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Home , Golden mantella, Jenny (gorilla), Jenny (orangutan), Woodland Park Zoo

WILDLIFE CONSERVATION in the field

Saving Nature Together Mission saves and their habitats through conservation leadership and engaging experiences, inspiring people to learn, care and act.

Vision Woodland Park Zoo envisions a world where people protect animals and conserve their habitats in order to create a sustainable future. As a leading conservation zoo, we empower people, in our region and around the world, to create this future, in ways big and small. CONTENTS

Why Wildlife Conservation?...... 4 Partners for Wildlife...... 8 Africa...... 10 Central Asia...... 12 Asia Pacific...... 14 Living Northwest...... 22 Wildlife Survival Fund...... 36 Call to Action...... 38 Field Conservation at • We recognize that wildlife conservation ultimately Why Wildlife Conservation? Woodland Park Zoo is about people, and long-term solutions will for example depend upon education, global health, • We carry out -focused projects that engage At Woodland Park Zoo, we believe that animals and habitats have intrinsic value, and that their poverty alleviation, and sustainable living practices. the public’s interest, contribute toward species existence enriches our lives. We also realize that animals and plants are essential for human Therefore, whenever advantageous, we include conservation, and leverage landscape-level benefits in our work education and community-based well-being in a more direct sense – they create and maintain a livable world by providing for biodiversity conservation, ecological health, and approaches that address wildlife and human needs. critical services such as cleaning air and water, mitigating floods and droughts, and helping to sustainability. stabilize ecosystems. Given the trends of increasing human populations and rapidly depleting • We recognize that for our projects to be successful • We integrate the zoo’s strategic plan with our natural resources, people must focus on how to live sustainably. they must possess well-conceived goals, efficient field projects, especially pertaining to animal work plans, measurable outcomes, prudent budgets, collection, education activities, veterinary services, and meaningful evaluations. Especially relevant to Woodland Park Zoo is the directly to wildlife conservation and ecological health; communications efforts, and fundraising. We seek realization that creating a sustainable world requires and 3) aim our animal-focused field projects sharply at opportunities that bring together departments • We partner with like-minded organizations, that people conserve animals by slowing the both preventing extinctions and improving sustainable and resources, so as to increase the zoo’s ability to academic institutions, government agencies, and unnaturally high rate of species extinctions caused management in “living landscapes.” Living landscapes affect on-the-ground conservation and inspire our businesses to achieve conservation solutions by human activity. We believe that the zoo’s field are regions that support both the needs of people guests toward conservation action. that would not be possible by acting independently. conservation programs can both make a difference and a rich assemblage of animal and plant species, “on the ground” and inspire our zoo audiences to ensuring sustainable healthy ecosystems for all. • We use conservation science and cultural • We favor long-term, place-based programs that make the important conservation choices that will understanding to identify projects and field sites. directly improve conservation and demonstrate be required to meet the most pressing challenge of The Woodland Park Zoo’s field conservation connections between wildlife and sustainability. our times – creating a healthy, sustainable world for program supports activities that directly contribute people and all species. to the long-term survival of species in natural ecosystems and habitats. Field conservation at WPZ Woodland Park Zoo with it’s , with their huge audiences, are well positioned is a collaborative effort of staff, board members, Our Priority Regions to serve as important cultural institutions for supporters, and project partners. Reaching outside 1.2+ million annual guests is well Woodland Park Zoo supports field conservation addressing society’s required shift to more sustainable the zoo, we also work to establish beneficial ties positioned to serve as an important projects in the Pacific Northwest and around the living. While there are many ways for Woodland with other conservation organizations, other AZA- world. Our three priority areas are: Africa, Asia-Pacific, Park Zoo to participate in this effort, our animal accredited zoos, and with Seattle’s academic and cultural institution for addressing and the Pacific Northwest. Each year, we also award focus allows us to build on our strengths to: 1) teach business communities. In 2015, the zoo invested approximately 20 small grants for projects both ecological literacy, including systems thinking and approximately $1.6 million on 43 field projects. wildlife’s role in sustainable living. inside and outside of these priority areas. As of 2015, about the fundamental role that animal biodiversity the majority of our field budget goes geographically plays in a sustainable world; 2) empower guests to Asia-Pacific and the Pacific Northwest, with less by illustrating how their behaviors and actions link investment in Africa.

4 5 What We Do All of our projects build on WPZ’s field conservation work is realized through three programs: Living Northwest; Partners for WPZ’s proven history of Wildlife; and the Wildlife Survival Fund. These programs share a similar goal of saving animals incorporating habitat and and their habitats by leveraging animal-focused species conservation, research, projects for species conservation and landscape- level biodiversity conservation, ecological health and education, capacity building sustainability. In 2015, WPZ is supporting 43 projects with a total investment of about $1.6 million. These and community support. projects vary greatly in the level of WPZ involvement and in the percentage of the total project support provided by WPZ -- from a high level of investment in the Tree Kangaroo Conservation Program, WPZ- Panthera Malayan Tiger Partnership and Northwest carnivore science and species recovery projects, to smaller awards for Wildlife Survival Fund projects. Our primary focus is understandably on the projects with higher WPZ investments.

All of our projects build on WPZ’s proven history of incorporating habitat and species conservation, research, education, capacity building and community support. We seek projects that provide innovative solutions to difficult wildlife conservation issues (e.g., developing wildlife-friendly livelihoods through conservation commerce and resolving human-wildlife conflict). In addition to projects with site-specific conservation impacts, we aim to create a portfolio of projects that provide hope for a sustainable future and inspire conservation action by our zoo visitors, project supporters, and others who experience our work.

6 5 Partners for Wildlife Creating “Living Landscapes” for Wildlife and People

In 2003, Woodland Park Zoo initiated the Partners for Wildlife program, recognizing that long-term support and investment are critical for achieving lasting conservation results in key ecosystems and communities around the world. Projects are carried out by WPZ and its partner organizations working throughout Africa, Central Asia, and Asia Pacific. These projects take a comprehensive approach to conservation by incorporating habitat and species conservation, research, education, capacity building, and local community support. To that end, WPZ is committed to: 1) making a multi-year commitment to these projects; 2) taking an active role with our partners in project planning and evaluation; 3) fostering communication among the partners; and 4) sharing lessons learned from the program with the broader conservation community.

Each of the projects feature an endangered Living Landscapes species “flagship” or “ambassador” that is typically As we move forward, projects will be reframed more represented in WPZ’s animal collection, so that clearly around the concept of “living landscapes.” our animal care staff, educators and docents can Living landscapes are regional land mosaics of human- effectively discuss our field work with zoo guests. dominated areas and protected natural areas within In addition, the projects aim to have landscape- which the projects work, fostering sustainability for both level results; for example, enabling biodiversity people and wildlife. It is becoming increasingly clear that conservation beyond the target species or building protected areas are not sufficient to support worldwide strong community support and institutional capacity species conservation. It is also clear that the ecological for wildlife protection and sustainable living. The services provided by healthy natural communities are Partners for Wildlife program puts a strong important for healthy human communities. By better emphasis on people to highlight that integrating integrating wild lands with human-dominated regions, human communities is necessary for successful both wildlife and people prosper. Asia Pacific Central Asia wildlife conservation and long-term global health Muraviovka Park: Cranes of Asia – Far East Russia Woodland Park Zoo & Snow Leopard Trust’s Kyrgyzstan Snow Leopard Program and sustainability. Budo Hornbill Conservation & Education Center – Thailand – Kyrgyzstan Hutan Asian Conservation Project – Malaysia Gunung Palung Conservation Project – Indonesia Africa Woodland Park Zoo’s Tree Kangaroo Conservation Program – Papua New Guinea Mbeli Bai Study – Republic of Woodland Park Zoo–Panthera Malayan Tiger Partnership – Malaysia Tarangire Elephant Project – Tanzania 8 9 Partners for Wildlife: Africa

Tarangire Elephant Project more than 1,000 have been individually Goals: on the population dynamics and demography of identified, forming one of the largest elephant • To protect key wildlife habitat outside Tarangire western . The data collected is vital for scientists Partner Organization: Wildlife Conservation Society identification databases in Africa. The primary focus National Park for the migratory wildlife (elephant, to assess the gorillas’ vulnerability to threats, predict of Dr. Foley’s work is on identifying and protecting zebra, and wildebeest). their ability to recover from decline, and formulate Conservation Associate: Charles Foley, Ph.D. – effective conservation strategies. The study monitors wildlife migration corridors and dispersal areas outside • To decrease poaching for bushmeat (primarily Director; Lara Foley – Program Manager over 430 individual gorillas, as well as other species the wildlife parks where the animals live. 2005 saw zebra, wildebeest, impala, gazelle, giraffe) and, Landscape: Elephants (and other wildlife species) such as forest elephants, sitatungas, forest buffalo, and the project establish the first conservation easement more recently, elephant ivory. disperse widely throughout the Tarangire ecosystem in the Simanjiro Plains, creating a zone exclusively 46 plant species. The project also works to ensure in Tanzania (approx. 5 million acres) but only 8% of for livestock grazing and wildlife migration. In 2010, long-term protection of gorillas and other large that (the 617,000 acreTarangire National Park) land is the project co-authored Tanzania’s National Elephant Mbeli Bai Gorilla Study mammals through capacity building of Congolese protected; what remains is largely human-dominated, Management Plan, and continues to play a key role Partner Organization: Wildlife Conservation Society assistants, conservation education, and habitat with Maasai pastoralists to the east and south and in implementing the Plan’s strategic objectives on and wildlife protection. Because of the permanent Conservation Associate: Thomas Breuer, Ph.D. – agriculturalists to the north and west. Because Corridor Conservation, Human-Elephant Conflict, presence of researchers, previously high elephant Principal Investigator and Director of Nouabale-Ndoki dispersal areas are on village lands, there is little or no Research and Monitoring, and Cross-border poaching levels at the study site have fallen to zero. National Park; Marie Manguette – Site Manager official conservation status protecting the area, making Conservation. Plans for 2015 include connecting Goals: it extremely vulnerable to land use change and habitat Tarangire National Park with the current conservation Landscape: Mbeli Bai is a 79 acre swampy forest • Continue to use information gained through loss. Access to dispersal areas outside the National easements in the Simanjiro, creating a rapid response clearing within Nouabale-Ndoki National Park long-term monitoring of gorillas and other large Park is critical; the vegetation within the National Park anti-poaching team, and increasing training for 15 core (NNNP) in the northern part of the Republic of mammals to recommend conservation strategies has very low levels of phosphorus and cannot support Village Game Scouts, allowing them to expand their Congo. Together with neighboring National Parks of and other measures that help to promote the lactating females of large ungulates. If the elephants data collection activities. Lobeke (Cameroon) and Dzanga-Ndoki (Central conservation of western gorillas and their habitat and other migratory wildlife were restricted to the African Republic) it forms a protected landscape While the critical objective of this project is to protect in the Sangha Tri-National complex. National Park, the health of the ecosystem would be known as the Sangha Tri-National complex, which the elephant population of Tarangire National Park, the severely affected. was designated a World Heritage Site in 2012. • Improve capacity building and training of national benefits will also extend to local communities, wildlife research staff and conservation educators, as Program Description: The elephants of Tarangire habitat, and other migratory wildlife species in the Program Description: well as transfer knowledge to other educators National Park are under increasing threat from Tarangire ecosystem. The various land protection models populations have undergone a dramatic decline in by holding regular meetings with educators from poaching for ivory and loss of critical habitat outside aim to help local communities derive financial benefits recent years due to threats including commercial other projects and with teachers of the local the National Park. Other migratory species, such as to offset the large costs of living with wildlife, in addition hunting for bushmeat, loss of habitat through increased schools. wildebeest and zebra, are also under increasing threat to safeguarding important dry-season communal logging activities and new oil palm and mineral • Expand the site-based conservation education from bushmeat poaching and loss of habitat. grazing land to protect their traditional pastoral lifestyle. extractive industries, and diseases such as Ebola program, Club Ebobo, with local communities and Protecting wildlife corridors secures habitat not only for hemorrhagic fever. As a result the species has been The Tarangire elephant project began in 1993 as internationally through educational ecotourism. Dr. Charles Foley’s doctoral study on the effects of elephants, but also for the other migratory species in reclassified as critically endangered by the IUCN. Tarangire, namely zebra, wildebeest, and buffalo. These • Protect wildlife and habitat through researcher poaching on the social system of the African elephant. The Mbeli Bai Study was established in 1995 with the populations have decreased dramatically in the past 15 presence and regular contact with park authorities. Since the inception of the project, now the second- goal of providing much needed long-term information longest running elephant research project in Africa, years due to habitat loss and illegal hunting. • Ensure workers vaccination and health treatment to limit disease transmission.

10 11 Partners for Wildlife: CENTRAL ASIA Woodland Park Zoo & Program Description: Illegal poaching has historically The Snow Leopard Trust began with a budget of been rampant throughout Kyrgyzstan, affecting not just under $2,000 and a few dedicated volunteers, Snow Leopard Trust’s Kyrgyzstan only snow leopards, but other key species such as but now has more than 50 staff worldwide and an Snow Leopard Program ibex and argali. Another fast-growing threat within annual budget of over $1.5 million. The Trust supports the region is mining, which contributes to habitat field offices in China, India, Mongolia, Kyrgyzstan, and Partner Organization: Snow Leopard Trust degradation and fragmentation. The Snow Leopard Pakistan, accounting for more than 80% of the world’s Trust was founded in 1981 by the late Woodland snow leopards and snow leopard habitat, and supports Conservation Associates: Kubanych Jumbai, Park Zoo staff member Helen Freeman as a direct conservation in the remaining seven range countries Kyrgyzstan Program Director (Snow Leopard response to these threats. In the late 1990s, the Trust by providing technical consulting and partnering with Trust); Jennifer Snell Rullman, Assistant Director of was one of the first conservation organizations to the Snow Leopard Network to manage small grants Conservation (Snow Leopard Trust); Fred Koontz, pioneer community-based conservation, in which for global research and conservation. WPZ Vice President of Field Conservation the economic and social needs of the community Goals: Landscape: Located in Central Asia, the former Soviet are addressed as part of conservation solutions. The Republic of Kyrgyzstan ranks 5th in the world for snow flagship community-based conservation program, • Increase understanding of snow leopard ecology, leopard populations (200-400 cats) and 4th in amount Snow Leopard Enterprises, was founded in 1998 and behavior and habitat requirements. of habitat. With over 75% of the country overlapping has since grown to become the largest snow leopard • Expand understanding of ongoing and emerging snow leopard range, it serves as an important link conservation initiative in Mongolia. The program has threats to snow leopard survival inside the between northern snow leopard populations in Russia, a direct link to biodiversity conservation, directly Sarychat Landscape. Mongolia, and Kazakhstan and those to the west addressing threats to snow leopards by alleviating • Develop and maintain strategies to measurably and south. In 2014, the government of Kyrgyzstan poaching, increasing livelihoods of local communities reduce threats, with support for sustainable designated a 3 million acre region in the Tian Shan living in snow leopard habitat, incorporating regional livelihood of local villagers. Mountains to the east as a priority landscape under land-use planning, and developing sustainable • Increase awareness and tolerance towards snow the Global Snow Leopard Ecosystem Protection partnerships with local governments. In 2003, the leopards and snow leopard conservation. Program (GSLEP). Known as the Sarychat Landscape, Trust took a leadership role in bringing together this area is recognized as one of the top 20 landscapes representatives from across the cat’s 12-nation range • Increase professionalism and support integrity of in the world necessary to secure the global survival to write the Snow Leopard Survival Strategy (SLSS), a conservation leaders in Kyrgyzstan. of the species. At the core of the Sarychat Landscape, guiding strategy for snow leopard conservation across the Sarychat-Ertash Nature Reserve and surrounding Central Asia, and continues to collaborate with its buffer zones are considered a ‘living laboratory’ within sister organization, Snow Leopard Network, to update which Woodland Park Zoo and the Snow Leopard the document to reflect current and emerging threats. Trust are able to test and pilot programs and methods In 2008 the Trust took a major step towards advancing applicable to the entire landscape. scientific knowledge of snow leopard behavior and ecology by co-launching the first-ever long-term study of the cats with Snow Leopard Conservation Foundation and Panthera.

12 Partners for Wildlife: ASIA PACIFIC Muraviovka Park: Cranes of Asia international communities in its conservation efforts. Budo Hornbill Conservation Program Description: Hornbills are the builders of Goals: The Park includes agricultural cropland buffers and rain forests, consuming a variety of fruit and then Partner Organizations: Muraviovka Park for • Increase public awareness and participation in a community outreach/education program designed and Education Center dispersing the seeds throughout the forest. Because Sustainable Land Use; International Crane Foundation hornbill conservation through public education to improve local livelihoods and the quality of life for of the important ecological niche they occupy, Partner Organization: Hornbill Research Foundation work, including education camps, a mobile Conservation Associate: Sergei Smirenski, Ph.D. – people. Since its first years, the Park has disseminated hornbills are considered a keystone species. As education unit and the work of local field President, Muraviovka Park for Sustainable Land Use its innovative approaches to conservation and Conservation Associate: Vijak Chimchome, Ph.D. forests are cleared for agricultural use and illegal assistants in research projects. environmental education to other regions of the logging, these magnificent birds are increasingly - Department of Forest Biology, Faculty of Forestry, • Transfer full responsibility for hornbill conservation Landscape: Muraviovka Park is located in the Amur Russian Far East, as well as to neighboring countries in under threat. Prior to 1994, poaching of hornbill Kasetsart University and management to local communities, including River Basin of Russia, on the border with China. Its Northeast Asia (China, Republic of Korea, and Japan). chicks for the illegal pet trade was very common in capacity for self-sufficiency through regulated eco- territory, and the adjacent agricultural lands belonging Landscape: The Hornbill Research Foundation Budo-Sungai Padi National Park (BSNP). Poaching tourism and resource use. to co-ops, overlap in major part with a governmental Goals: focuses work on two areas in Southern Thailand: has declined to low levels due to the work of the protected area, the 60,000 acre “Muraviovka Regional • Understand the effects that climate, hydrology, 1) Budo Mountain, a part of the Budo-Sungai Padi Hornbill Research Foundation and their involvement • Increase hornbill populations and reduce their Wildlife Refuge.” The park itself covers 16,000 acres and human activities have on cranes and their National Park (Budo) and surrounding communities; with local villagers, particularly ex-poachers and ex- risks of extinction. of wetland and cropland, which provide critical habitat environment. and 2) parts of the Hala-Bala Wildlife Sanctuary illegal loggers, in research and education activities. for more than 500 species of plant, and 200 species • Develop efficient approaches for protection and (Hala) and the Bang Lang National Park (Bang Lang), The Budo Hornbill Conservation and Education of birds, 20 of which are rare or endangered – most management of cranes and their natural habitats, including surrounding communities. Center gathers researchers, teachers, students, and notably the six species of cranes which use the area especially from the effects of wildfires. for nesting and raising their young. The wetlands have Budo is part of the Sankala Khiri Mountain Range interested others in order to study the needs of • Establish a Breeding Center and develop been designated as a Ramsar site – a resource of that serves as a natural border between Thailand the birds and their habitat, guide educators with captive populations of cranes and waterfowl for global significance. and Malaysia. The area is covered in lowland tropical curriculum on how to teach about hornbill and forest environmental education and restoration of wild rainforest and human-disturbed forest mixed ecology, and to teach students about the actions Program Description: The rare and endangered populations. with fruit orchards and rubber plantations. It is an they can take to save hornbills and their habitat. The cranes that nest and raise their young in this region • Assist development of resource centers for important area for hornbill breeding and nesting. program also instills local awareness of the economic face many threats, including the negative impacts of wildlife tourism and outdoor education in the Hala and Bang Lang are major stopover sites on the value of hornbills by employing local villagers as field human activities including intentionally set wildfires, Amur Region. hornbills’ migration to Malaysia during the non- assistants, part-time educators and guides, including poaching and legal spring hunting, illegal wetland • Increase the involvement of local and breeding season. monitoring a stable population of hornbills by reclamation, and water pollution that damages international communities in the Park’s activities. minimizing any habitat disturbance and protecting populations of the endangered species and also The area was once mostly inhabited by guerrillas; nest cavities and food resources. Unfortunately, due • Make the Park as economically self-sufficient as people’s health. Muraviovka Park was established therefore, few people could get in to admire the to continued political unrest, it has been difficult to possible, with major operational support coming in 1994 to protect one of the few remaining natural beauty of the virgin jungle. It was only with have research and education programs running fully. from the Park’s activities and from the local undisturbed wetlands in the region. The land is leased the establishment of the Pacho Waterfall Park government and communities from the local government until the year 2058 and is (later known as Budo-Sungai Padi National Park) the first nongovernmental protected area in Russia. in 1974 by the Royal Forest Department that the This pioneering initiative has been unique from situation changed. The park occupies an area of the beginning for its inclusion of local, national, and 72,648 acres and extends into parts of Narathiwat, Yala and Pattani Provinces.

14 15 Hutan: Supporting Bornean Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary - and the development Gunung Palung Orangutan GPOCP began with a series of environmental of sound statewide wildlife conservation policies. education programs for school children and has Elephants and Hornbill Hutan also works in commercial timber production Conservation Program since evolved into a landscape level conservation Conservation Activities in forests that harbor high levels of biodiversity, in order organization, working towards the protection of the Partner Organization: Gunung Palung Orangutan to design wildlife conservation plans that are required park and surrounding ecological areas as a whole. Kinabatangan, Sabah, Malaysia Conservation Program for sustainable forest management certification. They Its approach consists of four main strategies: 1) Partner Organization: Hutan also engage with the oil palm industry to produce Conservation Associate: Cheryl Knott, Ph.D. – forest protection; 2) monitor and investigate wildlife recommendations that better accommodate the needs Executive Director; Cassie Freund – Program Director crime; 3) sustainable alternative livelihoods; and 4) Conservation Associates: Marc Ancrenaz, DVM - of large species like and elephants in agro- environmental education and conservation awareness. Hutan Scientific Director Landscape: The 222,000 acre Gunung Palung industrial landscapes. GPOCP also plays an active role in national and National Park (GPNP), is located in West Kalimantan, Years Supported: 8 Hornbills in Hutan international forums where orangutan conservation in Indonesian Borneo. The Gunung Palung Orangutan Eight species of hornbill occur along the Kinabatangan strategies are discussed and policies formulated. Landscape: Hutan’s primary area of focus is the Lower Conservation Program (GPOCP) works primarily in River in varying densities. Recent surveys show that Kinabatangan floodplain in eastern Sabah, a state on the the 9 million acre region surrounding the park, known Goals: most species are slowly declining due to a lack of Malaysian island of Borneo. This area is covered with as the Gunung Palung Biodiversity Landscape Area. large trees and natural nest cavities. Hutan’s hornbill • Protect remnant forest areas around GPNP approximately 123,552 acres of forests and 1.2 million GPNP is home to an estimated 2,500 individuals conservation project aims to better understand the by facilitating communities to obtain legally acres of agro-industrial landscape, largely dominated of the endangered Orangutan subspecies Pongo by oil palm plantations. Hutan conducts training on breeding ecology of hornbills in the area, monitor recognized, sustainable forest management rights pygmaeus wurmbii, making up at least 14% of the wildlife monitoring and biodiversity assessment in the population trends, design and monitor nest boxes, under the Customary Forest Initiative. create a network of conservation partners, raise remaining population. interior of Sabah on land totaling more than 3.7 million • Promote sustainable economic alternatives to awareness in the community, and develop a long-term acres of forests and 741,316 acres of agricultural lands. Program Description: Orangutan populations across environmentally destructive livelihood practices conservation strategy. Hutan is also helping to design a proper land-use plan Borneo and Sumatra are estimated to have declined with communities surrounding GPNP. for elephants in the 494,210 acre Gunung Rare Forest by well over 50% during the last 60 years. The decline Goals: • Increase public awareness, now and for the reserve. is predicted to continue at this rate due to seven • Identify and secure elephant migration corridors future, about biodiversity conservation and main threats: human population pressure, changes Program Description: An estimated 1,500 to 2,000 to enhance proper gene flow and reduce human- environmental topics, community forest in land-use patterns, forest fires, mining, poor law elephants live on the island of Borneo. While these elephant conflicts. management and livelihood issues. elephants are fully protected under the 1997 Sabah enforcement, deforestation due to logging and oil palm • Involve local communities in the management of • Reduce the number of orangutans poached, Wildlife Enactment, they remain threatened due to agriculture, and poaching/illegal trafficking. their natural resources and in the conservation of illegally held as pets, or harmed by human- habitat reduction, degradation, and fragmentation from their wildlife resources through intense capacity Established in 1999 by Dr. Cheryl Knott of orangutan conflict by investigating orangutan commercial timber production and oil palm plantations. building and awareness campaigns. University, GPOCP’s primary mission is to conserve and other wildlife/forest crimes, and facilitating In addition, the oil palm plantations are often adjacent • Monitor tourism activities and develop responsible orangutan populations and forest habitat in and rescue or confiscation. to wildlife habitat and as such are frequently raided by tourism guidelines for elephant viewing. around GPNP. Recognizing that most threats to elephants; planters respond by shooting or poisoning orangutan survival are human induced, GPOCP strives the elephants or by erecting electric fences or digging • Enhance the awareness, capabilities and to develop a human community that is aware and trenches, further fragmenting wildlife habitat and commitment of politicians, land decision makers, motivated to conserve and protect the orangutans, sometimes resulting in elephant injury or death. conservation professionals, and other relevant stakeholders in order to achieve efficient and their habitat and the biodiversity within this rainforest. Research activities by Hutan support the creation and collaborative wildlife conservation strategies and 16 management of protected areas - such as the Lower better land-use planning in Sabah. 17 Woodland Park Zoo’s endemic and culturally important tree kangaroo as an Goals: ideal flagship species. Given that the indigenous people Tree Kangaroo own and control over 90% of the land in PNG, the • Build capacity of YUS Conservation Area Conservation Program team recognized that long-term habitat protection Rangers to conduct patrols, ecological required conservation awareness and commitment monitoring, and conduct awareness building in Conservation Associate: Lisa Dabek, Ph.D. – Director; among local landowners. In response, they developed communities. (Supported by WPZ’s Partners Mikal Nolan – Program Manager a community-based strategy in which indigenous for Wildlife in 2015). landowners and community members participate in • Facilitate monitoring of the YUS CA and Landscape: The work of the Tree Kangaroo scientific research, land mapping, education, health, promote collaborative scientific research to Conservation Program (TKCP) is focused on the and conservation outreach activities. Since the 2009 inform management. northern Huon Peninsula of Papua New Guinea recognition of the YUS Conservation Area, TKCP has • Increase community livelihoods through (PNG). In 2009 the PNG government officially focused on building local capacity so that indigenous sustainable coffee and cocoa, and improved approved the YUS Conservation Area, which takes communities can take on long-term, sustainable access to markets in collaboration with its name from the Yopno, Uruwa, and Som river management of the land. Seattle’s Caffe Vita and others. systems. This designation marks the first use of Papua New Guinea’s highest level of protection for forests Today, the TKCP program supports ecological • Improve local access to education in YUS and wildlife, which prohibits any form of resource monitoring, awareness-raising workshops, community by providing training scholarships for YUS extraction, including commercial mining and logging. land-use planning, tree kangaroo research, and projects teachers. The protected area encompasses individual clan-owned in livelihoods, health and education for communities • Promote local access to health services and parcels that have been pledged towards conservation, that have contributed to the YUS Conservation encourage healthy behaviors through the as well as buffer areas of mixed use, covering 187,000 Area. In addition, the program is supporting ‘Healthy Village, Healthy Forest’ initiative. acres in and around the YUS Local Level Government ongoing conservation work, including GIS mapping, • Continue tree kangaroo ecological research. jurisdiction. The protected area extends from sea level management planning, and capacity building. to 4,000-meter mountain ranges.

Program Description: TKCP is Woodland Park Zoo’s signature international long-term field conservation program. Its mission is to foster wildlife and habitat conservation and support local community livelihoods in PNG through global partnerships, land protection, and scientific research. Director Dr. Lisa Dabek began the program in 1996 as a conservation research study to determine the status of the endangered Matschie’s tree kangaroo on the Huon Peninsula in PNG. The team immediately identified wildlife habitat protection to be a primary objective, with the

18 17 Woodland Park Zoo & (tiger “hotspots”) and mitigating threats, including In 2014, Rimba assisted DWNP in setting up nearly poaching and habitat fragmentation. Rimba (“Jungle” 200 camera traps throughout the research site’s grid to Panthera’s Malayan Tiger in Malay) and Pemantau-Hijau (“Green Monitor” in obtain baseline information on the status of tigers and Conservation Project Malay), two Malaysian non-profits, oversee the project’s other threatened species living there, including leopards, long-term tiger ecology and population survey research clouded leopards, sambar deer, Malayan tapirs, and Asian Partner Organizations: Panthera, Rimba as well as species protection efforts, including training elephants. In addition, Pemantau-Hijau monitored human and Pemantau-Hijau rangers in the latest anti-poaching patrol strategies activity at access points into the project area to enhance Conservation Associates: Fred Koontz, Ph.D., WPZ and effective law enforcement techniques to pull the the effectiveness of DWNP’s anti-poaching efforts. Vice President of Field Conservation, Dr. Joseph Smith Malayan tiger back from the brink of extinction. Goals: (Panthera) and Dr. Reuben Clements (Rimba) Our partnership has assembled a solid, innovative • Expand tiger monitoring in our project area, Landscape: The project’s study area encompasses network of conservation professionals, including focusing especially on known tiger hotspots. scientists and law enforcement specialists. We 250,000 acres in the northeastern part of Taman • Increase data gathering relevant to DWNP’s law provide financial and technical support to Rimba Negara National Park and the selectively logged enforcement actions. forests of the Kenyir Wildlife Corridor, both set within and Pemantau-Hijau, which share expertise and • Conduct training workshops on camera trapping the 3.7-million-acre Greater Taman Negara Region. collaborate with DWNP, state government officials, methods for park biologists and rangers. The park is one of the oldest rainforests on earth, other conservation organizations, and indigenous and home for 2,400 flowering plants; 380 birds; 122 communities. • Assist DWNP with a planned reintroduction and reptiles; and 120 mammals, including project for sambar deer, an important tiger prey Since 2012, we have helped support five tiger the Malayan tiger. The Greater Taman Negara Region is species discovered in 2014 to be in low numbers conservation training workshops with the help of one of only 40 remaining landscapes in the world with in our project area. experts from Panthera, the Malaysian Conservation a breeding population of wild tigers. Alliance for Tigers, and the Wildlife Conservation Program Description: Woodland Park Zoo and Society. These capacity-building exercises have: 1) Panthera, a global wild cat conservation organization, trained more than 50 park rangers and managers established a ten-year, $1 million partnership in 2012 on field data collection methods; 2) improved anti- to enhance tiger conservation in Peninsular Malaysia poaching patrols; and 3) improved communication as part of Panthera’s Tigers Forever Program. In among state and federal government agency personnel collaboration with local, on-the-ground partners and local, non-profit wildlife biologists. in Malaysia, and in concert with Malaysia’s National Tiger Action Plan and the country’s Department of Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP), (“Perhilitan” in Malay), the Woodland Park Zoo-Panthera Malayan Tiger Conservation Partnership conserves critically endangered tigers and the forests these iconic big cats call home by identifying tiger breeding populations

20 21 Living Northwest Linking Animal Conservation, Health and Sustainability in our Bioregion Woodland Park Zoo is located in the Pacific Northwest, a Pacific Rim bioregion with a national and global reputation for its scenic beauty and relative wildness. The zoo, for more than two decades has offered its animal expertise to State for efforts to recover endangered species, most notably for the Western pond turtle.

While the geographic reach of the Living Northwest program is the “Pacific Northwest” (defined here as Oregon, Idaho, Washington and British Columbia), The Living Northwest program: our primary focus area is Washington State. Over the • Assists with the conservation of endangered next several years, we anticipate continuing current and iconic Pacific Northwest animals. animal recovery projects and will be reframing • Highlights key issues that connect wildlife them to more clearly highlight conservation issues conservation and ecological health to regional connected to long-term ecosystem health and sustainability (e.g. the need for increased land regional sustainability. For example, the reason preservation and connectivity, reduced toxins, Silverspot butterflies are endangered is because and control of invasive species), so that the invasive grasses and scotch broom plants have projects can serve as an entry point for reduced the butterflies’ native food source of early broader discussions between our audiences blue violets. Our golden eagle field work, carried out and zoo educators. by James Watson of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and our raptor keepers, focuses • Serves to more clearly associate WPZ field on the reproductive effects of lead pollution (from conservation, education and animal management staff with local wildlife and sustainability efforts. ingested gun shot); it’s a project that makes an Current Living Northwest programs include: excellent entry point for discussion by our educators • Increases WPZ’s conservation leadership in our of the need to better regulate lead and other toxins regional community. Woodland Park Zoo’s Northwest Northwest Recovery Project: Wild Wise: Coexisting with Carnivores in the environment. Carnivore Project Oregon spotted • Catalyzes partnerships between WPZ and Citizen Science Amphibian Monitoring other regional organizations, businesses and Butterflies of the Northwest: Raptor Ecology of the Shrub-Steppe government agencies. Evergreen Carbon Capture Program Oregon Silverspot Butterfly Western Pond Turtle Recovery Project Migratory Barn Swallow Tracking Project Western Wildlife Outreach

22 2123 Woodland Park Zoo’s Goals: Oregon Silverspot Butterfly diapause. After this period of dormancy, the larvae feed on western blue violet leaves and pupate shortly Northwest Carnivore Program • Monitor wolverines in the North Cascades Captive Rearing Program thereafter. At this point they are large enough for ecosystem of Washington State to detect range return to the wild where they will emerge as adults Partner Organizations: US Forest Service Pacific Partner Organizations: Oregon Zoo, US Fish expansions and local extinctions. and reproduce in the wild. Northwest Research Station, Washington Department and Wildlife Service, The Nature Conservancy, • Launch a Northwest camera trap network to help of Fish and Wildlife, Conservation Northwest, Xerxes Society facilitate meta-analyses across larger regions. Concurrently, the Nature Conservancy is working in Seattle University collaboration with the U.S. Forest Service to restore • Contribute to the reintroduction of fishers in the Conservation Associate: Erin Sullivan, Woodland Park native butterfly habitat through small, controlled forest Conservation Associate: Robert Long, Ph.D., Cascades. Zoo Collection Manager fires, with the goal of re-establishing early blue violets, Woodland Park Zoo Senior Conservation Fellow • Assess capacity and priorities for WPZ carnivore Program Description: The Oregon silverspot the main larval food source for silverspots. field conservation projects. Program Description: Through this project WPZ butterfly was once found on coastal grasslands Goals: seeks to expand our wildlife science and conservation along the Pacific Ocean from northern California focus to include regional mammalian carnivores (e.g. to southern Washington. Forest succession, invasive • Encourage females to lay eggs. wolves, coyotes, skunks, raccoons, otters, fishers, weeds and grasses, pesticides, climate change, and “ The Pacific Northwest is one • Facilitate high survival of larvae during diapause martens, wolverines, cougars, black and grizzly bears). land development have greatly reduced butterfly (target of 1,600 larvae). These wide-ranging, charismatic species provide of the few remaining ecosystems habitat, and by 1980 the butterfly had vanished from • Raise larvae that will result in pupae that will be excellent opportunities for discussing ecological in the contiguous United States 11 localities and was declared a federally threatened connectivity, climate change adaptation, human-wildlife species. Today, the butterfly is found at only four sites in released back into the wild (goal of over 1,000 conflict resolution, and other priorities for regional capable of supporting all of it’s Oregon and one site in California. healthy animals released). conservation and environmental sustainability. In • Allow zoo teens and staff to experience field work 2015, the focus will be on: 1) Continuing to develop native carnivores—understanding In 1999, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service revised its and attend meetings relevant to the project. and test protocols for monitoring wolverines across silverspot recovery plan and started a captive rearing the North Cascades Ecosystem; 2) expanding our what these species require to and release program in partnership with the Oregon recently initiated Northwest Camera Trap Network survive and thrive will be critical Zoo and Lewis and Clark College. Woodland Park that is helping to knit together disparate remote Zoo joined the program two years later. As part of camera projects and facilitate large-scale and long- for their persistence and for the program, silverspots from Mount Hebo and Rock term data sharing and analysis: 3) launching a new Creek are brought to WPZ and Oregon zoo and study in collaboration with ’s the overall health of the system.” induced to lay eggs in a laboratory. These butterflies School of Environmental and Forest Sciences that are captured near the end of their life cycle, having - Robert Long will focus on the relationships among and habitat already bred and laid eggs in the field before being use by carnivores existing within the urban-wildland brought to either zoo. In the lab, the eggs hatch and matrix east of Seattle; and 4) continuing to assess the the young larvae are placed in specially designed current needs and priorities for conservation-focused containers, and then put in a refrigerator for winter carnivore research in the Pacific Northwest.

24 2325 Declines in North American Since beginning the project, Dr. Hobson has Western Pond Turtle In 1999, a state recovery plan was written that calls for connected with the ongoing work at the Woodland establishing seven self-sustaining populations greater Barn Swallow Populations Park Zoo that monitors breeding success and Recovery Project than 200 individuals. To date, this reintroduction effort establishes a mark-recapture program for barn has been a measurable success with the current Partner Organization: Environment Canada Partner Organizations: Washington Department swallows. This investigation, led by WPZ keeper population estimated at approximately 800 turtles. In of Fish and Wildlife, Oregon Zoo, Washington Gretchen Albrecht, paved the way for the 2013, subcutaneous ulcerative shell disease (SCUD) Conservation Associates: Keith Hobson, Ph.D. State University establishment of a partner research site west of was identified as an emerging threat to our state’s Program Description: Environment Canada the Rockies. In addition, the long-term dataset Conservation Associates: Jennifer Pramuk, Ph.D., western pond turtles. Currently, project partners are established this research program in 2009 to allowed the immediate establishment of survivorship Woodland Park Zoo Curator; Gretchen Kaufman, focusing resources toward helping to understand the investigate the potential causes of declines in aerial analyses and the investigation of weather and climate DVM, Assistant Director for Global Health Education etiology of this disease, which can cause mortality and insectivorous songbird populations, especially swallows, influences on breeding success and survivorship and Training – Washington State University reduced fecundity, especially in adult females, the most across North America. Part of this research involves throughout the annual cycle. critical component to the continued survival of the establishing patterns of migratory connectivity between Program Description: In 1990 the Western pond population. breeding grounds and wintering grounds. Researchers Goals: turtle was on the verge of extinction throughout used light-level geolocators, which measure and store its range in Washington, with only about 150 turtles Goals: • Continue the mark-recapture program at WPZ, levels of sunlight at specified recording intervals, left in the wild. In response, the Western Pond Turtle • Continue to improve nutrition by investigating including mistnetting, monitoring, and banding of to calculate the birds’ approximate latitudes and Recovery Project was formed and zoo staff began a way to have hatchlings accept commercial, individual birds. longitudes at given points of the year. In addition, stable- headstarting newly hatched turtles gathered from nutritionally complete turtle pellets rather than live, isotope analysis of feathers were used to link birds • Continue stable isotope sampling of feathers from wild sites. These turtles are reared at the Oregon and whole prey, such as earthworms. the WPZ barn swallow population as a proxy for to the location where the feather was grown based Woodland Park Zoos and then released back into the • Hold a Husbandry Working Group meeting with wintering location and habitat use. upon predictable natural gradients in these isotopes in wild when they are large enough to escape predation project partners at WPZ. nature. These methods led to the discovery that there • Revisit the long-term mark-recapture database from bullfrogs and other small predators, one of the • Install a PureWater filter that will remove 99% of is a strong migratory divide in North America, with from WPZ to query it for evidence of wintering main threats to their survival. chlorine and other potentially harmful additives eastern birds travelling to South America and western ground effects. from the water used to fill the turtles’ tubs. birds being much shorter-distance migrants, wintering • Publish geolocator findings and disseminate this • Build an area outside SW Holding that will allow in Central America. information to the broader public. us to acclimate the headstarted turtles at least three weeks prior to release. This also will allow for exposure of the turtles to natural sunlight.

26 27 Raptor Ecology surveys, installation of nesting web cams for live Northwest Amphibian Recovery In 2009, Woodland Park Zoo, along with partners internet feeds at hawk nests to study food habits at Oregon Zoo, , Washington of the Shrub-Steppe and behavior, and installation of nest platforms at the Project: Oregon Spotted Frogs Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), the Hanford National Monument to reduce blow-down Cedar Creek Correctional Center, and Ft. Lewis Fish Partner Organization: Washington Department of Partner Organizations: Oregon Zoo, Northwest Trek, of hawk nests. In 2005 the project’s focus shifted to and Wildlife Program, came together to help save Fish & Wildlife Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife include an emphasis on golden eagle ecology. WPZ these amphibians. State biologist partners remove Conservation Associate: Jim Watson – Wildlife assisted with field observations of eagles and capture Conservation Associate: Jennifer Pramuk, Ph.D., egg masses from the wild and deliver them to Research Scientist of adult eagles for blood sampling and lead analysis. Woodland Park Zoo Curator partner institutions where they are raised through From 2011 through 2014, WPZ field staff conducted metamorphosis. Once the froglets have reached a Program Description: Agricultural conversion observations of ferruginous hawks and Swainson’s Program Description: Once common from healthy size that is less prone to predation from the resulting in loss and degradation of shrub-steppe hawks interacting with wind turbines at study sites in northeastern California to southwestern British introduced American bullfrog, they are reintroduced habitat in Washington’s Columbia Basin has reduced north-central Oregon as part of a larger investigation Columbia, the Oregon spotted is currently into federally protected habitat that has been nesting sites and prey availability for raptors including of Buteo movements and range use associated with classified as endangered in Washington State and identified by the WDFW as being relatively free ferruginous hawks and golden eagles. Other serious wind turbines. In 2015, there is continued collection was recently listed as federally threatened by the of bullfrogs. WDFW biologists and other partners threats include lead contamination, illegal poaching, of location and behavior data, continued investigations U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. These amphibians are monitor populations of Oregon spotted frogs in collisions with wind turbines, and electrocution. into the effects of windpower on golden eagles, emblematic of a healthy prairie wetland biome, an several sites in the state, including WPZ’s release site and continued documentation and identification of important part of Puget Sound ecosystem health. at Joint Base Lewis McChord. Raptor Ecology of the Shrub-steppe’s mission is to sources of lead contaminants impacting eagles. Unfortunately, this habitat is one of the most cooperatively investigate the ecology of declining endangered in North America, as it is regularly Goals: shrub-steppe raptors, to promote the conservation Goals: drained for agricultural or commercial development. • Rear a high percentage of healthy Oregon spotted of their populations and habitats regionally and • Provide field and financial support for golden Other threats to the frogs include invasive species frogs for release (over 70%). range-wide, and to educate the public regarding eagle blood collection, offal pile lead assessment, such as the North American bullfrog. • Experiment with a “false bottom” design to test if it shrub-steppe conservation. The project was initiated adult and juvenile telemetry, and wind turbine has merit for increasing water quality and reducing unofficially in 1999, when the WPZ raptor staff joined interactions. labor for 2015. forces with wildlife research scientist Jim Watson and • Conduct lab analysis of eagle blood and prey the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife • Partner with WPZ’s Animal Health Department on tissue samples to determine blood lead levels and (WDFW) to investigate migratory movements of screening a subset of frogs for amphibian chytrid signatures of stable isotopes. ferruginous hawks from Washington. The ambitious fungus prior to release. initiation of the project included deployment of 26 • Provide financial support to hire climber to • Adapt to the changing conservation status for transmitters on migrant hawks and creation of a capture nestlings for telemetry. the Oregon spotted frog from state Endangered website to disseminate regular migratory information to federally Threatened (also listed as IUCN to the public. The program was officially named in Vulnerable). Implications for future involvement in 2003 and ferruginous hawk research was a staple the state recovery of this species are unknown. focus of cooperative efforts from 2003 – 05, which included WPZ participation in statewide nesting

28 29 Western Wildlife Outreach In 2013, WWO formed a successful partnership with Wild Wise: Woodland Park Zoo, the Yakima Basin Environmental Partner Organization: Yakima Basin Environmental Education Program, and the Washington Department Coexisting with Carnivores Education Program of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) to initiate a pilot Conservation Associate: Katie Remine, WPZ School Conservation Associates: Lorna Smith, Executive project based on coexisting with carnivores in schools and Community Engagement Supervisor; Kelly Frazee, School Programs and Educator Professional Director, WWO throughout the Yakima Basin. The program is called Project WOLFF (Wildlife Observational Learning Development Coordinator Program Description: The mission of Western and Fieldwork Fundamentals). Also in 2013, WWO Program Description: Piloted in 2012, Wild Wise: Wildlife Outreach (WWO) is to promote an assumed responsibility for managing, deploying and Coexisting with Carnivores engages seven classes of accurate understanding of Washington and Idaho’s staffing the NW Bear Education Trailer. The trailer 6th grade students (approximately 200 students) at large carnivore heritage through education and travels to various fairs and outdoor events around Issaquah Middle School annually in science investigations community outreach. Formerly known as the Grizzly the Northwest, exposing thousands of visitors to on large carnivores (bears, cougars, and wolves) in their Bear Outreach Project, WWO was founded by bear information on how to coexist with bears and other community. This program is facilitated by Woodland expert and filmmaker Chris Morgan in 2002 as a large carnivores as well as the ecology and biology Park Zoo, in partnership with Western Wildlife of bears. The trailer is also used as part of outreach pilot project in Okanogan County (the northeastern Outreach and Issaquah Middle School Life Science to schools. Due to unanticipated cut-backs in agency portion of the Grizzly Bear Recovery Zone). In 2010, teachers. Through experiences at Woodland Park WWO received funding from the U.S. Fish and funding at the State-level and a change in timing for Zoo as well as in their classrooms, students gain the Wildlife Service to expand their work to include receipt of funds at the federal level, WWO is taking background necessary to develop their own research wolves and grizzly bears in the Selkirk Mountain a conservative approach in 2015, focusing on core questions on carnivores in their community. The findings Ecosystem, and in 2011, the program expanded activities with an emphasis on gray wolf and grizzly of the students’ investigations contribute to answering to include cougar and black bear outreach and bear recovery. the following questions about urgent human-carnivore education, for a total of four large carnivore species. coexistence issues facing their community: Today the program covers all of Washington State Goals: and part of NE Idaho. • Continue to deploy the Northwest Bear 1. How are carnivores using resources in our Education Trailer. community to meet their needs?

• Develop and deploy brochure, flyers and portable 2. How can we as humans meet our needs while stand-up display for libraries/community centers allowing carnivores to meet their needs as well? on grizzly bear recovery efforts in the North Cascades ecosystem. Goals: • Revise “Living with Livestock and Wolves” video. • Middle school students develop science inquiry skills. • Students engage in community-based science investigations about native large carnivores and their roles in ecosystems. • Community members increase actions which foster a peaceful coexistence with local carnivores. 30 31 Citizen Science Volunteer Cooperative Grant, which provided Forterra’s Evergreen Carbon funding for each team to receive their own kit of Amphibian Monitoring monitoring equipment, including GPS units, hip Capture Program waders, aquascopes, and cameras. Also, Katie Remine, Partner Organizations: Washington Department of Partner Organization: Forterra School & Community Engagement Supervisor from Fish and Wildlife, Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium, Woodland Park Zoo, and Chris Anderson, WDFW Northwest Trek Conservation Associate: Eli Weiss, WPZ Youth Biologist, presented on this project to a group of 60 Programs Supervisor; Lindsay Fromme, Forterra Conservation Associate: Mears, WPZ participants at the inaugural conference of the Citizen Policy Project Manager Community Engagement Coordinator Science Association in February 2015 in San Jose, California. The presentation was titled “Partnering Program Description: Evergreen Carbon Capture Program Description: Since 2012, Woodland Park for amphibian monitoring: Involving zoo audiences provides companies, organizations and individuals Zoo has offered an Amphibian Monitoring citizen in collecting data on local wildlife” and illustrated the opportunity to take responsibility for their science program to connect local residents looking the collaborative advantages of zoo and agency carbon footprint and contribute to local tree planting for a way to contribute to amphibian conservation partnerships to engage citizens in regional wildlife efforts. The trees that are planted will sequester tons with wildlife managers seeking to understand how monitoring. of carbon over their 100-year lifetime, helping to Washington’s populations of amphibians—frogs, mitigate carbon impacts on the climate and improving toads, salamanders, and newts—are doing. Working Goals: our local communities through healthy and forested in partnership with Northwest Trek, Point Defiance 1. Capture data on amphibian species occurrence open spaces. Zoo & Aquarium, and Washington Department of across local landscape and habitat types to provide Fish & Wildlife (WDFW), participants are trained in a for long-term trend analysis. In 2014 WPZ purchased 133 trees through the WDFW protocol as well as in identification of the egg ECC program, which offset 667 tons of carbon, masses of eight different amphibian species. One of 2. Participants demonstrate increased: approximately 17% of our total carbon footprint. the species volunteers monitor for is the endangered This year we increased our engagement in the ECC • appreciation for local amphibians Oregon spotted frog, a Pacific Northwest species that program as 30 teens from the Seattle Youth Climate Action Plan, which is a new ZooCorps project, Woodland Park Zoo is captive headstarting to ensure • awareness of the problems facing amphibians planted our trees along the Burke Gilman Trail in its survival in the wild. in our region North Seattle. The program has been very popular, with high • appreciation for local habitats for amphibians participation each year it has been offered. The (e.g. wetlands) 2015 season is in progress with over 60 citizen scientists who have formed 15 teams to monitor • engagement in stewardship and conservation approximately 17 sites in King and Snohomish County. Participants include ZooCorps teens, National Parks staff, Woodland Park Zoo staff and volunteers, and Snohomish County Public Works staff. In 2014, the program received a WDFW ALEA

32 33 Wildlife Survival Fund Investing in Endangered Species Before It’s Too Late

Of the 62,000 species of vertebrate animals, The Wildlife Survival Fund provides grants to scientists estimate that about 20% are at risk of field projects and initiatives recommended extinction before the end of the century. This by WPZ curators and the Association of loss of species diversity is unprecedented and Zoos & Aquariums Species Survival Programs in almost all cases human caused. Woodland (SSP), or selected through a competitive Park Zoo is addressing the species extinction proposal process. In all cases, projects crisis through four primary methods: selected have species represented in, or have a programmatic link to the zoo’s collection. 1. Education 2. Conservation breeding 3. Sustainable zoo practices Woodland Park Zoo supports field 4. Field conservation conservation projects on endangered In addition to programs supported through species by awarding grants through Living Northwest and Partners for Wildlife, we support field conservation projects the Wildlife Survival Fund program.

on endangered species by awarding grants A Captive Breeding and Husbandry Research Flamingo Research and Conservation Partula Snail Recovery and through our Wildlife Survival Fund. Center for the Amphibians of Andasibe, Madagascar in Southern South America Reintroduction Project Amphibian Ark Seed Grant Giraffe Conservation Foundation Red Panda Network Asian Elephant Support The Center for Conservation of Ruaha Carnivore Project the Humboldt Penguin in Punta San Juan, Peru AZA Tag Conservation Initiative Sahara Conservation Fund’s (SCF) Saharan International Elephant Foundation Red-Necked Ostrich Recovery Program in Niger AZA Butterfly Conservation Initiative IUCN/SSC Tapir Specialist Group Steller’s Sea Eagle Survey and Tracking Project Bat Conservation International The Komodo Dragon SSP Turtle Survival Alliance Colobus Conservation Ltd. Maned Wolf Conservation Program – Visayan Warty Pig Conservation Programme - Egyptian Tortoise Conservation Program Lobos da Canastra Philippines Biodiversity Conservation Foundation, Inc. 34 35 MYCAT Wildlife SOS: Sloth Bear Drone Project Wildlife Survival Fund Spotlights A Captive Breeding and Husbandry Malaysian Conservation Alliance Research Center for the Amphibians for Tigers (MYCAT)

of Andasibe, Madagascar MYCAT’s Cat Walks were designed for urban dwellers who felt helpless and frustrated with news of the forest The island of Madagascar is home to nearly 300 species being drained of its wildlife by illegal hunters. of frogs, all but two of which are endemic. Alarmingly, nearly one quarter of Madagascar’s described frog Walks take place along jungle routes that are quiet and species are threatened with extinction. Mitsinjo secluded, and so, preferred by poachers. Many of those is based in Andasibe, the frog capital of the land. who hunt in the Sungai Yu corridor are thought to be They have developed the country’s first biosecurity opportunistic. captive breeding facility, where they manage a survival assurance colony of the critically endangered locally The idea is that if poachers know they are being endemic Golden (Mantella aurantiaca). watched, they will be deterred from poaching. The Cat Walks have made a difference, every time trekkers Giraffe Conservation Foundation encounter suspicious activities, they make a report to the Wildlife Crime Hotline. WPZ supports the first long-term ecological monitoring effort on the desert-dwelling Angolan Ruaha Carnivore Project giraffe in northwestern Namibia. This project will be the first ever long-term ecological monitoring project of The mission of the Ruaha Carnivore Project is to giraffe in Africa. Collecting, collating and disseminating improve the conservation status of large carnivores information will be useful locally and internationally in Tanzania’s globally important Ruaha landscape. for government, NGOs, communal conservancies The primary target for the project is monitoring and and other interested partners to help with the conservation of the assemblage of large carnivores, conservation and management of Angolan giraffe. This including the (Panthera leo), cheetah (Acinonyx research will be used as a baseline for the development jubatus), African wild dog (Lycaon pictus), spotted of the National Giraffe Conservation Strategy for hyena (Crocuta crocuta) and leopard (Panthera Namibia, and should provide the basis for the first pardus). The overall objective of the project is to formal IUCN Red List assessment of Angolan giraffe. lessen the intensity of human-carnivore conflict around Tanzania’s Ruaha National Park by reducing the costs and improving the benefits associated with large carnivore presence.

36 37 SAVING NATURE TOGETHER!

Woodland Park Zoo’s wildlife conservation work is only possible because of our dedicated team of staff, members, volunteers, partnering organizations and project associates. Please consider supporting our efforts to prevent species extinctions and to build a healthy, sustainable world for people and wildlife. For more information on ways to help, email [email protected]. WOODLAND PARK ZOO FIELD Conservation PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS FIELD CONSERVATION Associates Cover: Inside Cover:

Fred Koontz, Ph.D. Charles Foley, Ph.D. Map: Ryan Hawk, Eric Kilby, R. Gray, Dennis Dow, Steve Reichling, Mat Hayward, Dennis Conner, Omar Attum, Etosha National Park, Lisa Dabek, Ph.D. Lara Foley, MSc M. Trykar, Jamil S., Russell A. Mittermeier, RPN; iStock Page 4: Julian & Steph Fennessy Robert Long, Ph.D. Thomas Breuer, Ph.D. Page 5: Sahara Conservation Fund, Luis A. Coloma Bobbi Miller, M.A. Brad Rutherford, M. A. Page 6: Jon Erickson Page 7: Vasiliy Dugintsov Trevor Holbrook, M.A. Jennifer Snell Rullman Page 8: Bruce Beehler, Fabio Mucchi Kubanych Jumbai, MSc Page 10: Charles & Lara Foley Page 11: Mbeli Bai Gorilla Project Sergei Smirenski, Ph.D. Page 13: Snow Leopard Trust, Snow Leopard Industries, Orjan WOODLAND PARK ZOO Vijak Chimchrome, Ph.D. Page 14: Muraviovka Park for Sustainable Land Use, Sergei Gromov Conservation Page 15: Hornbill Research Foundation Marc Ancrenaz, DVM Page 16: Hutan Associates Isabelle Lackman, Ph.D. Page 17: Tim Laman, Gunung Palung Orangutan Conservation Program Page 18: Tree Kangaroo Conservation Program Jennifer Pramuk, Ph.D. Cheryl Knott, Ph.D. Page 19: Ryan Hawk Erin Sullivan, MSc Page 20: Panthera Mikal Nolan Page 21: MYCAT, Fred Koontz, Ph.D. Katie Remine, M.S. Joseph Smith, Ph.D. Page 22: Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren, Chris Morgan Jenny Mears, M.A. Page 24: Chris Morgan Reuben Clements, Ph.D. Page 25: Alyse Kennamer, Erin Sullivan Kelly Frazee, M.A. Keith Hobson, Ph.D. Page 27: Woodland Park Zoo Eli Weiss Page 28: Jim Watson/WDFW Gretchen Kaufman, DVM Page 29: Kelly McAllister, Ryan Hawk Gretchen Albrecht Marley Iredale Page 30: Adria Saracino Page 31: Ray Robertson Jim Watson, MSc Page 32: Woodland Park Zoo Lorna Smith Page 33: Robert Long, Ph.D. Page 36: Giraffe Conservation Foundation. Lindsay Fromme Page 39: Devin Edmonds