A visit with the Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Bongaigaon District in Assam by CC Director Rob Horwich stimulated a Seminar on Community Conservation. The DC, Mr. Ganesh Kalita called the conference to bring local Non-Governrnental Organizations (NGOs) and government agencies from Bongaigaon and Kokrajhar Districts together to discuss the problems of deforestation and human pressures on the Assam Reserve Forests. This was a first step in promoting communication between the local NGOs and Governmental agencies which share common goals regarding local communities and their relationship to the forests. About 10 Government agencies and an equal number of NGOs were represented at the Seminar.

The Seminar was opened by Mr. Kalita who set the stage of the conference stating the importance of joint Forest Management, a program in which communities and Government co-manage parts of the Reserve Forests. He noted that this seminar is a first step for NGOs and Government to work together to address the problem of Assam's dwindling forests. Rajen Islari of Green Heart Conservation followed with a talk on the severe destruction of the forests and he praised Mr Kalita for initiating a new era of communication between Government and the public.

CC Director, Rob Horwich then talked about what he has learned from his experiences working with communities for the past 15 years. This includes his approach to working with community members on a respectful one-to-one basis. He then elaborated on the positive elements in community projects. Many of his views were supported by District Forest Officer (DFO) Amit Sahai, who has worked in Madhya Pradesh on successful Joint Forest Management programs. Mr. Sahai gave guidelines for Forest staff to sensitively approach communities in order to establish a working relationship with villagers to learn of their needs from the forests. This is the first step to involving communities in the joint Forest Management program.

Mr. Patiri, DFO of Kokrajhar District and of Social Forestry, talked about some of the social projects he was carrying out within the Kokrajhar District.. His comments were followed by a discussion by seminar participants. On many NGO member's minds was the lack of government communication with NGOs. Other comments expressed an interest that communities must be allowed to participate at the early planning stage of projects. Finally, some of the urban groups discussed some of the successes they had had in initiating urban tree planting programs.

The Seminar ended with some recommendations for an action plan to move forward. The main recommendations dealt with disemination of information between Government and NGOs. Thus it was recommended that: 1) NGOs provide Government with site and expertise specific information, 2) this information be entered as a database and be posted on District web sites, 3) state sponsored programs also be compiled and put on the websites, 4)NGOs should start a network to begin working more closely with each other. In addition it was recommended that Government agencies attempt to match some of their programs to NGOs which already have working relationships with specific communities.

In addition to the Seminar during his November trip, Horwich also gave slide presentations to Rabhapara village and to members of Nature's Foster, an NGO with which CC has been working closely. He and Islari of Green Forest Conservation also revisited the tree nursery and plantation program of Nabinagar village. Two years of work is producing major results. The nursery has increased to about 2 acres and 3000 saplings have been planted in 200 acres of forest. This regenerating forest is being carefully tended and protected by village members. Nabinagar's plantation program is becoming a model for use to show to other communities and the Forestry Department staff.

The Valley Stewardship Network sponsored the 2nd Annual Celebrate the Kickapoo (River) in Gays Mills in southwest Wisconsin. The morning events held next to CC's Museum of the Kickapoo, featured field events which included fly fishing by Trout Unlimited, fish shocking by Wisconsin DNR, water quality monitoring by VSN's citizen monitors and a wetland restoration walk by Bob Lee. CC Board member and master falconer, Maggie Jones gave a talk on falcons at the Museum.

Afternoon festivities began with lunch catered by the Kickapoo Exchange natural food co-op. Display booths of 14 area conservation groups were setup. The main feature included a VSN slide show presented by Barb Schieffer, VSN Coordinator, and talks by Kickapoo teacher Franco Accomando on "Land Partnerships", by UW extension agent Steve Kohlstedt on "Smart Growth: Land Use Planning", and by Cynthia Omstead of the Mississippi Valley Conservancy on "Land Trusts and Conservation Easements" The Celebration ended with an old time concert by the Kettle Creek String Band.

The project at Chococente Refuge is progressing slowly despite the recent drought which has been difficult for the people of Nicaragua, especially those on the Pacific coast. Cornmunity Conservation has been working with the Richland Center-Santa Teresa Sister City Project to help local residents to protect the dry forest and sea turtles at Chococente.

Peter Smith has been working as the Sister City's representative for the past year. He has been working with the villages of Papilon, La Palma and Escalante within the Refuge. They are currently in the process of legalizing the community-based Associacion which Peter helped to get started. The legal document has been written and signed by the members and is going through the legal process for final approval. Peter and the Associacion are currently working on digging wells and creating community gardens for long term amelioration of the drought conditions. They are also working on health related projects within the 3 communities.

Three wells have been started by community members. Ironically, work on the wells was interrupted by the welcomed rains and Associacion members stopped work to plant their crops. Once the wells have been dug, they will be fitted with a Io-tech pump constructed of a bicycle wheel and rope which effectively draws the water up into storage tanks. These wells will in the future be used to do conservative drip irrigating of vegetable crops.

In conjunction with the wells, Yader Estrada, a Nicaraguan agriculture expert was hired as a consultant to work with the villagers on a variety of farming practices. He worked with area farmers to solve pest problems they were having with their vegetable production.

In the field of health, two women from each of the 3 communities were selected by the Associacion for training as Promotores de Salud (Health Promoters). They attended a natural healing school for training in Esteli in July. They then returned and met with community members to relate the experience of their training. They will soon go to Barrio Nuevo to join other Health Promoters from other communities in a 2-day training program.

In other health isssues, a Health Committee was formed and it was decided that it was important to raise funds communally for general health care of the community. the project is also planning to build a small health center once legal title is acquired for the land, on which it is to be built.

Randal Arauz, a Costa Rican and Central American Director of Earth Island Institute's Sea Turtle Restoration Project has organized the initiation of a project to study and conserve a population of Leatherback turtles nesting from October to April on the northern beaches of Chocoente. He is assisted by CC and the Sister City Project.

Arauz, a turtle expert, will set up a data collection system and egg hatchery. He will train local villagers to collect the data and collect the eggs to be protected and hatched in a beachside nursery near Vera Cruz within Chococente Reserve. He will hire a Nicaraguan biologist to live at Chococente to supervise the work.

The leatherback turtle is the largest of the sea turtles reaching as large as 8 feet long and weighing 1500 pounds. It gets its name from the leathery covering over the shellbones. It is a strong swimmer and has a large range, wandering from northern South America to the seas around Newfoundland. Its main food source is jellyfish.

Leatherback populations are rapidly declining world wide and especially in the Pacific Ocean. Scientists estimate an 80% reduction of the population in the last 15 years. This decimation is due directly to egg consumption and harvesting adult turtles for food and oil. Indirect threats are just as important. Leatherbacks as well as all sea turtles are accidentally caught and die in fishing and shrimping nets as well as long nets set deep in sea waters. Additional losses of leatherback turtles result from loss of nesting habitat through beach erosion and development on nesting beaches.

CC Director, Rob Horwich was an invited panelist at a workshop on "Community-based Stewardship of Natural Lands" at the Ecological Society of America's annual meeting. Each panelist gave a short presentation which was followed by a panel and audience discussion of the topic. Horwich spoke on "Evaluating 5 Projects". Other presentations were made by representatives of the Sustainable Wood Cooperative, the Nature Conservancy, the Aldo Leopold Foundation, the International Crane Foundation, the Malpais Borderlands Group, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and the Mexican Conservation Fund.

The Blue Mounds Area Project (BMAP) in southwestern Wisconsin which was initiated by Community Conservation, Inc. (CC) in 1995, hosted a group of environmentalists from the three former Soviet Republics of Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaizhan. They were touring the US as part of a US State Department Freedom Support Grant, in order to explore new trends in promoting biodiversity, environmental sustainability and development.

The visitors were given a tour of several local sites where private landowners are restoring native prairie and oak savannas. The tour was led by BMAP Ecologist Bob Wernerehl and BMAP Board member Mike Anderson. They visited the lands of Bonnie Munroe to see a good example of restoration of tall grass prairie exhibiting a good diversity of eastern tall grass prairie species. Ecological restorations were discussed by the tour leaders. The second site was on the lands of prairie expert, Rich Henderson. Here visitors saw the long term restoration based mainly on allowing the natural succession of prairie remnants. This is an excellent example of presettlernent black oak savanna in the region.

The BMAP has been working on its strategic plan which includes efforts to investigate foundation grants to maintain the BMAP special projects. There is also some interest in charging fees for services.

It was also agreed that there should be a clarification of the working goals of the organization. Thus, a case statement is being written. In addition, some members are working on creating a business plan. This would insure a stronger institutional structure. Attempts will be made to partner or network with other conservation organizations.

There was still general agreement that the hands-on approach is central to the BMP goals. Landowner visits, education, and work parties are integral to this approach. All of these efforts, along with special events and annual meetings, will strongly contribute to the overall public education emphasis which has been an important element of the Blue Mounds Project. `