Eastern Steppe Living Landscape Project - Sustaining Wildlife and Traditional Livelihoods in the Arid Grasslands of Mongolia

Wildlife Conservation Society
www.wcs.org

Living Landscapes Program (LLP)

Collaborative Wildlife Protection in Numrog Strictly Protected Area (SPA):  From September 2-10, 2008, WCS organized a “Wildlife Law Enforcement Training Review” for field staff in the Numrog SPA with participants from both State Border Defense Agency (SBDA) and Protected Area Authority (PAA) personnel.  The training review was conducted at the ‘Degee gol’ border post, which is 22 km from the new Nomrug Bridge in Sumber Soum of Dornod aimag.  The review was designed to reinforce skills and knowledge and assess the wildlife patrol activities put in place as part of the three-year training program conducted by the WCS Eastern Steppe project.  The program has encouraged the SBDA and PAA staff to collaborate on wildlife protection in this unique and bio-diverse region of the steppe. 

The training review involved 14 participants (9 border guards, 1 intelligence agent, 2 PAA staff, and 2 volunteer rangers).  Instructors included WCS staff, the PAA director, a chief inspector from the State Specialized Inspection Agency and two former training program participants from the SBDA who led the patrol team exercises.  The team presented the outputs from the training at the Sumber SBDA Command Center on September 10, 2008.  WCS Country Director Amanda Fine, WCS Asia Training Expert Anthony Lynam, and SSIA Senior Inspector Kh. Badam, were awarded honorary medals for their contributions to building the capacity of border guards to contribute to wildlife conservation in Numrog SPA and our ongoing collaboration.  

Eastern Steppe Community-based Conservation: From September 12-14, 2008, the WCS Eastern Steppe LLP staff facilitated a “Wildlife Protection Training for Volunteer Rangers.”  The Eastern Mongolian Community Conservation Association (EMCCA) hosted the training at the Shazaan Nuur Eco-camp west of Choibalsan in Dornod aimag.  A total of 17 participants (10 male, 7 female) attended the training from 5 different agencies and organizations; the EMCCA, Eastern Mongolian Protected Areas Administration, Dariganga National Park, Dornod Environmental Protection Agency and the State Inspection Agency. 

Dr. Antony Lynam, WCS Asia Training Expert, taught participants about international best practices, skills in decision making and how to make useful observations about wildlife use violations.  The WCS Remote Sensing/GIS Specialist gave lessons on map, compass and GPS (global positioning system) use.  Participants also learned how to use cameras and fill out reporting forms when documenting impacts to and use violations of wildlife and other natural resources. 

The training culminated with a final exercise where participants used the skills they had learned to find, and document information about, mock camps that depicted illegal wildlife use scenarios.  Full sets of equipment (GPS units, cameras and binoculars) were issued to the two top volunteer rangers, and binoculars were issued to an additional two volunteer rangers.  This equipment and skills learned will be used for wildlife protection efforts in community managed areas across the Eastern Steppe.

Eastern Steppe Conservation GIS:  At the request of the Eastern Mongolian Protected Areas Administration (EMPAA), WCS GIS/RS Specialist Mr. Ochirkhuyag planned and provided a basic introduction to Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Global Positioning System (GPS) use at the EMPAA headquarters in Dornod aimag from September 15-16, 2008.  There were 14 (7 male, 7 female) participants including representatives from the agencies WCS has worked closely with to build a GIS database of the Eastern Steppe which is a critical resource for landscape level conservation planning.  Participating agencies included the Dornod Land Agency, Meteorological Department, Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Statistics, EMPAA and Numrog SPA.  Open source GIS/GPS software (Diva-GIS and DNR Garmin) was introduced and used in the training which will be accessible to all participating agencies. 

Mongolian Gazelle:  From September 15-24, 2008, researchers used freestanding drive nets to successfully capture 15 Mongolian gazelles on the Eastern Steppe (Matad soum, Dornod aimag, and Jaran togoon in Sukhbaatar aimag).  Each gazelle was equipped with an advanced tracking device, a small (GPS) receiver that is coupled with a satellite transmitter that is fitted on a collar around the gazelles’ neck.  The GPS collars will allow the team to track the gazelle’s movement to better understand the requirements for the conservation of this migratory species.  The field team included representatives from all of the collaborating organizations including WCS, Smithsonian Institution, University of Maryland, Mongolian Academy of Sciences, National University of Mongolia, Dornod Veterinary Institute and the University of Massachusetts.  The research is currently funded through a grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation.

WCS Field Veterinary Program

Avian Influenza: The WCS avian influenza team completed their fourth surveillance season in September.  The fourth season focused on former outbreak zones in Khovsgol and Bulgan aimags as well as sites in Arkhangai. Bird captures continued from late June through early September, to coincide with the periods when waterfowl are moulting and shorebirds are migrating through the country. Intensive capture efforts and mortality surveys resulted in the collection of samples from 1,377 waterbirds. These samples will be exported during October to the United States and Hong Kong for laboratory testing supported through the National Institutes of Health’ CEIRS programme. Results will be shared with USAID mission staff and government partners as soon as they are received.

Throughout the summer the team provided regular updates to the USAID Mission and partners at the State Central Veterinary Laboratory, including reports on five suspicious whooper deaths that occurred at a time and place (Erhel Nuur) where previous outbreaks had occurred. Samples collected from one of these birds were submitted to SCVL and have since tested negative for avian influenza. The response to this incident is illustrative of the close working relationship between SCVL and WCS and demonstrates the value in having experienced staff working in the field.

Our understanding of migratory movements are set to receive a significant boost with the placement of over 550 coloured neck collars on swans and geese. In addition, 250 shorebirds were fitted with colored leg flags and over 1,000 birds received individually numbered metal leg bands. These marking techniques provide the means of identifying individual birds with resightings and recaptures, providing valuable insights into the migratory movements and life histories of Mongolian species. This effort expands upon the success of a pilot marking scheme trialed by the team in 2007 which generated an unprecedented amount of information with observers from China reporting sightings of 21 of 30 neck collared swans marked last year.