2006-7 annual report - Nature Conservation Foundation

start of the breeding season (February-March). It appears
that Wreathed hornbills are not resident or are
present in very low numbers during the winter months
with only 13 sightings between October and January
(non-breeding season), while in the breeding season
(February to May) there were more sightings (25). Encounter
rates were low in the months of October and
November, with no Wreathed hornbills seen in December-January.
Wreathed hornbills re-appeared in the
area again at the commencement of the breeding season
in February. Wreathed Hornbills appear to be seminomadic
and move into higher areas during periods of
fruit scarcity. Great Hornbill abundance does not vary
seasonally and they are resident throughout the year in
lowland forests.
Establishing baselines: long-term monitoring of threatened wildlife with local communities in
two important protected areas in Arunachal Pradesh, north-east India
The monitoring of wildlife populations is an important
component of a wildlife conservation program. In the
Namdapha National Park, the single largest threat is
hunting by humans: therefore our efforts focused on
establishing the impacts of hunting on wildlife populations.
We targeted species known to be most affected by
hunting —terrestrial mammals and large birds (pheasants
and hornbills)—for monitoring. We aim to use this
research to assess our community-based conservation
initiatives: we expect that a reduction in hunting within
Namdapha National Park will result in recovery of animal
populations. The current estimates will serve as a
baseline for future comparisons. We also monitor similar
faunal groups in Pakke Wildlife Sanctuary in order
to make spatial comparisons between two of the most
important PAs in Arunachal Pradesh.
We set up a wildlife monitoring system with
trained local villagers (tribal ex-hunters) at Pakke WLS
and Namdapha NP, two important Protected Areas in
Arunachal Pradesh that are both tiger reserves. Camera
trapping to record species richness and relative abundance
for species threatened by hunting was established.
For the first time systematic monitoring protocols using
camera traps have been used in Protected Areas in
North-east India. Seven field staff (4 in Namdapha, 3 in
Pakke) from local communities (tribal ex-hunters) have
been trained and assist in the field monitoring effort. In
addition, 2 graduate students, 1 volunteer, and 8 other
tribal youth were involved in the 3 month field monitoring
effort in Namdapha this year.
Wildlife monitoring in Pakke WLS & TR
Trail monitoring in Pakke WLS
A total of 11 trails were marked and walked an average
of 8 times with 182 km walked between 2004 and
2006 in which 18 species were observed, including four
ungulate species, three primate species, four squirrel
species, three pheasant and three hornbill species. The
encounter rates are summarized in Table 1.
Camera trap surveys in Pakke WLS
The number of mammal species in key faunal groups is
reported to be 45, while through our surveys, direct and
indirect evidence for 34 were recorded. In Pakke, pilot
camera trap surveys were conducted sporadically between
Dec 2005 and May 2006 and September - October
2006 with a total trapping effort of 231 trap nights
that resulted in photo captures for 14 larger mammal
species.
Wildlife monitoring in Namdapha NP & TR
The number of large mammal species in key faunal
groups is reported to be 56 in Namdapha. We recorded
21 of these on camera traps, while 27 others were recorded
by other methods or reliable evidence. No direct
or indirect recent evidence could be found for 8 species.
Although no evidence for tiger and elephant presence
was found in winter 2006-07, we include them as still
present based on indirect evidence seen in 2004-06.
In the first year (winter 2005-06) with 10 camera
trap units, we had a limited sampling effort of 364 trap
nights at Namdapha. In winter 2006-07, a large-scale
camera trapping survey was carried out in the 1,985
km 2 Namdapha National Park. Our intensive study area
of 1200 km 2 encompassed the moist evergreen forests
below 2000 m of the park. A uniform grid (3 x 3 km)
was imposed on a map of the area. Of the 130 grids covering
the study area, a random selection of 80 grids was
made. With only 16 km of motorable road, all field work
was carried out on foot. Given logistic difficulties in the
hilly terrain, limitations of time, manpower and equipment,
sampling was carried out between October 2006
annual
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