Over 100 development and conservation specialists from all over India converged on Bongaigaon, Assam on February 23-25 to discuss the state of community conservation in India with a focus on the northeast. The conference was hosted by local NGOs Nature's Foster and Green Heart Nature Club, both of whom are working with CC to reforest and conserve the habitat of the golden langur. It was also hosted by Kalpavriksh, who initiated the all India consultations.

The objective of these consultations is to provide a forum for interactions of people working on conservation, social and economic development and human rights. The consultation began with an introduction of the participants who came from as far away as the states of Karnateka, Orissa Maharastra, Gujurat and Tripura. Many participants came from Assam and other northeastern states. CC's Dr Rob Horwich's presence made the consultation international. Kalpavriksh discussed the history and objectives of the consultations and discussed the eatlier consultation held in West Bengal.

The Assam Consultation focused on the problems in the Northeastern Region. There was serious concern about the major and continued destruction of forests, wildlife habitats and threats to the biodiversity of the region.

There was also a focus on the Manas Biosphere Reserve. The second day was spent at the Manas National Park. During the trip a number of animals were sighted by seminar participants including: capped langurs, hog deer, water buffalo, gaur, rhesus monkeys and elephants. The focus on Manas which began at the National Park, continued the following day at the Polytechnic in Bongaigaon.

Many recommendations resulted which addressed concerns of CC's golden langur conservation project: 1) to genuinely empower communities rather than accept symbolic management, 2) to enhance the livelihoods of local communities, 3) to integrate economic and social incentives with the conservation of biodiversity, 4) to study the problem of growing elephant-human conflicts and the elephant migration routes, 5) to include community representatives and local NGOs in the Assam Biosphere Reserve Committee.

In discussion with Green Manas and other local NGOs it was decided that there must be greater state and central government focus on the Manas Biosphere Reserve including: 1) creating general awareness of the Biosphere, 2) greater management planning including GIS mapping 3) greater involvement of local conununities, 4) activating and expanding the Biosphere Reserve Committee, 5) encouraging grass management through sustainable use by villagers.

The second Community Conservation awareness event achieved resounding success like the first, as over 80 people assembled in Viroqua, Wisconsin to learn about CC pojects. Meeting in the Westem Wisconsin Technical College, active supporters, friends and the curious who had read newspaper articles about the event were treated to a pleasant evening of information and opportunity.

Dr. Rob Horwich, CC founder and primary activist, spoke about the successes of CC in organizing rural people to achieve conservation goals. Ilustrating his remarks with slides, Horwich presented the scope of CC projects from Wisconsin to Belize to India and Russia wherever help is sought.

The Viroqua gathering followed an earlier meeting in Gays Mills. CC board members are reaching out to inform people in their home area of surrounding rural Wisconsin counties. The message of these events is that CC exists to promote conservation practices among people in rural communities, is achieving good results and needs their help.

The people in Gays Mills and Viroqua responded enthusiastically. Following appeals from Board members, many contributions were received as well as offers to serve the organization. This will allow CC to expand its programs.

For instance, as the start of an intern program, Kathy Neckar, Coordinator of Youth For Understanding, a program that assists foreign students at the University of Wisconsin-Richland Center, took the message of CC to Olesya Savchenko, a student ftom Odessa in the Ukraine. Olesya volunteered to be an intern at CC during the summer of 2002. Olesya is very skilled in computer use and will assist CC staff in web searching for appropriate grant writing and funding possibilities. In return, Olesya will be trained in CC programs that will potentially help her set up projects in the wetlands and grassland steppes when she returns to Odessa. In addition to Olesya's volunteering, Cindy Kohles offered the use of her cabin for Olesya's residence during her internship.

K O'Brian, another talented volunteer, offered to write a short play that can be performed by local people to educate people about community-based conservation. K's work which she calls a "humorous play" is entitled Conservation Consternation. Performance opportunities are being identified.

Momentum is continuing as others volunteer to provide office help, to write publicity articles, to prepare refreshments for meetings and to serve on the Board of Directors. Scott Bernstein of Liberty Pole, Wisconsin was eager to join the Board and to extend his private conservation interests to those of CC's international scope.

Horwich noted "We are having success within our area. This success will allow us to leverage corporate support later." Monetary contributions will allow CC to expand into other programs. Project ideas coming to the attention of CC include saving remaining populations of spider monkeys in El Salvador and working with a project on the conservation of tree kangaroos in Papua New Guinea.

Based on the successes of these first two awareness campaigns, a third session is being planned for Richland County.

CC's unique philosophy over the years has been to help initiate programs and to catalyze local community groups and to encourage them to incorporate and take over the projects initiated by CC. This leaves local communitv based groups in control and frees CC to move on to catalyze other in other regions.

In Wisconsin, CC has focused on southern Wisconsin to catalyze community based conservation efforts on a regional scale. CC began work in 1989 with the Ferry Bluff Eagle Council to encourage community participation around protection of the wintering bald eagle population in southern Wisconsin. The second project was catalyzing the Kickapoo Valley Reserve in 1991. This in turn led to the eventual formation of the Valley Stewardship Network.

Most recently CC has been working with three projects in southem Wisconsin which have successfully developed their own groups to continue what CC helped to catalyze. Part of CC's philosophy is also to stimulate model projects which will encourage other groups within the area to develop similar community conservation projects. These groups will hopefully influence the state of Wisconsin in this direction.

Thus in this case, CC's initiation of the Kickapoo Valley Reserve has acted as a partial model for the Badger ArmyAmmunitions Plant Lands. Similarly, activities of the Blue Mounds Area Project have cross polinated with activities of the Valley Stewardship Network in the Kickapoo Valley.

The Blue Mounds Area Project (BMAP) began in 1995 with a proposal by Brian Pruka to organize a program helping landowners in the Blue Mounds Area to protect the biodiversity on their private lands. Since those initial days the BMAP has incorporated and recently achieved 501(c)3 non-profit status and is managed by a board of landowners.

The project has one staff member, Bob Wernerehl who functions as a biodiversity extention agent for participating landowners. The project has grown to almost 200 members and incorporated about 15,000 acres of private lands. They have been working with endangered species. While initially focusing on prairies they are working with forest lands as well.

The Valley Stewardship Network (VSN) began as an offshoot of CC's proposal to create the Kickapoo Valley Reserve. In 1994, working with the West Fork Sports Club, CC wrote an initial proposal for a program of stewardship of the Kickapoo Watershed. It was this proposal which was shared with Steve Born of the UW and Trout Unimited which encouraged their participation in a 3 year program to upgrade the Kickapoo and its tributaries. CC then concentrated on working with the local valley schools and in creating a citizen's water monitoring group.

The Valley Stewardship Network arose from that program and within the last year under the leadership of Kathy Fairchild, a former CC staff and Board member, has incorporated and obtained nonprofit status. VSN is focusing on stimulating Kickapoo Valley townships to create land use plans as well as continuing to work with the valley schools and the citizen water monitoring group.

The Sauk-Prairie Conservation Alliance [formerly Community Conservation Coalition for the Sauk Prairie (CCCSP)] began as a coalition of interested groups to help steer the direction of the changeover of the Badger Army Ammunition Plant lands to a conservation direction in agreement with the existing landscape of protected areas within Sauk County.

The project began with CC approaching Clean Water Around Badger (CSWAB) the main community group involved with BAAP With their help, CC then created an initial proposal for the conservation and recreational use of the BAAP lands. With the development of CCCSP, CC then acted as the financial administrators for CCCSP. Now independent with non-profit status, the new group has become Sauk Prairie Conservation Alliance (SPCA).

After a hard fought 3 year educational campaign in the Sauk Prairie area, the BAAP lands are now in the process of being delegated to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR), the U.S. Department of Agriculture for the Dairy Forage Research Center and the Ho-Chuck Nation. Those groups, with the townships of Merrimac and Sumpter and Sauk County will work to form a management committee for management and development of the lands. The committee will use the Final Report developed by the Reuse Committee under Sauk County as the guiding principles for managing the BAAF lands once they are turned over to the new owners.

What became crystal clear at the Valley Stewardship Network sponsored annual festival is this: people who live in the Kickapoo Valley in southwestern Wisconsin celebrate every day. We know this from the 250 Kickapoogians of all ages who wrote poems about their sparsely populated valley to tell of their love for the region. About a third of the poems were published in a book titled "Voices of the Valley-Earth Day 2002".

The published poets were invited to read their works to valley celebrants who also came to view exhibits at the West Fork Sports Club along the Kickapoo River at Avalanche, Wisconsin. The first 2 poems in the book bear titles expressing the sense of all the others" What a Wonderful Valley" and "The Good Life".

Because it is their home and so familiar, no one had to mention that the Kickapoo is one of the most crooked rivers in the world. Its snaking route was reason to be featured in a National Geographic article about world famous rivers some years back. The Kickapoo winds for 100 miles through the valley while progressing only 33 miles from point of origin to where it empties into the Wisconsin River.

Kickapoogians love their river for its serenity when confined and for its wildness when overflowing the banks and flooding farmlands and villages. They love floating their canoes, catching the fish and observing the wildlife which go there to drink.

Besides the poetry readings, a talk was given by Roger Widner, local sportman, conservationist and President of the West Fork Sports Club where the Celebration was held. Born in the Kickapoo Valley, he talked about past work and the future of conservation in the Valley.

Outdoors, the celebrants could learn about rivers in the valley by DNR biologist Dave Ventrano who also gave a display of fish shocking.

Ben Logan, local author of "The Land Remembers", led a nature walk embellished by nature stories. As the participants celebrated along the river bank on this Earth Day, 2002, they took delight in the patches of spring beauties and blood roots at their feet and the flock of newly-returned turkey vultures circling over the high bank.

Anything this precious deserves protection. Protection comes from comprehensive planning. Leadership in organizing and planning are objectives of the Valley Stewardship Network (VSN), an independent nonprofit corporation which grew out of its base in CC. VSN is bringing together those who are already committed to conserving their natural treasures and in educating others. VSN and the Kickapoo Valley-reasons for celebration.

A proposal written by El Salvador student Karenina Morales and CC's Horwich has received funding from the Margot Marsh Biodiversity Foundation and Primate Conservation, Inc. This will allow Ms Morales to census one of the few remaining spider monkey populations in El Salvador. The scattered groups are on the Pacific coast and Morales has already been working to enlist help from the villagers of Chaguantique and Tercio, some local NGOs, and the Ministry of the Environment. Horwich will go to El Salvador to assist Morales and the villagers this summer.

The Golden Langur Conservation Project began as an offshoot of work by the Indo-US Primate Project in Assam, India. CC Director, Dr. Rob Horwich began focusing on the golden langur which is endemic to western Assam and adjacent areas in Bhutan. The golden langur's main range is within this border area but also includes smaller hill "islands".

CC began working with Nature's Foster and Green Forest Conservation (formerly Central Land and Forest Protection Committee). Nature's Foster had been focusing on the "island" population in Kaikoijana Reserve Forest. While continuing to work there they have expanded to include areas of the Manas Biosphere Reserve. Green Forest Conservation has been focusing on the western Reserve Forests and have enlisted about 50 villages in the Assam Forestry's Joint Forest Management Program. These villages will help to replant the degraded lands both to help the golden langur and to help themselves in sharing use of these reforested areas for fuelwood. Now two additional groups have joined to help protect the habitat of the golden langur. A group of young men from Koila Moila have begun to develop a tree nursery within the Manas Reserve Forest adjacent to the Manas National Park. They have formed a group called New Horizons to work with others in their area to protect the forests and wildlife.

A fourth group organized a seminar on reforesting another "island" hill habitat with golden langurs around Nayekgaon. The daylong seminar was hosted by Green Heart Nature Club and included Civil and Forest Department Authorities, local NGOs and villagers from the Nayekgaon area. Horwich and others toured the degraded area and talked with villagers about the potential project. Later at the seminar there were valuable interchanges between government officials and villagers. The officials noted the potential fbr helping the villages with developmental projects which would complement the reforestation work that would be done by the villagers.