Update from the Field August 2015

Through our Long-Term Ecological Study (LTES) in the Tost region of Mongolia, we are learning a lot about the lives of wild snow leopards. Below are some exciting updates directly from this Long-Term Study along with news from other important snow leopard range countries.

Following Tsetsen The lone collared cat, Tsetsen, spent nearly three weeks in the Tosonbumba Mountains before moving into Tost as part of his regular patrol. We received at least two potential cluster points from his collar during this period. In the last week however, Tsetsen seems to have moved into new terrain where we haven’t previously seen him venturing into. He crossed over the wide valley in Tost that marked the boundary of Khavar, Aztai, Bayartai and Ariun for several months, and then moved further east. As per his last locations, Tsetsen was exploring the area that was part of Khashaa’s range, which was also Tsagaan’s first known range. Whether this was caused by the departure or death of another territorial male in this specific area or if this was just an exploratory expedition is something we may get to learn more about once we retrieve our camera traps in about two months. In the month of August, our Research and Monitoring Manager, Pujii, assisted by Camp Driver, Miji, along with six Gobi Gurvansaikhan National park rangers and five local people, installed nearly 40 camera traps in the Tost and Tosonbumba Mountains. The field team was extremely grateful for this increased capacity of rangers and local people. This sampling is going to mark the seventh year of continuous monitoring of snow leopards using camera traps with the same effort in the site. We hope to find some of our familiar feline faces and also some new cats during the sampling. Until last month, the camera traps were installed in the Altan Uul-Nemegt-Gilbent-Sewrei Mountains in Gobi Gurvan Saikhan National Park about 70km towards the north. It is noteworthy that including Tost-Tosonbumba, Gurvan Saikhan National Park, and Noyon, we are now sampling nearly 4,500 sq km of snow leopard habitat every year for population dynamics, connectivity, and behavioural analyses of data.

More information about our snow leopard conservation programs can be found on our website Pg. 1 www.snowleopard.org Update from the Field Country Highlights

INDIA

It's peak summer and time for surveying our community 'fenced' reserves that we helped establish in Spiti. One might recall that we have three such reserves set up in Spiti with village communities of Losar, Kibber and Chichim. This year, we've set up two new reserves: one each with the villagers of Lalung and Kiato. The reserve set up with the villagers of Lalung (in the area called Lingti valley) is our largest so far at c. 400 sq.km, and is seen as one of the best areas for blue sheep and snow leopards. Such arrangements have been set for a period of five years. Summer is also the time when damage to standing cash crops, especially green peas, by blue sheep and ibex is at its highest. Destruction of crops has been seen to lead to a negative per- ception towards wildlife within the community, and incidents of such damage continue until Reserve monitoring in Chichim the harvest. Fields prone to wildlife damage are characteristically those that are close to cliffs. Based on this learning, we have worked with local villagers of five villages (Kibber, Chichim, Gete, Tashigang, Demul) to deploy local guards whose responsibility it is to ensure that wild prey do not enter fields. Our work on trying to propagate better management of garbage continues in Spiti. This ties in with our efforts to control the access of resources to feral dogs that have been causing large scale havoc by killing livestock and also harming wild prey and snow leopards. In August, we built a new fenced enclosure for garbage collection in the village of Kee. The enclosure will allow villagers to dump different types of waste that are collected at the village-level. This is the fourth such enclosure in Spiti. An important aspect that we are researching is to understand the effects of intense grazing on the occurrence of wild prey species in the landscape. Migratory herders bring in livestock from the plains into certain parts of Spiti during the summer months. The numbers of livestock these herders bring are much higher than those held by locals and hence their levels of grazing are intense. These Our staff discussing crop damage in the groups descend into lower elevations where sufficient forage is available for their livestock for the village Demul rest of the year. This practice has been going on for several generations, and these groups hold traditional rights to access certain areas and pastures. However, in recent years we are increasingly seeing them try to push into newer areas, several of which are deeper inside Spiti. Given the arid nature of the landscape Abhishek, one of our doctoral researchers, is trying to understand the possible impact of such intense grazing on the wild prey populations. This summer he carried out extensive surveys to compare grazed and un-grazed pastures for occurrence of wild prey and the availability to forage. He is also spending time with the migratory herders, trying to understand what is driving them to enter newer areas. Another important aspect of our research is in Ladakh and it revolves around the dynamics of the cashmere trade. The international demand for cashmere can lead to an unsustainable increase in the pashmina goat population and hence have a negative effect on local wildlife. Our team in Ladakh has been having several meetings Preparing for field work and discussions with the local community as well as the pashmina co-operative to explore the possibility of wildlife-friendly cashmere. Trisha Singh, a recently hired research scholar is working closely with our Director of Conservation, Charu, on this program. India Country Program Director, Yash Veer, also visited Ladakh to help her begin the field studies and initiate discussions with communities and the pashmina cooperative in the region. While there, he also had meetings with the Director of the Ladakh Renewable Energy Development Agency for assistance with energy security measures that can be replicated in Spiti. Spiti is a region Garbage enclosure in Kee, India with an extremely poor electricity situation, and small-scale renewable energy solutions are emerging as an important tool of engagement with local communities in our micro-planning exercises for securing new socially fenced reserves.

Pg. 2 More information about our snow leopard conservation programs can be found on our website www.snowleopard.org

Update from the Field Country Highlights

MONGOLIA Our Snow Leopard Enterprise (SLE) Coordinator from Mongolia, Unuruu, has been working with our program for over seven years to improve SLE product quality and designs. This August, thanks to a grant awarded from the Trust for Mutual Understanding, she had the opportunity to visit our headquarters in the United States to participate in several trainings in needle felting design, wool dyeing, and wet felting design. One all-day dyeing workshop took place in White Salmon, Oregon. In this workshop, Unuruu learned how to make and use natural dyes from different plants and other natural substances. She also gained new skills and techniques of how to felt camel wool and also how to process the wool so it is better quality. She later visited a local Alpaca farm and met with one of the Trust’s camel wool retail buyers. She was also able to accompany our Manager of Sales and Marketing, Gina Cantara, to a Trade Show in New York City where she was able to witness some of the competition that exists in the global handicraft market. After Unuruu’s visit Gina said, “It was so wonderful to finally have Unuruu visit the SLT office in Seattle and to see how SLE products are marketed and sold to US customers. From my perspective the trip was very successful and Unuruu was able to meet all of the objectives I was hoping for. I am excited to see how the future of SLE is enhanced by Unuruu’s new knowledge and information. I also feel our communications will be easier after this trip, as Unuruu now understands many of the ideas and challenges I have been Above: Unuruu in the Snow Leopard Trust trying to explain because she has had a first-hand experience of these things that our booth at the New York Trade Show. language barrier have made hard to translate. Unuruu is such a talented and bright young Inset: Harley (SLT Intern), Unuruu, and Arnica lady and SLT is lucky to have her!” (SLT Office Manager) at dying workshop. KYRGYZSTAN The first twenty folklore stories surrounding the topic of wildlife and nature have been collected and Salavat, the Snow Leopard Foundation’s new Eco-Education Program Coordinator has reviewed available literature on folklore and interviewed ten people in Bishkek. She is hoping to collect hundreds of folklore stories about nature while visiting the mountain villages of Central and Inner Tien-Shan. Our Senior Regional Ecologist, Koustubh Sharma, delivered a presentation at the State Agency of Environment Protection and Forestry under the Government of Kyrgyz Republic on the importance of camera trapping. The Kyrgyz government, along with the help of various organizations working in Kyrgyzstan, including Snow Leopard Foundation (SLF), hopes to conduct camera trapping in several landscapes. The government has also approved a plan to collect records and reports of snow leopard and other sympatric mammal sightings from across the country to esti- mate the current as well as past statuses of the species. The State Agency has also recently issued funds for buying 100 Reconyx HC 500 camera traps which will be available on loan to any of the partner organizations to collect population data. Currently, the partnership will be coordinated by the Global Snow Leopard Ecosystem’s Protection (GSLEP) Secretariat which is reaching out to organizations such as SLF, Panthera, NABU, WWF and University of Central Asia to assist in estimating snow leopard populations from a number of priority landscapes. Koustubh trained the staff of Department of Forestry Agency on using GIS and QGIS software for research goals. This training occurred as a part of MoU signed between SLF, SLT, and the SAEPF.

More information about our snow leopard conservation programs can be found on our website www.snowleopard.org Pg. 3 Collaborators

Mongolia & Long-Term Ecological Study Pakistan Snow Leopard Conservation Foundation Snow Leopard Foundation Pakistan Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences Directorate of Khunjerab National Park Mongolia Ministry of Nature Environment & Green Development Gilgit-Baltistan Forest & Wildlife Department Mongolia Academy of Science Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Wildlife Department

China Climate-Change & Water Security Initiative ShanShui Conservation Center WWF-US Panthera USAID Beijing University Global Forum India World Bank Global Tiger Initiative Nature Conservation Foundation WWF-US Union Ministry of Environment & Forests USAID Himachal Pradesh Forest Department UNDP Office of the President of Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan NABU Snow Leopard Foundation Kyrgyzstan Snow Leopard Conservancy Ministry of Environmental Protection GEF Institute of Biology Snow Leopard Network Sarychat-Ertash State Nature Reserve

Snow Leopard Network Snow Leopard Conservancy

Acacia Conservation Fund Zoo Sponsors

AAZK Detroit Cleveland Metroparks Zoo Memphis Zoo Philadelphia Zoo St. Louis Zoo Akron Zoological Park Cougar Mountain Zoo Micke Grove Zoo Phoenix Zoo Sunset Zoo Alaska Zoo Denver Zoo Midnight Sun AAZK Chapter Pittsburgh Zoo Toledo Zoo Albuquerque BioPark Edmonton Valley Zoo Mill Mountain Zoo Plock Zoo Toronto Zoo Association Zoologique d'Asson Friends of the Big Bear Alpine Zoo Miller Park Zoo Potawatomi Zoo Wildlife Heritage Foundation Audubon Zoo Great Plains Zoo Milwaukee County Zoo Roger Williams Park Zoo Zoo Boise Billabong Zoo Idaho Falls Zoo at Tautphaus Park National Zoo & Aquarium Rolling Hills Wildlife Adventure Zoo de Granby Binder Park Zoo Jungle Cat World Conservation Team Rosamond Gifford Zoo Zoo Dresden Blank Park Zoo La Passerelle/Parc Animalier Niabi Zoo Sacramento Zoo Zoo Liberec Buffalo Zoological Gardens d’Auvergne Oklahoma City Zoo Safari de Peaugres ZooParc de Tregomeur Calgary Zoo Lake Superior Zoological Gardens Orsa Bjornpark San Antonio Zoo & Aquarium Zoo Basel Cape May County Zoo Lakeland Wildlife Oasis Parco Faunistico Le Cornelle San Francisco Zoo ZooLife Carolina Tiger Rescue Lehigh Valley Zoo Parco Natura Viva Santa Barbara Zoo Cheyenne Mountain Zoo Linton Zoological Gardens Peoria Zoo–Heart of IL AAZK Seneca Park Zoo Full list and info on becoming a Sequoia Park Zoo sponsor at snowleopard.org/partners.

Foundation & Corporate Sponsors Combined IWT Challenge Fund Snow Felburn Federal through UK * Leopard Foundation Charities Government Trust, UK US Department of State, Embassy of the United States in Islamabad, Pakistan Cat Life Foundation International Foundation Moore Family Foundation CGMK Foundation Juniper Foundation Overton and Katharine Dennis Fund The Christensen Fund* Keidanren Nature Conservation Fund Rufford Small Grants Foundation* Dynafit Laguntza Foundation The Seattle Foundation EBR Foundation Leonard X. Bosack & Bette M. Kruger Charitable Foundation White Pine Fund Elmyra Felburn Schiller Irrevocable Trust The Melkus Family Foundation *Managed by collaborating NGOs And THANK YOU Fondation Ensemble* Microsoft Matching Gifts Program to donors like you! Fredman Family Foundation Inc We are only able to list gifts of $3,000+ Adobe Systems Incorporated Matching Gifts Program FLOAT Apparel Norcross Wildlife Foundation here. Please refer Black Rhinoceros Foundation GreaterGood Charity Nysether Family Foundation to our Annual Blackie Foundation H. B. Henson Fund Renaissance Charitable Foundation, Inc. Report for a more Conservation Research and Education Opportunities International International Society for Endangered Cats Valerie Beth Schwartz Foundation complete list. Eco-Sys