|
Micronesian Islands Conservation News |
|---|
January 1999 Contributors: Harvey Segal, Bill Raynor, and Karl Brookins
Micronesian Islands Conservation Inc. (M.I.C.) is a local non-governmental agency, chartered by the FSM Natural government to do environmental projects.
Frankhard Dupange, a Belgian citizen, lived several year of his childhood on Pohnpei. He was related to Carlos Etscheitts wife who was also a Dupange before she was married to Carlos.
Mr. Dupagne recently passed away so his wife and the school where he worked wanted to do something in his memory. He had fond recollections of his childhood on Pohnpei, often telling others about the beautiful environment. Mrs. Dupagne found MIC on the web and contacted us about making a donation to MIC in his name. She asked about environmental projects MIC has participated in and we have e-mailed her an accounting of the past few years as well as how to send money electronically to our MIC account.
We feel MIC is honored to accept this donation in memory of Frankhard Dupagne. The MIC Board will meet very soon and finalize plans for this years project.
The Embassy of Japan to the FSM has announced a grant of US $17,500 for a vehicle and supplies to support the replanning of Pohnpei Island’s lowland farming areas following the recent El Ni�o drought. The grant contract was signed by Mr. Takeo Tashikawa, Chard d’Affairs ad interim of the Embassy of Japan, and Mr. Bill Raynor, FSM Country Program Director for The Nature Conservancy, The Nature Conservancy’s FSM Field Office located in Pohnpei. This is the fourth year that the Japanese Government has made available small grant funding under the Grant Assistance for Grass Roots Projects scheme to the FSM.
The funding will be used to support the on-going "Grow Low" Campaign, sponsored by The Nature Conservancy, the Pohnpei State Department of Resources Management and Development, College of Micronesia Cooperative Extension Services, and the USDA Nature Conservative Service. The Campaign was launched earlier this year in response to the drought and the rapid loss of Pohnpei’s upland forests, mainly due to the cultivation of sakau. Between 1975 and 1995, nearly 2/3’s of the island’s forest was converted to uses, mainly sakau plantations. This large decease in Pohnpei’s forested areas has caused a number of environmental problems, including:
The "Grow Low" Campaign goals include:
The grant was awarded under the "Small Scale Grant Assistance" scheme of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Under this program, Japanese Embassies and Consulates in eligible countries can award grants to grassroots organizations for their work in key development sector, such as the environment, public health, women in development, poverty alleviation, and education.
According to Adelino Lorens, Deputy Chief of the Pohnpei Office Agriculture and Forestry, "After the devastating El Nino-related drought earlier this last year, we sincerely appreciate the Government of Japan’s generous support for our on-going lowland crop replanting campaign."
The Nature Conservancy is an international non-governmental organization. Its mission is to preserve the plants, animals, and natural communities that represent the diversity of life on Earth by preserving the lands and waters they need to survive. Operating in the United States for over forty years, the Conservancy also has Latin American/Caribbean and Asia/Pacific regional programs that focus on the conservation of living resources outside the United States. In the Federated States of Micronesia, The Nature Conservancy is working closely with the island’s traditional leaders and the various agencies of the Pohnpei State Government to implement a community-based resource management program for the island.
The Snake that was reported on Nukuoro island was not the Brown Tree Snake. Dr. Buden from the College was finally able to see it and identified it as the Yellow Bellied Sea-Snake; a species that does not usually go on the land. The Yellow bellied sea-snake is a reptile and breathes air into lungs, not relying on gills like eels and fish. Reproduction and live birth are all done at sea, like sea mammals do. Sea snakes can hold their breath for fairly long periods. We’d like to remind everyone that we have expertise on reptile and bird identification.
The Unfinished Bird Survey
The second Bird Survey MIC participated in with Dr. Buden, Pohnpei State Foresters, and some local guides, never received the data from the US Fish & Wildlife Service. To enable a comparison with the first Bird Survey done by Fish & Wildlife staff from Hawaii.
We believe that changes in bird population have occurred and may reveal the health of the rainforest, our water shed as well as the bird numbers. Local people believe the pigeon population is down. This is probably true but for multiple reasons. The pigeon on Pohnpei and Kosrae was heavily hunted by the Japanese. It seems that local hunting as well as forest cutting has furthered the downsizing of the pigeon population.
It may be wise for Pohnpei State to consider a 5 or 6 year moratorium on pigeon hunting to allow the population to recover.
The alternative is to let the pigeon disappear. This could also affect the reproduction of some forest trees.
from Karl Brookins
Learning first hand about Micronesia and tropical environments was one reason I pulled up my roots and transplanted to Pohnpei. It was in this spirit of learning that I agreed to abandon the comforts of civilization and trek for five days across the uninhabited mountains of Pohnpei. Along the way from Kitti to Kolonia I observed everything I could about the forest and learned what the center of the island was like; it was warm, wet, and more uninhabited with diversity of animals, plants and fungi than I expected.
The forest trees transitioned from many tall species to relatively few short species as we climbed closer to the ridge tops. The cloud forest, which caps the highest peaks, was dominated by short trees wearing thick coats of furry moss. The other prominent plants were ferns. The expedition overlooked the entire island except Sokehs Rock at one time or another. Views form the top of Pohnpei are good when clouds allow them. Most views were glimpses because of heavy clouds cover. Large fern meadows that have developed in ridge-top burn areas offer great views and were welcome open-stretches to jungle trekkers. From the ridge tops we could see the barrier reef and had a startling view of Ant Atoll.
The rain was plentiful, keeping us wet almost constantly, but never as intense as I have experienced in the lower elevations. The palms offer an amount of rain protection and often had water streaming down their trunks. The temperature was cooler than civilized Pohnpei. The hike was strenuous. Footing was poor and slippery for much of the walking. Hill slopes were generally steep. Ridge-crests were as narrow as four feet with precipitous drops making them dangerous. However, bugs were scarce, except at the rock shelter, but water was easy to find.
The forest was surprisingly absent of human impact. I noticed two survey markers, one piece of flagging tape, one campsite, one trail, one Japanese bottle and two palm trees cut by a previous machete. However, our trail was very obvious and will take months to disappear. Encounters occurred with birds, lizards, bats (large and small), toads, snails, shrimp, and eels, but only birds and lizards numbered over ten. Two roosters discussed their relative locations near us during one lunch break. Deer pellets and tracks were present along the high ridges, but I failed to see anything that struck me as reasonable forage. I observed feral cat scats each day.
Newsletter posted to the web by: Dana Lee Ling
MIC Board Member 1995 - Present
Newsletter edited by: Benson Moses
December 1996 Board Meeting
Sakau en Pohnpei Nights home page
Link list: Pohnpei and Micronesia
URL: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/danaleeling/mic9901.htm