Ranomafana Reforestation Project
Varic
Varic is our project mascot for the children's environmental education activities. He is modeled after the Black-and-White Ruffed Lemur, Varecia variegata variegata, which primarily lives in old-growth, pristine forest in Madagascar.
Project Purpose: The purpose of the Ranomafana Reforestation Project is threefold: 1) To restore native forest trees of value to both the local people and wildlife to the peripheral zone of Ranomafana National Park, Madagascar and to ultimately design a strategy for future sustainable harvest and use of these trees, 2) To research the process of reforestation in the eastern tropical rain forest zone of Madagascar, and 3) To educate both children and adults on the importance of and the science behind native tree reforestation.
Location and Collaborators: The perimeter of Ranomafana National Park (RNP) is a unique place to begin a reforestation project. RNP is composed of over 45,000 ha of lowland, cloud, and high altitude rain forests and is home to 12 species of lemurs, 106 species of birds, and an uncounted diversity of reptiles, amphibians, plants, and insects. From the beginning, we have collaborated closely with ICTE (the Institute for the Conservation of Tropical Environments) and MICET (the Malagasy Institute for the Conservation of Tropical Environments), which along with biological and cultural researchers from around the world, have been working in and around RNP for over 20 years. Building on these existing foundations, we have established a strong base of trust and an excellent working relationship with the local community.
Top left: This project was initiated through the help of Justin Tongavelona (center) who was the spiritual leader, president, and medicine man of our first target village, Ambotovory. Right: Tongavelona's son (Jean Modeste) and grandson plant the first trees for the project on their family land in 2000. Bottom left: Student Jared Schickling conducted worked with villagers in Ambotovory during the early stages of this project to incorporate their ideas into the project plan, including their desire to reforest buffers around old-growth forest to protect the final resting place of their ancestors.
Significance of Project: The importance of the Ranomafana Reforestation Project became clear to the project directors during a study of the behavior and ecology of the hawks and eagles of the park in June 1999. After a short absence of the research team of less than 3 months, five hawk nests in unprotected areas outside of the park were lost to slash-and-burn rice production and hunting. Birds of prey have long been viewed as a sensitive indicator of the health and viability of an ecosystem; thus nothing could offer a clearer picture of the problems Madagascar is facing than their burned and slashed nests. The implication is simple: we need to actively work to restore degraded landscapes for sustainable harvest before local people are forced to exploit the natural resources in Madagascar's unique protected areas. We are working on the integration of our projects into the Ranomafana region in hopes that by involving the youth of today in environmental education and land stewardship, there will be a future tomorrow.
The results of a survey conducted in November-December 2000 by Jarred Schickling, a student volunteer, with 30 men and women from 3 peripheral zone villages further stress the significance of this project. The interview questions concerned what the villagers use the forest for today, what they see as needing the forest for in the future, their estimates of forest availability today and in the future, and their opinions on and interest in reforestation. The major recurrent theme of the peoples' responses was a concern over forest availability in the near future and an urgent desire to be involved with a reforestation project that would restore forests of economic and survival value to the area. From these and subsequent interviews and interactions with local and regional stakeholders, we designed an economic structure for a sustainable reforestation project in the Ranomafana region that we hope may be applied in other regions of Madagascar. We are currently working on a paper describing a sustainable structure for this project.
Left: The reforestation team and participants in the village of Ambotovory in December 2000 after the first planting of trees grown in local village nurseries. Upper right: Nemese, the Ranomfana Tree Nursery Director, tending to some of the 5000 native tree seedlings grown annually in the central nursery. Bottom right: An Ambotovory villager transporting native tree seedlings from his personal tree nurseries to his land for planting.
Project Progress to Date: Reforestation and Plant Research: In December 1999, we partnered with ICTE to establish a native-tree farm in the village of Ranomafana. From December 1999 to November 2000, the local tree farm staff collected seeds from the forests around Ranomafana National Park and grew over 2500 native seedlings in the tree nursery. Trees included those of medicinal and food value to the local people and of food and habitat value to the wildlife. A complete list of trees currently being propagated can be provided upon request.
In December 2000, 12 families in the village of Ambotovory voluntarily signed a contract with our project to participate in native-tree reforestation. In December 2000, 2000 trees were planted on a donated plot of land in Ambotovory and are being monitored annually by the tree farm team (1 nursery director, 4 assistants) for survival rates. In February and March 2001, the tree nursery team held a series of workshops for the 12 volunteer families from Ambotovory on tree farm construction and maintenance and then assisted the families in establishing and collecting seeds for personal tree farms with a starting capacity of 250 trees per family. Additionally during this time, the Ranomafana tree nursery was expanded to its current capacity of 5000 trees. The trees from these private nurseries and the Ranomafana Nursery are planted on private land in December and January of each year (>5000 native trees planted per year in peripheral zone region of RNP).
At this time, we currently have more requests for native trees for planting (from private land owners, hotel owners, etc.) than we have capacity. Our next step is to seek a volunteer who may assist us in developing a business plan for the tree nursery so that we can use profits from the sale of the trees to support the nursery staff and operations costs.
© S.M. Karpanty
© S.M. Karpanty
Left: Students from the Ambodikimba elementary school with the trees that they grew while participating in the school-based native tree reforestation program. Right: Each of nine schools participating in the program receives laboratory manuals for the students and supplies and training for their own school-based tree nursery.
Conservation Education: In December 2000, we wrote a laboratory manual for reforestation which has now been translated to Malagasy and Spanish and is being distributed to students in participating schools around Ranomafana National Park. This laboratory manual is used by the students and teachers to understand the process of reforestation occurring in the surrounding communities and it leads them in hands-on involvement in the reforestation project. Hands-on involvement of the children is possible as the tree farm team constructed a small tree farm (capacity=500 seedlings) at each school. The reforestation laboratory manual leads the children in lessons on reforestation and the scientific method and provides them with the knowledge and tools to make observations and collect data on the trees in their own nursery. A copy of the laboratory manual can be provided upon request.
Future Goals and Objectives: Following are the project goals for 2008-2010.
- Habitat Restoration
- To continue seed collection and maintain the capacity of the Ranomafana tree nursery (5000 trees) and the private nurseries in Ambotovory (12*250 trees).
- To plant the trees produced by the nurseries on private land in the peripheral zone of RNP.
- To interview participant families and schools on their involvement in the project and to discuss ideas of sustainable involvement
- To expand this program to other villages interested in participating. Many villages have expressed interest but funds have prohibited expansion.
- To develop and implement a business plan so that sales of native trees from the central Ranomafana tree nursery may provide a sustainable source of income for operations of the tree nursery
- Plant Research
- To tag planted trees and to continue to monitor DBH, height, and survival rates of trees annually.
- To compile a database of tree information for analyses.
- To publish this information as a scientific article and as a practical guide for use by other projects in Madagascar.
- Conservation Education
- To maintain tree nurseries and use of the reforestation manual at the participating schools
- To raise funds to expand this program to other interested schools in the region.
"Time is running out." An artistic rendering of the "future of Madagascar" for an art competition commissioned by Odyssey Science Magazine for our project. This drawing was made by a middle-school student in Missouri, United States in 2001.