- and up-market nature tourists (see the Munn-generated web page www.tropicalnaturetravel.com/tntravel/ for details). The lodge, which is named "the Machiguenga Center for Tropical Studies" ("the Machiguenga Center" for short) is the only actual 100%-Indian-owned jungle lodge in the Tropical Andes and will serve as a model for future community-based ecotourism projects around the world. (Note that at least one other supposedly community-owned lodge in another Amazonian country has not done the legal paperwork to determine who really owns the lodge, which leaves that lodge in legal limbo). The Machiguenga Center and MunnÍs work as the principal funder of this lodge will be featured in late 2001 a one-hour documentary on Channel 4 UK. This show, which is entirely and exclusively about MunnÍs work in Peru and Brazil, also will air in the U.S., the rest of Europe, and in most other TV markets around the world. The show's producers conservatively estimate that by the end of 2002, 10 million viewers in 80 countries will have seen the program.

Currently Manu and Puerto Maldonado (Tambopata) are the only functioning Cusco-based "axes" for rainforest tourism. The Pongo area, however (and, in general, the entire Lower Urubamba north of the Pongo), is the third and potentially most promising jungle axis out of Cusco. Munn and Blanco believe that with appropriate research, protection, and ecotourism investment, in a few years the Pongo/Urubamba River rainforest axis will become known worldwide as the most spectacular rainforest destination available on trip that includes Cusco and Machu Picchu. As MunnÍs field work and white papers from 1979-1992 generated ALL the current ecotourism routes and destinations in Manu (and that from 1990 to the present Munn generated the bulk of the international press about Manu), it is quite likely that MunnÍs WCS team can repeat these accomplishments in the Pongo area.

PROPOSAL FOR THE PURCHASE AND PROTECTION OF CRUCIAL HYACINTH MACAW HABITAT IN THE BRAZILIAN STATES OF BAHIA, PIAUI AND MARANHAO

Background
Though less famous for its Hyacinth Macaw populations than the better known Pantanal wetlands to the south, the Brazilian ecosystem known as "cerrado" or dry forest boasts significant populations of Hyacinth Macaws, the world's largest and most spectacular parrot. Many of these populations remain undiscovered and unprotected. Though the notoriety of forest destruction in the Amazon rainforest has captured international media headlines, the "cerrado" (pronounced "sair-HAA-do") is quietly and efficiently being destroyed at a much faster pace. The arrival of soy agriculture and cattle ranching is wiping out vast tracks of dry forest each year, and in five to ten years, little of it may remain. There is still time, however, to make major progress in conservation of this spectacular wild region, but only the Kaytee Avian Foundation, BioBrasil Foundation and others continue to work together in aggressive habitat protection.

Given the rapid conversion of this dry forest and the elimination of the Hyacinth Macaws that depend on this habitat, the Brazilian nonprofit group "BioBrasil Foundation" has identified key locations for land purchase in this dry forest habitat as an essential and effective conservation strategy. Once under the care of the foundation, whose rigorous statutes impose strict adherence to environmental protection policy for land use, the area will be prepared for a well-publicized and innovative ecotourism program. This program will enable the areas belonging to the foundation to become self-sustaining and provide economic opportunities for a local population, which currently mired in grinding poverty.

Over the past three years, BioBrasil has been administering a project based in the southeastern corner of Piaui State, on the property of Lourival Machado Lima, a former macaw trapper who now is the foundation's director for field operations in that region. With generous help from the Kaytee Avian Foundation, BioBrasil has constructed nine rustic visitors' huts and has hosted two ecotourism groups from Kaytee as well a prize-winning Swiss nature photographer and a German videographer. In 1999 the project will host another group from Kaytee and a German group from "DUMA Ecotours" of Heidelberg, Germany. The growing success of the ecotourism aspect of the project is due to Mr. Machado's ability to attract over 60 macaws to one spot for observation from a blind only forty feet from the birds. In 1999, it appears likely that the tour group has an excellent chance to see the Maned Wolf at close range, as Mr. Machado is reporting that a wolf is coming to bait just outside the project house. This tall, majestic wolf species is not only endangered, but also considered by many canid biologists to be the most beautiful wolf or wild dog species in the world.

The region also is home to a wide range of other spectacular fauna including two other macaw species (Green-winged and Blue-and-Gold), Red-legged Seriema, the Toco Toucan (the largest and most amazing of the world's 35 species of toucans), the Sun Conure, manakins (small, colorful fruit-eating birds that dance in predictable display grounds), the Greater Rhea and other photogenic species. Given the past history of subsistence hunting in this region many mammals still remain wary of humans, but with the new protection afforded by the Hyacinth Project, these animals should become tame and easier to observe in the near future. In addition to the Maned Wolf mentioned earlier, the mammal species of the BioBrasil project site include the Giant Anteaters, Jaguars, Pumas, Black Howler Monkeys, Brown Capuchin Monkeys, and marmosets (small monkeys).

The region's repertoire of animals rivals that of the Pantanal, the principal ecotourism destination in Brazil today, but the dry forest has the advantage of much lower humidity, absence of biting insects, and year-round access. In contrast, the Pantanal has significant numbers of mosquitoes and is heavily flooded and thus inaccessible for much of the year. A trip to the Pantanal will always offer the visitor greater assemblages of large water birds than a trip to the cerrado, but the dry forest can guarantee a combination of good weather, good access and much more scenic vistas than the Pantanal. The dry forest also can guarantee a list of very attractive wildlife, albeit in lower density than in the Pantanal. The dry forest region is little studied and very sparsely populated , so large tracts of land can be purchased at amazingly good prices without creating conflict with local human populations.

Expansion of BioBrasil Foundation's Area of Action
Last year, BioBrasil received further support from KAF when it received a grant to purchase a 4,800-acre tract of dry forest habitat near Mr. Machado's 2,000 acres, bringing the total area controlled by BioBrasil to almost 7,000 acres. The purchase was concluded on June 1, 1999. In late 1999 and 2000, BioBrasil Foundation plans to construct more rustic, insect-free camp sites in this property, which is called "the Red Mountains" ("Serra Vermelha" in Portuguese).

Target Properties for Possible Acquisition and Additional Funding Needs
The area northwest of Serra Vermelha, in the extreme southwestern tip of the state of Maranhao contains key Hyacinth populations that so far have been spared trapping. Four years ago, Mr. Machado counted a single Hyacinth flock of 154 birds on a property whose owner has shown a strong interest in selling. This location is west of the town of Alto Paraiba and near the location known as "Lizarda". Lizarda only appears on very detailed maps of this plateau region, and only a single family lives atop this vast mesa.

In terms of other important locations where BioBrasil wishes to operate conservation projects for Hyacinths, between the Bahian city of Barrieras and the impressive 120-foot Acaba Vida waterfall some 50 miles south east of Barreiras, there is key Hyacinth habitat that is extremely vulnerable to the expanding soy cultivation that is creeping north from the Brasilia area.

BioBrasil therefore seeks additional funding for the purchase of targeted areas of Hyacinth habitat to be used for conservation, ecotourism, and scientific research. The effective protection of land is obviously fundamental for the attainment of environmental protection and the goal of self-financing protection into the future. The present project area is patrolled by two employees of the foundation, though up until now the efficiency of patrolling has been a bit limited due to patrols on foot and bicycle. We propose the> purchase of used dirt motorbikes to permit effective, economical patrolling of BioBrasil's lands. The purchase of further land would require the hiring of other guards, at least during the four months that the sites would be most active for ecotourism. The foundation has identified various potential candidates who are reliable and have extensive knowledge on methods to protect and bait animals for photo-tourism.

Modest expansion of basic ecotourism infrastructure is also a necessity as the project grows and receives more and more ecotourists. Aside from new rustic huts with comfortable beds, BioBrasil proposes the construction of a 100-foot-tall scaffolding observation tower, which will furnish the visitor with eye-level views of nests of the Blue- and-Gold Macaws (and possibly Hyacinth Macaws in Mauritia palms in the Acaba Vida area).

Specific Funding Needs and Amounts
1. Purchase of Habitat in Lizarda area in the southwestern tip of Maranhao State and in the dry forest between the town of Barrieras and the Acaba Vida waterfall (this latter area will be referred to as "Acaba Vida". This land should cost between $15 and $40 per acre, depending on the details of the quality of the soil and accessibility to roads. The total number of acres that can be purchased should be more than 1,000 but less than 3,000. Total: US$40,000

2. Salaries of four full time staff charged with protection and wildlife taming for 12 months (and one month bonus at Christmas time is customary in Brazil--so 13 monthly salaries per year): Each guard at US$200 per month: US$7,800,
Part time salaries for four staff or protection and wildlife taming in newly acquired properties at US$200 per month for four months: US$3,200.

3. Permanent Equipment:
a) Two used low-mileage dirt motorbikes with helmets: US$4,500,
b) Materials for scaffolding observation tower (towering and several hundred yards of steel cables for guying the tower safely in position): US$7,000,
c) Climbing rope and safety pulleys and equipment for hauling visitors and photographers up this tower safely: US$ 700.

4. Supplies and Expendable Equipment
a) Gasoline and lubricants for motorbikes: US$1000,
b) Renting of 4WD vehicle for Lizarda/Aestiva: US$1500,
c) Miscellaneous field equipment: (tarps, machetes, etc.) US$ 400,
d) Dried meats and non-perishable food for field camps: US$ 500.

5. Services and Miscellaneous Telecommunications, assorted local services (copying, etc.) US$ 400 Total for Items 1-5 US$66,000

Conclusion
The Kaytee Foundation's funding of BioBrasil's Hyacinth Cliff's project has ensured the effective protection of macaw habitat and has launched a project that can and should be replicated in other areas hosting the largest of the world's great macaws. The BioBrasil Foundation has identified specific areas available for purchase and seeks to expand its base of operations in order to attract visitors from both within and outside Brazil to witness the fabulous endemic fauna with the backdrop of simply breathtaking red mesa scenery. This pioneering effort of incorporating the local population in an integrated conservation program for the dry forest is cutting-edge and an excellent model for biodiversity conservation.

This has been a year of important accomplishment for the Friends of the Peruvian Rainforest. Your support has enabled us to continue helping CEDIA (Center for Development of the Amazon Indian) in its land titling, legal assistance, and educational activities. CEDIA is integrating community-based conservation with rural development, empowering local people to benefit financially from their indigenous knowledge while simultaneously protecting large tracts of rainforest and wildlife. Our financial support continues to generate very substantial leverage.

Thanks to CEDIA's work, today native communities hold legal title to 19.5 million acres. This represents 10% of the Peruvian Amazon. Compare this figure to the approximately 13.7 million acres designated as conservation units (such as Manu National Park and Reserve, Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve, Tambopata-Candamo Reserved Zone, etc.), and CEDIA's work underscores an exceptional level of achievement.

Another piece of good news comes from the October regional elections. For the first time in Peruvian history, a conservationist, Walter Mancilla, was elected mayor of an Amazonian municipality. Given the thinness of settlement in the region, his "municipality" includes the entire Manu National Park, and, east of the park, an area half that size, all pristine forest; the total jurisdiction is three quarters the size of Switzerland. Mancilla's election reflects the educational work CEDIA has done within the park and in neighboring communities to show people how forest conservation can benefit them. His administration can further strengthen protection for the region.

CEDIA's land-titling efforts in the Lower Urubamba enlarged or established land titles for eight native communities. Collectively, the new areas protected total 189,750 acres.
In the same region, CEDIA oversaw and supervised the oil exploration activities of several multinational companies, especially Shell. Since any large scale exploitation of oil and gas may threaten the fragility of both the people and ecosystems of the Urubamba watershed, CEDIA's monitoring seeks to enforce responsible exploration in accordance with Peru's environmental regulations.
CEDIA also held several training workshops for the indigenous communities living next to the Pavlik Nikitine Reserve (680,000 acres). These groups must form a committee to design and execute a management plan for their titled lands. CEDIA will guide these indigenous communities through the process.
Adjacent the Nikitine Reserve, CEDIA and a local group, the Association for the Conservation of the Patrimony of Cutivireni, worked with a major U.S.-based organization, Conservation International, to involve the Indians of the region in the proposed creation of a park of 500,000 acres and an additional reserve area.
For the Indian communities east of the Manu National Park, CEDIA held four training workshops about community organization, including how to guarantee legal rights and to market resources sustainably. For one of the communities, CEDIA negotiated in Lima to obtain legal title of 75,000 acres of land. The community consists of 12 families totaling 60 people.
In northeastern Peru, CEDIA helped twenty Indian communities and six farming communities secure title to a total of 885,000 acres.
In the same region, CEDIA is helping another Indian group, the Matses, expand its titled area from the 1,130,000 acres secured in 1994 to include an additional communal reserve of 805,000 acres around it that would be used exclusively for subsistence hunting and gathering, and would prohibit consumptive exploitation of natural resources on a commercial level. The proposal submitted by CEDIA and the Matses is now being considered by the Peruvian National Park Service.

As mentioned above, these activities have brought the total rainforest land held by indigenous communities to 10% of Peru's share of the Amazon basin, a figure substantially higher than that designated as parks or other protected areas.

In the coming year, we want to help maintain this momentum, and assist CEDIA and other groups to build on these accomplishments. Here are some of our goals:

CEDIA and Peru Verde, another conservation organization, must continue to serve as watchdogs in the Lower Urubamba to protect the wildlife and indigenous communities in the area from damage due to gas and oil exploration. While working to ensure that multinationals follow environmental regulations, we want to prevent the pattern of exploration that has happened in other Amazonian countries, where multinational companies have withdrawn, leaving the field to local companies that are less accountable to a larger public and have lowered the standards of cleanup, service to communities, and exploitation of other resources. Three indigenous communities lie in the direct path of the proposed gas pipeline. When their communities are titled, the risks of chaotic colonization and environmental damage will be very substantially reduced.
A nature-and-culture tour lodge is presently under construction in an Indian community a short boat ride from the Pongo de Mainique Canyon of the Urubamba River, a site protected with contributions from the Friends of the Peruvian Rainforest. The lodge is the only one in the Amazon 100% Indian-owned. The existence of this tourism project and the rapid growth and great prominence of other ecotourism projects similarly started by Peru Verde or by Peru Verde's non-for-profit travel group, Tropical Nature Travel, guarantee that many nature-oriented tour companies will visit the community and, more importantly, that the community will benefit directly from these tourist visits. Peru Verde maintains a permanent presence in the region, using an ornithologist who speaks the local language. He works with the local people both to develop the tourism project and to monitor the region's oil exploration.
The 1,500,000 acre Las Piedras Reserve, designed to benefit uncontacted Indians, is stalled due to a shortage of funds. To re-start this project requires $25,000 and the involvement of Peru's Ministry of Agriculture.
Approximately 65,000 acres of lowland forest between two indigenous communities, the Mishagua River, and the border of the Kugapakori and Nahua Reserve (1.1 million acres, established a few years ago with substantial participation by CEDIA) must be titled to the Indians to complete a section of the jig-saw puzzle along the western edge of Manu National Park. The forest would be designed for sustainable harvest of non-timber forest products to conserve the forest ecosystem and to increase local revenues.
Conservation training programs must be arranged for Indians in the Manu area and for the Indians in the Lower Urubamba, especially at the tour lodge. It is essential that the local people involved in the tourism project understand all the services that are included in an ecotourism package. Workshops held at the site will enable indigenous people to ask questions about and gain insights into the logistics of fitting tourism into the framework of rainforest conservation.

These are just some of the activities we would like to assist, with your support. In gratitude for your contribution, we have several items to offer. Our newest T-shirt is of a Golden-headed Quetzal with Machu Picchu in the background. It was designed by John O'Neill, one of the leading ornithologists working in Peru. He also painted our Emerald Toucanet T-shirt; that design is taken directly from a field sketch O'Neill did when in the Rio Sesha region, not far from Manu. We continue to have T-shirts with the logo of the Friends of the Peruvian Rainforest. We will send any one of these to anyone contributing $50 or more who requests one.

Finally, thanks to the generosity of Victor Emanuel Nature Tours, we have posters of a painting by the distinguished artist Larry McQueen of an Agami Heron, a spectacular bird found in the Peruvian rainforest. We will send it to anyone contributing $50 or more who requests it.

All the directors of the Friends join me in thanking you for your generous support.

Make check payable to Friends of the Peruvian Rainforest and mail to Friends of the Peruvian Rainforest, 668 Public Ledger Building, Philadelphia, PA 19106-3474

$241,000 to Conservation Association for the Southern Rainforest of Peru ("Selva Sur") This grant was used to pay basic salaries of the Selva Sur professional staff and the rent and office maintenance of the organization. The organization has a modest staff and office in Cusco, Peru. Parts of the grant also were used to pay the salaries of nature wardens working at three different field stations of this conservation group. These stations are the Cloud Forest Biological Station in the forests adjacent to Manu National Park and in the lowland forest sites known as Sandoval Lake and Pampas del Heath Macaw Lick.
$5,000 to Inkanatura Association for conservation training workshops for rainforest residents in the greater Tambopata and Lower Urubamba areas of the Amazon forests of SE Peru.
$55,000 to BioBrazil Foundation to pay salaries and field expenses for nature wardens working at the Hyacinth Macaw conservation project site and searching for new populations or feeding sites of the critically-endangered Lear's Macaw of NE Brazil.
$4,000 to the Blue-throated Macaw Conservation Project These funds paid for the salaries and field expenses of the field guard, who is named Mr. Fellman Cuellar and the project coordinator, Mr. Ayala. These species of macaw are critically endangered and is in dire need of the permanent patrolling and protection provided by this project.
$33,000 to Eco Bolivia Foundation, for the purchase of the land rights of a 20,000-acre plot of primary lowland rainforest and open forest on the Bolivian side of the Heath River in the remote NW corner of the Bolivian lowlands. This site was under the control of a Brazil nut collector named Mr. Rodrigo until this grant made it possible for the nonprofit Eco Bolivia Foundation to acquire his land rights and thus start protecting this entire area. The area is full of macaws.
$34,000 to InkaNatura Association. This grant allowed the nonprofit nature conservation group "InkaNatura Association" (which in late 1998 was renamed "Peru Verde Association") to make further downpayments on shares of a company that has a claim to a 30,000-acre plot of primary rainforest in Peru--rainforest that is full of macaws. Part of the grant also was used to cover some basic office expenses and staff salaries of the former "InkaNatura Association" (now "Peru Verde"). This group is very active in protection projects for macaw-rich rainforest regions in Peru and, on occasion, in adjacent Bolivia.
Funding of BioBrasil's Hyacinth Cliffs project has ensured the effective protection of macaw habitat and has launched a project that can and should be replicated in other areas hosting the largest of the world's great macaws. The BioBrasil Foundation has identified specific areas available for purchase and seeks to expand its base of operations in order to attract visitors from both within and outside Brazil to witness the fabulous endemic fauna with the backdrop of simply breathtaking red mesa scenery. This pioneering effort of incorporating the local population in an integrated conservation program for the dry forest is cutting-edge and an excellent model for biodiversity conservation. $66,526.00
CEDIA land-titling efforts in the Lower Urubamba enlarged or established land titles for eight native communities. Collectively, the new areas protected total 189,750 acres. $20,000
Friends of the peruvian Rainforest $5,000

As a professional conservation biologist who has frequent chances to supervise directly the work carried out by each of the grantee organizations and projects, I can assure you that the grants are well spent and are making great progress in helping conserve wild macaws in Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil.

Dr. Charles Munn

THESE GRANTS WERE MADE POSSIBLE, BY PUBLIC DONATIONS. YOUR DONATIONS CAN BE MADE BY MAILING A CHECK PAYABLE TO THE MACAW LANDING FOUNDATION AT:

THE MACAW LANDING FOUNDATION
PO BOX 17364
PORTLAND, OREGON 97217.

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