Our new Community and Conservation (C&C) Ranger Project builds on the support provided to-date, and the experience we’re gaining through the establishment of our Munywana, Greater Kruger, Benguerra, Mnemba, Nyekweri and Lake Manyara C&C Ranger Projects.
The Nyekweri Forest Community-based Restoration and Conservation Project is structured around 5 complimentary elements:
- We have employed a team of 3 Community & Conservation Rangers, who are supervised by the local Africa Foundation Project Officer (Simon Saitoti) and operate from Saparingo Primary School, which is centrally situated within community next door to the offices of the Kimintet Community Forest Conservation Trust.
- The expansion of the Echo Programme to include the development and delivery of curriculum aligned Primary School lessons and activities, emphasizing the biodiversity and conservation importance of Nyekweri Forest and the extended Masai Mara conservation area.
- The establishment and operation of an indigenous tree nursery at the Conservancy and Saparingo Primary School, that will be run by the Community & Conservation Rangers together with the school teachers and scholars.
- The implementation of a structured forest restoration process, planting out the seedlings propagated at the Saparingo nursery across areas that have been cleared for charcoal production, with the intention of planting out over 20,000 seedlings per annum.
- The development of a structured biodiversity monitoring and survey process. This will have 2 complimentary elements:
- Trail Camera based passive monitoring of animal movements through the forest, aimed at identifying the primary areas used by elephant and other priority species;
- Biodiversity surveys, led by Kenya specialists, aimed at progressively developing an in-depth understanding of the Nyekweri Forest biodiversity, including mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, arthropods and the plant groups.