2004 Conservation Projects

Jump forward to see our 2004 rainforest conservation projects in Belize, Borneo and Guyana.

Belize 2004

Tapir Mountain

with the Belize Audobon Society and the Department of Forestry

Nature Reserve infrastructure development

Tapir Mountain Nature Reserve (TMNR) is one of three officially declared nature reserves in Belize, comprising of a hilly rugged landscape covered with subtropical moist forest. The development work in the reserve carried out by Trekforce included the construction of open-sided thatched palapa huts to allow wardens to patrol and stay overnight in the more remote areas of the reserve, and demarcation of the reserve boundaries. The project aims to enable continuation of the effective patrol and management of the first designated nature reserve in Belize.

Aguacaliente

with the Aguacaliente Management Team and The British High Commission/FCO small grant scheme

Visitor centre construction

The Aguacaliente Wildlife Sanctuary is managed by a team of representatives from local communities, with an aim to protect the fragile wetland habitat. With funding from the BHC, the Trekforce team rebuilt a hurricane-damaged visitor centre and cleared access trails. The aims of the project were to provide an alternative source of income for local communities, which previously used the area for hunting, fishing, and agriculture, by encouraging eco-tourism. The new infrastructure and facilities will provide AMT with the means to carry out overnight patrols within the sanctuary, and facilitate visitors to Aguacaliente with a focal point for information and education. Overall, the development will enable the long-term management of the sanctuary.

Mayflower

with the Friends of Mayflower Bocawina National Park

Park infrastructure development

The continued support by Trekforce, in its third project here, has allowed Mayflower Bocawina National Park to become one of the eco-tourist success stories of Belize. Located in Stann Creek in the foothills on the eastern edge of the Maya Mountains this small but beautiful National Park now has an extensive trail system and overnight facilities that were improved and developed by this year’s project group. These trails allow access to waterfalls over newly constructed bridges and ancient Maya ruins with palapas giving the possibility for basic overnight accommodation. Mayflower now has all the facilities to effectively be managed for years to come.

Monkey Bay

with Monkey Bay Wildlife Sanctuary and Wildlife Care Centre

Trail development

Following on from the successful project last year on the Indian Creek Trail, Trekforce teamed up with MBWS and Wildlife Care Centre in the upgrading of the trail and also in improving facilities for Howler Monkey release into the area. The Indian Creek trail is already under use by tourists, but with the extension provided by Trekforce to Caesar Waesar caves and further pallapa construction en route, this has now completed the development of the trail. Prior to this, the group managed to clear the release enclosures for howler monkeys and also cut transect lines that can be used for long term research and monitoring of the released monkeys. This trail now provides the perfect river and cave trek experience.

Bladen

with the Department of Forestry Conservation

Boundary line demarcation

One of Belize’s finest protected areas is Bladen Nature Reserve in Northern Toledo. This vast reserve occupies the highest protective status in Belize due to its relatively undisturbed state and biological content. Birds such as the rare Keel-billed Motmot have recently been observed here. Working together with the Department of Forestry, Trekforce were tasked with the opening up of the southern boundary line, almost 10 kilometres, which presently suffers due to incursions by illegal loggers and hunters. By doing so it now allows rangers who patrol the reserve to identify any activity and act accordingly. A small thatch pallapa was also constructed on the entrance to the reserve for rangers to stay overnight at one of the more sensitive areas.

Blue Creek

with the Tumul K'in and Aguacaliente Community

Eco-tourism trail construction

Toledo District in Southern Belize is often thought of as the forgotten district. The landscape here is lush and green, interspersed with stunning limestone formations, which until now, had not been accessed by humans in hundreds of years. In what can be described as an exploratory project, the group with local guides from Blue Creek and Aguacate villages ventured into these limestone systems to develop a trail network for eco-tourist use. Almost 10 kilometres of trails were cut and documented along with some of the most stunning cave systems in southern Belize, which are thought to link up to Guatemala. The trekkers produced a report documenting this route which is now being used by tour operators in Toledo using the trails they cut employing local guides from Aguacate.

Fireburn

with Wildtracks and the Institute of Archaeology

Archaeological mapping

Located in the North of Belize in the Corozal District only a few kilometres from Shipstern Lagoon, Fireburn is a remote and isolated community. It was here that Trekforce teamed up with the Institute of Archaeology and Wildtracks to uncover and map the ancient Maya ruin named Kakantulich. This ancient city was thought to be the second largest in northern Belize and had only ever been accessed by looters in the past. The group cut a boundary line around the newly designated Archaeological Reserve and mapped over 250 structures ranging from aguadas to plazas. They then opened up the plazas to uncover the full extent of this beautiful ancient civilisation. The final documents and maps they produced now form the definitive map to be used in all further excavations and research to be carried out by the Institute.

Elijio Panti

with the Itzamna Society

Visitor centre construction

The third project in Noj Kaax Meen Elijio Panti National Park in Cayo District consolidated previous Trekforce work with the construction of a visitor centre in the subtropical moist rainforest. With the backing of the United Nations Development Programme and Global Environmental Fund, the group worked together with local guides to build this facility to allow a base for incoming tourists and also to give rangers a permanent presence in the park. This enables the rangers to deter any encroaching logging or hunting activities from surrounding communities. The development of this centre now provides the co-managers with the necessary infrastructure to effectively manage the park and promote its use sustainably.

See the project and the Trekforce Volunteers with their completed Visitor Centre

Borneo 2004

Danum Valley

with the Royal Society South East Asian Rainforest Research Programme (SEARRP)

Sabah Biodiversity Experiment

This is essentially the first large-scale experiment to study how to regenerate logged forest with the rare and majestic Dipterocarp trees. These large trees have been extracted on a massive scale throughout South-East Asia. Trekforce have planted many of the trees for this experiment over the last two years. There is little knowledge of the effects of limited species replanting on biodiversity and up to the present day only small-scale projects have been carried out. The majority of this planting is now finished and scientists are now visiting the area to begin the extensive long-term research.

Working with a local team of SEARRP staff, this year’s Trekforce team in Danum Valley built an accommodation block for the scientists who will be working on the project. Theirs was an incredibly scenic campsite with two clear rivers and an array of wildlife including clouded leopard, wild boar, elephant, python, hornbills and mouse deer. The team then travelled to the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre to repair some previous Trekforce Bridges that had been damaged by falling trees after a storm.

Maliau Basin

with the Maliau Basin Conservation Area (MBCA)

Infrastructure development

Despite the Basin’s outstanding pedigree as a site of incredible value from an ecological and geological perspective, it is not yet considered safe from loggers or miners. The management committee is working to provide the infrastructure and facilities to open up the recently protected area for research, as well as parts of it for trekking. Last year Trekforce explored and mapped the only area where a trail could be built into the Basin from the new field studies centre. The 2004 Trekforce team converted this wild jungle into a new trail that will allow access for both scientists and tourists to the Basin faster than ever previously possible. They built four bridges, put up handrails and cut steps that will all serve to prevent erosion in this delicate area.

The development of this infrastructure will raise the profile of the Maliau Basin and this in turn should enhance the status as a place of natural value. It is hoped that an application for status as a World Heritage site will be successful and help to ensure its future.

Guyana 2004

Surama

with Surama Village

Eco-lodge facilities construction and trail survey

Following on from the success of the two projects in the international rainforest reserve of Iwokrama in 2003, Trekforce returned for a second year. Iwokrama, attempting to become self-sufficient through sustainable management practices, required accommodation facilities for tourist and research groups wanting to fully experience this biologically unique area of forest. The team was challenged to complete one of the biggest construction projects Trekforce has ever undertaken. Building a resource centre at the base of Turtle Mountain, they constructed three accommodation benabs, a dining room and kitchen, ablution block, well and water trestle.

Turtle Mountain

with Iwokrama Centre for Rainforest Conservation and Development

Resource centre construction

The Amerindian community of Surama in the North Rupunnuni is located in a stunning area of savannah surrounded by forested hills; it is a backdrop that attracts many visitors. Collectively as a village, Surama have taken the initiative to self-fund and develop a tourism eco-lodge facility in an effort to take control of the increasing number of eco-tourists in the area and fashion a sustainable product to offer guests. Trekforce were invited to come and work on behalf of the community to help complete three small accommodation benabs to form part of the ‘Eco-lodge’. Each wooden benab has a traditional Kukrit thatched palm roof, which the team constructed from scratch, including helping to harvest the palm leaves. These benabs will now be decorated in accordance with one of the Amerindian peoples of Guyana, the first will follow the traditions of the Carib, Arekuna and the Arawak people.

A second team in July constructed a further benab for the project, and also carried out a successful recce of a trail to be developed for tourism. The British explorer Charles Waterton originally discovered the route, which transects the rainforest between Surama village and the village of Annai. Using a GPS, the team noted points of interest and wildlife observations providing a knowledge base on which the trail can now be officially routed and maintained.