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Presentando Alexa

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Dear Friends and Companions of the sea,
I want to introduce you to the Hawksbill turtle., ALEXA. She is blessed with her name in honor of our dynamic and motivating leader Alex Gaos.
Thanks to Alex and Ingrid we are all linked as friends and partners in the urgent cause of discovering and protecting the Eastern Pacific Hawksbill Turtle.

Alexa arribó a una playa del sur pacífico de Nicaragua (ubicado en el RVS La Flor, Rivas, Nicaragua) durante una noche pacífica del día 8 de agosto. Después de anidar, los guardaparques de Paso Pacífico le colocaron un transmisor satelital para seguir sus movimientos y para compartir la nueva información generada con esta red. También, en el espíritu colaborativo de ICAPO, los guardaparques aprovecharon para compartir y enseñar a un ‘huevero’ local la importancia de la tortuga Carey.

I want to congratulate and thank our Park Rangers., led by Salvador Sanchez, for their professionalism and seriousness in the care and monitoring of the turtles, so also recognize Dr. Kim Williams-Guillen who now coordinates our scientific programs, including transmitters and their mapping. I also want to thank Alex Gaos (ICAPO), Randall Arauz (TOO MUCH), Cynthia Lagueux (WCS) y Jeff Seminoff (NOAA, WWF) who have shared their technical knowledge about placing transmitters freely and who without that technical assistance, this achievement would not be possible. I must also acknowledge the generosity of the Royal Danish Embassy and the institutional support of MARENA.
Alexa has already left for Costa Rica and we are grateful for the efforts of PRETOMA and others to protect her while she forages around..
You can follow it here
I know I speak for everyone in wishing Alexa a safe and healthy trip.. I also speak for everyone in thanking Alex and Ingrid for their tireless efforts to promote the protection of this mysterious and beautiful turtle..
A warm greeting,
The team of Pacific Passage
Nicaragua

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In Bolivia’s Madidi National Park:

Researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) set up the camera traps to try and identify jaguars based on the unique patterns of their spots. Once the images were collected, the team ran them through software originally designed to recognize tigers by their stripes.

The 19 jaguars found by the project represent a record number for a single camera-trap survey in the country.

Read more about it at National Geographic Daily News.

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Our friends at the Wildlife Conservation Society have had a great deal of success identifying individual jaguars with camera traps in Bolivia’s Madidi National Park:

A record number of jaguars have been identified in one of the world’s most biologically diverse landscapes. Using technology first adapted to identify tigers by stripe patterns, researchers for the Wildlife Conservation Society have identified 19 individual jaguars by spot patterns in the rainforests of Bolivia, a record number for a single camera trap survey in the country.

“We’re excited about the prospect of using these images to find out more about this elusive cat and its ecological needs,” said WCS conservationist Robert Wallace. “The data gleaned from these images provide insights into the lives of individual jaguars and will help us generate a density estimate for the area.”

We’re so excited to follow in their footsteps with our own Jaguar Conservation Initiative.

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This month we’re reflecting on our ELLAS program, and the commitment we made to the community at the Clinton Global Initiative

  • Five women launched one sea turtle nursery which protected over 6500 sea turtle hatchlings and transformed the way their community interacts with turtles.
  • 2010 was the first time in 25 years turtles hatched on the community beach, after a quarter century of all nests routinely being poached.
  • Native tree nurseries employ 20 women, who grow saplings, reforest watersheds, and plant trees which will offset over 70,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases.
  • 200 girls regularly participate in environmental education programs to learn about the role of wildlife in forests and how their actions can protect migratory birds and endangered spider monkeys.
  • 500 youth, including girls, cleaned up beaches and watersheds, removing over ____ (units) of trash and improving the health and water quality of communities along 22 km of coastline.
  • Two organic gardens were established in two communities and are managed by ten women.
  • One eco-tourism company run by women secured a small business loan allowing it to expand its kayaking and guided nature hikes.
  • Two national news stories highlighting the role of women leaders developing eco-tourism destinations were featured in Nicaraguan media.
  • 35 households now use portable solar light, allowing women to safely carry out household work and support their children during evening studies.
  • One outdoor education and leadership program for early adolescent girls is ready for a September 2011 launch date.

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From our friend Greg Reitman at The Environmentalist:

One of the world’s greatest treasures, sea turtles, is threatened by extinction. With the continued rise of poverty and lack of food resources, egg poaching has become a mainstream commodity and a means for survival. This man-made epidemic has been on the rise for decades, and is most prominent along the beaches of Nicaragua’s Pacific Slope. Poachers, viewed like pirates, roam the coastline depleting sea turtle eggs to make a quick dollar.

This year I had the opportunity to attend the Clinton Global Initiative where I learned of this epidemic by the non-profit organization, Paso Pacifico. Paso Pacifico’s mission is to restore and conserve the natural ecosystems of Central America’s Pacific slope by collaborating with landowners, local communities and involved organizations to promote ecosystem conservation.

Read the whole piece here.

Thanks, Greg!

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My first time to Nicaragua, I spent a week in an old pick-up truck we parked on a hill each night so we could jumpstart it each morning.

We traveled the Paso del Istmo biologicial corridor from one “unconnected” place to another. Along the fertile coasts and in the arid mountain forests, we saw (or heard) amazing wildlife, and met dedicated people who were excited to share everything they knew about the flora and fauna in the area they so lovingly watched over.

Farmers, fishermen, scientists, and schoolchildren took time to explain their people, their land, and the environmental impact of Paso Pacifico. Again and again, I found myself asking these people “are you a Paso Pacifico employee?” While my traveling companion and passenger was a Paso Pacifico employee, most of people I met were contractors, collaborators, or volunteers. But they were so invested in Paso Pacifico’s habitat restoration programs, they used the subject “we.”

In homes ranging from ocean-view villas with swimming pools and wireless internet, to small huts in the woods with no running water, no electricity, and no cell phone reception, people were committed to environmental conservation. Like everything else in that watershed, Paso Pacifico connects people in its mission to mitigate climate change and create migratory corridors for spider monkeys, yellow-naped parrots, sea turtles, and more.

Since 2005, Paso Pacifico has worked with landowners and local communities to promote ecosystem conservation. As a Nicaraguan mobile carrier works to increase coverage in extremely isolated areas, we seek new partners to help us create and repurpose mobile technology to facilitate citizen biodiversity monitoring, and provide scientists worldwide with hyperlocal field data, helping us better understand the migratory patterns of endangered species and restore precious habitat along Central America’s Pacific slope.

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“High fashion is going high-tech with designers creating this season’s must-have accessory: a handbag that recharges your cell phone or Blackberry.” ELLE magazine will be running an eBay auction on these high end handbags. Money will go to Paso Pacifico and our work with the Portable Light Project. Reuters has the video.

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As top predators, carnivores are the keystone of any healthy ecosystem, but hunting and habitat loss threaten their survival in Nicaragua. Over the past few months, local farmers have reported numerous jaguar and puma sightings to Paso Pacifico biologists, while Paso Pacifico staff have directly observed large cat tracks and sighted smaller carnivores such as Ocelots and Jaguarundis.

This year, Paso Pacifico will be working to validate the presence of Jaguars and Pumas in the Paso del Istmo Biological Corridor through targeted interviews and field surveys. The Paso del Istmo Biological Corridor borders the Jaguar Conservation Unit, which is a high priority within the regional Jaguar Conservation Initiative. As the Paso del Istmo and Jaguar Conservation Unit are not separated by any major geographic barriers, the Conservation Unit has the potential to serve as a ‘source’ for the recovery of the jaguar population in Nicaragua.

Meanwhile, Paso Pacifico is also working to reduce the number of large cats that are killed by farmers through public awareness campaigns such as movie nights in remote villages, which bring communities together to watch educational films while learning about the negative impacts of wildlife trafficking. By rebuilding forest habitat, creating new protected areas, and educating the local communities, Paso Pacifico is building a space for the safe return of the jaguar to the Paso del Istmo.

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We’re excited to have videographers from CAVUsite.org visiting the Paso del Istmo this week. They’re getting footage for a documentary on the future of tourism in Nicaragua.

Dedicated to helping people solve complex problems related to the management and conservation of natural resources, CAVU uses flight, film, and education to bring people and communities together for conservation.

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