Belize Conservation Fund Newsletter November 2015 Belize Make A Donation Resources Most Urgently Needed – from Mass Audubon Travel Conservation To make a donation to the Programme for Belize (PfB) or to the Toledo Institute for Director Karen O’Neill Development and Environment (TIDE), Over the past 16 years, I have made many trips to Fund please complete this form and return to: Belize and have always been impressed with the Massachusetts Audubon Society ingenuity and hard work of the dedicated staff at Toledo Institute for Development and Environment (TIDE) TIDE and PFB. With incredibly scarce resources, Belize Conservation Fund they can rebuild a dilapidated building into a first- The Toledo Institute for Development and the Belize Barrier Reef System World Heritage Site. 208 South Great Road Environment (TIDE) was founded in 1997 to meet the In addition, TIDE assists with planning responsible class education center and patrol thousands of acres November 2015 Lincoln, MA 01773 of wilderness looking for well-hidden poachers. growing environmental and development needs of the tourism and other environmentally sustainable newsletter Conservation work is not easy. Toledo District, the southernmost district of Belize. economic alternatives by providing training and TIDE was conceived as a grassroots initiative in support to local residents. Northern and Southern Belize Name Your gifts in the past have made a huge difference, Rangers on Patrol – response to the negative environmental effects from and we thank you and hope your faith in our work Toledo Institute for Development and Environment The work of rangers in Belize is tower to assist their efforts. Address activities such as manatee poaching, illegal fishing, will continue. The most urgent resources needed this (TIDE) also leads ecotourism expeditions throughout to protect the land, habitat, and This year, five fires were actively illegal logging, destructive farming methods, and other year include the following. Belize, in addition to other wildlife conservation and wildlife in conservation areas. suppressed. They had potential types of unsustainable development. Initially started monitoring activities. Rangers for both the Programme to cause great damage to the City Funding for rangers: Community members are by volunteers, TIDE has now grown to include employed as rangers to patrol the conservation areas, Contact Information: for Belize (PfB) and the Toledo Rio Bravo forest and the nesting 20 paid staff. Institute for Development and habitat of the Yellow-headed enforce laws, suppress wildfires, protect and monitor Celia Mahung, Executive Director State ZIP wildlife, install artificial nest boxes for endangered Environment (TIDE) have to be Parrot. TIDE’s mission is to research, monitor, and help Toledo Institute for skilled in wilderness patrolling Yellow-headed Parrots, and guide local children manage Toledo’s natural resources. The Maya Development and Environment, In southern Belize, TIDE manages Phone on field trips to learn about the natural world. For and surveillance, navigation, Mountain Marine Corridor stretches from the lush Punta Gorda Town, Belize three protected areas: the Port example, $30 pays for a ranger to install five artificial intelligence gathering, biology, pristine forests of the Maya Mountains to the white www.tidebelize.org wildlife rescue and health, search Honduras Marine Reserve, E-mail nest boxes for Yellow-headed parrots. $60 pays for Payne’s Creek National Park, two rangers to patrol 25 miles of trails, $100 pays sand beaches and spectacular array of colors of and rescue, and law enforcement. www.facebook.com/pages/PROGRAMME-FOR-BELIZE In northern Belize the Rio Bravo and the TIDE Private Protected ___Yes, I would like to make a donation for the Payne’s Creek ranger team to carry out Conservation and Management Lands. Rangers working in the prescribed fires for one day, enabling regeneration of Port Honduras Marine Reserve tropical pine savannah (an endangered ecosystem). Area (RBCMA) is a huge tract Donation Information of land, 260,000 acres: a mosaic are focused on law enforcement. Enclosed check ______Maintenance of equipment: Keeping buildings of thick tropical forest, marshes, The rangers ensure that Checks should be made payable to and machinery functional in a tropical climate can be swamp forests, river, and two fishermen have valid licenses and Mass Audubon –Belize Conservation Fund challenging. Drill and router $600, Air compressor large sections of important are following fishing regulations. $280, Push mower $375, Ladders $220, Portable savannah habitat. Protecting this Rangers confiscate any gillnets or please charge my credit card for the welding machine $200. property from fires, illegal logging they find and ensure that amount of______and poachers is a dangerous recreational visitors also respect Tools for Education: Good-quality binoculars for The Programme for Belize (PfB) is a Belizean, nonprofit the RBCMA, PfB conducts research, conservation and challenging job for the the regulations. In Payne’s Creek # rangers and staff are always needed. organization, established in 1988 to conserve the education, and professional training, and promotes Programme for Belize rangers. National Park and the TIDE Private Protected Lands, rangers natural heritage of Belize and to promote wise use environmental awareness among visitors. In addition, VISA___MC___ Card Exp:______Increasing Visitation: Bringing more tourists to Besides combating illegal logging are on the lookout for illegal Toledo and Rio Bravo is vitally important for both of its natural resources. The Rio Bravo Conservation the forests of the Rio Bravo Conservation and activities, fire detection and poaching and logging. Programme for Belize and TIDE financially. However, and Management Area (RBCMA) is its flagship project Management Area are important sites for a carbon to help: Please send contributions to suppression have been a priority. Signature finding suitable, local transportation for groups of where Programme for Belize demonstrates the practical sequestration project. Here, four million tons of carbon Wildfire is the leading cause of On land, rangers’ work is students or birders in Belize is very challenging. Small application of its principles. will be sequestered for generations to come. Belize Conservation Fund forest loss in Belize. focused controlling human- If you prefer to call, contact Karen O’Neill, buses and vans are almost impossible to rent and the c/o Massachusetts Audubon Society caused wildfires, a major threat Mass Audubon 800-289-9504. PfB rangers monitor fires via a to the tropical pine savannah quality is often poor. Purchasing a 12 seater van or Since its inception, PfB has secured 260,000 acres Contact Information: 208 South Great Road, small bus (i.e., a Toyota Commuter 12 Seater Bus) will website that provides daily fire (an endangered ecosystem) of forest in northwestern Belize that was otherwise Edilberto Romero, Executive Director Lincoln, MA 01773 truly give us more opportunities to bring travelers to destined to be cleared. The RBCMA represents Or call Bancroft Poor/Karen O’Neill points. Fires that appear within in and around Payne’s Creek. TIDE and Rio Bravo in Belize. Programme for Belize, Belize City, Belize and near the RBCMA boundary The rangers attend yearly fire approximately 4 percent of Belize’s total land area at 800-289-9504 are studied and suppressed if management training to make and is home to a rich sample of biodiversity including: www.pfbelize.org Thank you for your support! www.facebook.com/TIDEBZE needed. PfB recently invested in sure they are up-to-date with the 400 species of birds, 200 species of trees, 70 species new fire equipment and a fire latest techniques. of mammals, and 12 endangered animal species. On Belize Conservation Fund Newsletter November 2015

Rangers on Patrol – Ridge to Reef Education Center inspiring Environmental Protection Northern and Southern Belize (cont.) Ridge to Reef Expeditions (R2R) was launched by TIDE The Programme for Belize actively promotes With the help of Mass Audubon and in partnership in 2014 as a way to connect people with conservation environmental education in schools throughout Belize with the U.S. National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, activities including: PADI SCUBA training, conch and and encourages ecologically sound economic activity Everglades National Park, The Nature Conservancy, and sea cucumber monitoring, nesting turtle beach patrols, in the villages surrounding the Rio Bravo area. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, TIDE trained nine Belizean biodiversity monitoring, reforestation, amphibian Solid environmental education programs that teach protected area managers to the advanced level of “burn monitoring, and much more. This year, TIDE raised funds local children to respect their human and natural boss,” giving them the necessary skills in prescribed fires to cover the cost for one local Belizean participant to environments help secure a safe future for this area. in pine savannahs to prevent dangerous wildfires. The join the program. Javier Alegria, a biology student from The Programme for Belize has worked closely with pine savannah is an endangered ecosystem and provides the University of Belize, joined the expedition for eight the government to incorporate environmental science critical habitat for species such as the endangered Yellow- weeks and was an integral part of the team. Model of La Milpa Archaeological Site in museum case. headed Parrot. Prescribed fires protect these areas and into the curricula for elementary schools. Programme species by preventing more intense late-dry-season fires, R2R is excited to be for Belize staff also visit schools to provide ecology- enabling pine saplings to regenerate and maintaining pine welcoming its first related educational lectures. One of the most Birding for Books… snags (dead pine trees), which are the preferred nesting university study abroad rewarding activities is hosting students at La Milpa site for Yellow-headed Parrots. group in January or Hillbank – expanding their appreciation of the Scholarship Program – both TIDE and PfB sciences and ecology at the field level. There are more 2016, with further For 19 years, early every Wednesday morning, 20 to According to Eddie Romero, Executive Director of Yellow-headed Parrots expeditions planned than 1,000 students visiting the RBCMA annually. PfB are actively sought also reaches international students by hosting ”Save 35 birders gather north of Boston, Massachusetts, PFB, and Celia Mahung, Executive Director of TIDE, throughout the year. at the Mass Audubon Joppa Flats Education Center. the scholarships have had a very positive impact on by poachers because A new website was the Rainforest” courses, which include one week of chicks can be sold terrestrial ecology and one week of marine ecology. Joined by their love of nature, birds, and birding, their constituent communities. The scholarships also launched in 2015, they are also connected to Belize, thanks to the help address rural poverty and demonstrate that for significant profit. where you can find This vitally important work needed a safe classroom. staff at Joppa Flats. conservation organizations can have a very positive, Rangers from both PfB out more about the The Education Center, formerly in need of significant Upgraded Classroom area with new chairs/desks direct impact on people’s lives. and TIDE regularly carry program and expeditions: . www.fromridgetoreef.com repair and reconstruction, now is a functioning lecture When Bill Gette, Sanctuary Director of the out assessments of the Joppa Flats Education Center, and David Larson, “Thanks again for the ongoing support received nesting sites. hall, library, and small museum, thanks to you, our Reef Guardians supporters PhD, Science and Education Coordinator, were from Joppa Flats, Mass Audubon over the years! teaching guide training programs in Belize in 2007, Please be assured that your contribution towards Despite quite a bit of illegal entry into the savannah, TIDE recently received a grant from New England This building will benefit more Belizeans and touch they heard about deserving students who had high school scholarships has been extremely helpful constant patrolling in the areas known to be nesting sites Biolabs Foundation for a project titled Reef Guardians. the hearts and minds of more students nationally and to forego their high school educations because in meeting the many requests to assist children have kept poachers from causing severe impact. Good This project will pilot a program that we hope will internationally. Environmental education is a critical their families could not afford to send them. High who have the potential, ability, and right to basic transportation and tools are critical for rangers. In the elevate the status of the Belize Barrier Reef in the part of our mission. school education is not free in Belize, and the cost education.” past year, donations from the Belize Conservation Fund public consciousness. Australia’s “Reef Guardian have allowed the Programme for Belize to purchase of books, uniforms, and school fees is beyond the Schools” program has been highly effective at motivating means of many families. a much-needed Toyota Hilux (ATV truck) for ranger stewardship of the Great Barrier Reef. This proven Belize Bird Language and and staff patrols which prevented illegal loggers from program builds awareness and appreciation for the reef Tracking Adventure: Bill Gette and David Larson returned to benefiting from their spoils and destroyed five illegal system, fosters a culture of stewardship, and empowers March 11th – 20th 2016 Massachusetts that year and established the Belize poachers’ huts. students to make a positive difference. Scholarship Fund. Joppa Flats birders committed to TIDE marine rangers pioneered the use of the SMART Learn the language of the birds while searching for tracks and raise scholarship money, and the staff of Programme Three schools in Punta Gorda, Belize, will participate in signs of animals in the tropical forests of Belize, a country with technology tool. SMART is Spatial Monitoring and for Belize and the Toledo Institute for Development designing and testing a Belizean Reef Guardian Schools amazing biodiversity! Led by specially trained guides, you will Naked and Afraid and Environment agreed to identify deserving Reporting Tool – a Geographic Information System program, in which schools improve standards for visit several different ecosystems including jungle, coastal, and This past spring, the cast and crew from the students within their nearby communities to software that allows conservation enforcement teams coral reef education and reduce their impacts on the tropical savannah habitats as experts will teach you the secrets to conduct more effective patrols. By mapping illegal Discovery Channel survival show spent three receive the awards. reef. Schools, teachers, and students will benefit from for unlocking the inherit meanings in the birds’ voices, which weeks in Rio Bravo. Without giving too much away activities, rangers can target patrols to the places and enhanced educational resources and training – including will tell you what ground animals are nearby, where they are – we can tell you that they survived and left with To raise funds for these students, each December, times they are most needed. TIDE rangers can now opportunities to engage with moving, and what threats are in the air or canopies above. a new appreciation and respect for the nature the Wednesday birding participants donate funds monitor the movements of potential poachers, as well as coral reefs through virtual This expedition will be a unique adventure that will help you of Belize! The conservation-oriented crew were to support Belize student scholarships. Thanks understand the complex interactions that are occurring at protected species of interest such as manatees, dolphins, learning platforms and field very responsible and felt honored to have had to this generous group, during this school year, and big cats. trips – as well as from mini- each moment between the creatures that reside here! experienced the Rio Bravo forests. Take a bow! four students in northern Belize and seven in the Joppa Flats Wednesday Morning Birding Group projects that improve school Monitoring bird nests and habitats and stopping Price: $4,590 per person, (plus $257 for a single room) For your own Belize Birding and Natural History south will receive scholarships. These students are environments while lessening poachers, illegal loggers, and wildfires are just three of Lower budget accommodation available upon request. Tour, contact [email protected] required to make average grades and to give 40 impacts on the reef, and from March 12, – March 20, 2016 the many jobs that rangers in Belize must do. Help us hours of community service in order to renew their the sense of community that For details and more information, contact Caroline Oliver Top Photo: 2014-2015 scholars in a meeting with TIDE; 2014-2015 help them with your gift today. scholarship. scholarship winners: Kiyani Blanco, Alexander Parham, Alicia Pop, comes with taking collective [email protected] Marcus Xi, Charlee Gibson, Rolman Martinez, and Argentina Coc. action to safeguard the reef.