CENTRAL AMERICA AND MEXICO
Bladen Rainforest Sanctuary, Belize:
Though small, Belize harbors as many species as the Eastern United States. We established an endowment of over $100,000 working with the Belize Audubon Society, which allowed the Belize government to create a 97,000-acre Bladen Rainforest Sanctuary. This reserve protects pristine humid rainforest along the southern flank of the Maya Mountains, protecting the highest biodiversity region in the country. The endowment provides for the continued management of this and other protected areas managed by Belize Audubon Society, conserving spectacular species and a wealth of biological diversity.
Sierra de las Minas Biosphere Reserve, Guatemala:
We purchased the initial 11,000-acre tract of land at $4/acre to create a protected area at Sierra de las Minas, one of the largest cloud forests in Central America. The purchase through Defensores de la Naturaleza catalyzed the creation of the entire Sierra de las Minas Biosphere Reserve, of 600,000 acres. This cloud forest is critical habitat to many rare and endangered species of birds, plants and amphibians, several of which are found nowhere else on earth. Beyond its biodiversity value, the reserve protects the watershed for dozens of streams that feed downstream agriculture and that require forest conservation to continue providing essential benefits to local communities.
Punta Laguna Reserve, Mexico:
We supported ProNatura Mexico's educational campaign to protect a community-owned reserve at Punta Laguna, Yucatán. This now federally protected conservation area protects spider monkeys and other rare species, and contains relict patches of old-growth forest unique in the Yucatán State.
SOUTH AMERICA
Pampa de Achala, Argentina:
We catalyzed efforts by FUNAM to create a major new park for the Pampa de Achala, a biologically significant area of grasslands with ten endemic species or subspecies of birds. This work lead to the 1996 creation of the Quebrada del Condorito, a 100,000-acre National Park.
Reserva Vida Silvestre Uruga'i, Argentina:
We supported Fundación Vida Silvestre in acquiring land and establishing a trust fund to create a 6,250-acre private reserve along the Uruga'i River. These forests protect endangered Atlantic forests, of which less than ten percent remains.
Murici Reserve, Brazil:
We supported BirdLife Brazil in its efforts to conserve the Murici Reserve in Brazil's Atlantic Forest. This reserve protects a number of critically endangered species in a region that has already lost 98% of its forest cover. The 7,500-acre forest at Murici is considered one of the most important areas in the world for endangered bird species, as it provides habitat for twelve restricted range species and is the only known site for two species. Its conservation is essential to protect the birds and many other endemic plant and animal species that depend on this forest ecosystem.
Cani Araucaria Reserve, Chile:
We provided the funds to Fundación Lahuen to purchase over 1,000 acres of pristine araucaria forest to create the Cani Araucaria Reserve, with support from Patagonia and Esprit companies. The reserve protects a threatened ecosystem with the most ancient tree species on earth, the araucaria pine. It also promises to be a model for education and the development of a conservation ethic in this region of Chile. WLT-US has also supported Ancient Forest International and Fundación Lahuen on forest conservation activities in Chile's southern Valdivian rainforests.
ECOFONDO, Colombia:
We provided a capacity-building grant for regional meetings throughout the country to establish program priorities and projects for the newly estalshed ECOFONDO, a $4 million environmenal endowment fund.
La Cangreja Protected Zone, Costa Rica:
We gave $10,000 to support Fundación Ecotropica's initial land purchase that created La Cangreja Protected Zone protecting the last virgin rainforests in the county of Puriscal.
Critical Bird Sites, Ecuador:
We worked closely with Fundación Jocotoco on its program to purchase critical habitats of highly range-restricted bird species. These habitats fall outside of national parks and private purchase and protection is needed. We have provided over $500,000 to buy land to protect unique and critically endangered birds such as Pale-headed Brush-finch, El Oro Parakeet, and Jocotoco Antpitta. WLT-US continues to raise money for Jocotoco's critical network of threatened bird refuges.
Yanacocha, Ecuador:
Yanacocha, on the Pichincha Volcano, is home to the critically endangered Black-breasted Puffleg. With WLT-US funding, Jocotoco purchased nearly 2,500 acres of elfin polypesis forest, which represents a major portion of the Puffleg's remaining habitat.
Cerro Blanco Protected Forest, Ecuador:
We provided the funds for ProBosque to purchase a 375-acre inholding in the Cerro Blanco Protected Forest. This area protects one of the few remaining significant areas of dry tropical forest remaining in Ecuador, a key area in the Tumbesian ecoregion of southern Ecuador. This ecosystem is considered to be one of the most biologically diverse and simultaneously threatened ecosystems in the world, with more than 100 endemic plant species and 24 endemic bird species.
Bilsa Reserve, Ecuador:
We provided over half the funds for Fundacion Jatun Sacha's purchase of 10,000 acres of rainforest in one of the ten most threatened ecosystems on earth. The forests of the Bilsa Reserve harbor exceptional biodiversity, including numerous species of newly discovered and endemic plants and spectacular fauna such as the Long-wattled Umbrella Bird. Tragically, only a small percent of this ecosystem remains making its conservation one of the highest biodiversity priorities in the world.
Machiguenga-Megantoni Reserve, Peru:
We helped to provide the funding needed for the Center for the Development of the Amazonian Indigenous People to initiate management of the 500,000 acre Megantoni Communal Reserve, which comprises 215,000 hectares of pristine rainforest in Amazonian Peru. This project conserves the cultural heritage of the indigenous Machiguenga communities while protecting an ecological treasure of biological diversity in untouched montane forest zone in the ecological transition between the subtropical and tropical regions.
Matses Communal Reserve, Peru:
We assisted CEDIA to develop a proposal to create the Communal Reserve for the Matses indigenous peoples in the northeast Amazon of Peru. This is a pristine area of inundable rainforest, covering 457,000 hectares, which CEDIA has been working to create since 1993.
Alto Rio Piedras, Madre de Dios, Peru :
From 1996 to 2000, WLT-US worked with the Center for the Development of Amazonian Indigenous People to title land to forest-dwelling indigenous peoples living along the Alto Río de las Piedras in order to create a 700,000-acre indigenous reserve. Our support provided the detailed documents and analyses required by the government of Peru to officially establish this area. Titling will provide significant benefits to the indigenous peoples and facilitate ecotourism while ensuring better protection of the area's biological diversity.
Llanos, Venezuela:
WLT-US accepted a 40,000-acre donation of land in the state of Cojedes and transferred it to a Venezuelan land conservation foundation, Fundación Hato Pinero. This protected a large area of forest and savanna in the llanos ecosystem of Venezuela from logging and hunting. This are lies in a transition zone between the high and low llanos, and harbors a rich diversity of species including the Giant Anteater, Tapir and Jaguar, along with over 300 bird species.
UNITED STATES
Cape May, New Jersey:
In its first Unites States project, WLT-US negotiated and accepted a donation of six acres of wooded land at Cape May Point, generously provided by the long-time owner of these lands. This native coastal woodland is a critical resource for migratory birds, which stage at Cape May before crossing the Delaware Bay. We offered the land to the state of New Jersey for addition to the Cape May Point State Park.