2017 - Newsletter

Newsletter
2017

Vice President Karilyn Shephard
with President Molly R. Gaskin
KARILYN G.D SHEPHARD has long had a
passion for and commitment to the natural
environment. She joined Molly R. Gaskin
and The Pointe-a-Pierre Wildfowl Trust in
the early 1980’s and has worked as a
volunteer for the wise management of
Trinidad and Tobago’s natural environment
and for the introduction of environmental
education in schools, travelling all over
Trinidad and Tobago with audio visual
equipment and other material.
Together with Trust President Molly R. Gaskin and as members of WIDECAST
(Wider Caribbean Sea Turtle Network) she designed and co-authored Trinidad
and Tobago’s first Sea Turtle Recovery Plan, conducting weekly patrols at
Matura Beach for research and tagging. She co-designed and edited amongst
many other Trust’s publications, Trinidad and Tobago’s only comprehensive book
on “Sea Turtles & Their Habitats, T&T and the Caribbean”, and a local
comprehensive teachers’ pack on wetlands “Wonders of Wetlands”. Karilyn also
co-ordinated and implemented the visit of the Greenpeace sailing vessel “Rainbow
Warrior” to T&T to protest nuclear shipments through the Caribbean. From 1993-
1999, she served on the Board of CCA (Caribbean Conservation Association), our
regional NGO based in Barbados and from 1999 to 2002 as Vice President of the
Association. She served on the Board of Governors of the Institute of Marine
Affairs and the cabinet appointed National Wetlands Committee. She co-manages
The Pointe-a-Pierre Wildfowl Trust together with its successful breeding and
release programmes for T&T’s five species of endangered waterfowl, the country’s
threatened national bird, the Scarlet Ibis and its once locally extirpated, Blue
and Gold Macaw. She represented The Pointe-a-Pierre Wildfowl Trust at
numerous environmental
meetings, workshop conferences and symposia at home
and around the world.
Together with Molly R. Gaskin, she continues her handson
day to day involvement with all aspects of the Trust’s
work and as part of her belief and commitment, lobbies
for improved environmental policies and the wise use of
T&T’s natural habitats.
Karilyn Shephard, in 1991 with the first Scarlet Ibis
chick bred in captivity in Trinidad and Tobago at the
Pointe-a-Pierre Wildfowl Trust
Pointe-a-Pierre Wildfowl Trust Learning
Centre a gift from the Canadian Government
1983.

Another
Milestone for
the P-a-P
Wildfowl Trust
Karilyn Shephard receives The Humming Bird
Gold Medal from His Excellency Anthony
Thomas Aquinas Carmona SC ORTT, President
of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.
Receiving congratulations from
The Honourable Dr. Keith Rowley, Prime
Minister of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.
Vice President of the PaP Wildfowl Trust Karilyn has expressed hope that her
Humming Bird Medal (Gold) will bring attention to and the resolution of
environmental issues, including the poaching of Scarlet Ibis in the Caroni wetlands.
“The award”, she said, “was a wonderful surprise and completely unexpected”. The
Trust breeds Scarlet Ibis and releases them in the wetlands. She was really upset
over recent reports of Ibis poaching in the Caroni and said that not enough people
are monitoring the wetlands. She and Molly, called for more game wardens.
Karilyn said in their work to save The Nariva Wetlands one of their most powerful
tools was the economic evaluation of the ecosystem services of the wetland. One of
the challenges is getting policy makers to understand this. The Trust celebrated its
50 th anniversary in December 2016 and she describes this as a “great milestone.”
Karilyn said there are young people working at the Trust, university graduates, as
part of the succession planning.
Photo Below: Karilyn Shephard, Molly Gaskin and the “TEAM” at the Trust

The Pointe-a-Pierre
Wildfowl Trust’s 50 th
Anniversary Essay
Competition
Left: 1 st Place,
Joella Simon
Bottom Left: 2 nd
Place, Amita
Ramoutar
Bottom Right:
3 rd Place,
Arshard Assin
In commemoration of the PaP
Wildfowl Trust’s 50 th
Anniversary with the theme,
“50 Years of Firsts” the Trust
held an Essay Competition.
Students from schools all over
the country were invited to
participate. With many
entries submitted, the Trust
Team faced a difficult time in
selecting winners. Thank you
to every child that entered.
Waterfowl Releases
The Pointe-a-Pierre Wildfowl Trust continues its work in actively breeding and
releasing locally endangered wildfowl. In September and November 2016 the Trust
was able to release two flocks of pure bred Wild Muscovy Ducks (Cairina moschata).
These ducks have been doing exceptionally well in their new habitat.
Once common particularly in Nariva and the southern part of our island, The Wild
Muscovy became locally extirpated because of the relentless hunting of adults and
young. In 1985, the first pure bred Wild Muscovies were born and bred at the Trust.
Fifty birds were also released in the Nariva Wetlands later on. To date a total of
8710 birds successfully released in natural wetland areas in Trinidad.
Wildfowl Trust

Combating Climate Change Through Art
For another year the PaP Wildfowl
Trust has been funded by the German
Embassy to facilitate the Trust’s
Education Programme on Climate
Change. We visited various schools
throughout Trinidad and Tobago
showing students how to combat
Climate Change including, spreading
the message! Students participated in
an Art Competition entitled, “Climate
Change- Today and Tomorrow” where
they portrayed the earth presently
and in the future to come, if climate
change is not reversed.
Specially invited judge Mr. Clayton De Freitas with Senior Trust Educator Tamara
Goberdhan and Trust President Molly Gaskin, judging the art entries.
The Winning
Contestants
“Some may still deny the
overwhelming judgement
of science, but none can
avoid the devastating
impact of raging fires and
crippling drought and
more powerful storms.
- Barack Obama
The Pointe-a-Pierre
Wildfowl Trust team and
German Embassy
representative, Mrs.
Claudia Tietze pose with
the Art Competition
winners from both
primary and secondary
schools.

Students’ Workshop 2017
“The Importance of Conserving Wetlands”
In 2016, The PaP Wildfowl Trust accessed funding from the New
Zealand High Commission and as the main component, designed and
implemented a number of action oriented education programmes; a
Students’ Workshop where Secondary School students participated in
a hands-on wetland conservation exercise. The students were given
resources and Trust publications including the new “Wetlands and Sea
Coasts: Values and Linkages” also produced as a part of the New
Zealand High Commission Project. Another programme, a Teachers’
Workshop for teachers from all over Trinidad was held at the Trust
where they were introduced to our wetland area and investigated the
role and function of aquatic plants in supporting wetland ecosystem
services. All the programmes were well received with the students
and teachers offering to participate in more of the Trust’s
Environmental Education and Public Awareness Programmes.
Identification and values
Pond dip
Aquatic assessment
Wildfowl Trust

Feedback from Teachers
“The
Importance
of Conserving
Wetlands”

Association of Principals of Catholic Schools
Principals from Catholic schools across Trinidad visited the Trust for their semiannual
Principals’ retreat. The Principals enjoyed the Environmental Education
Programmes of the Trust and saw first hand how beneficial they are for their
students.
Environmental education
plays an important part in
Natural
Resource
Management. As pressures
now being put on our society
call for a new awareness,
embracing plants, animals,
and people.
Environmental education is important in EVERY field of learning and endeavour
and can be brought in and taught in any subject area of education.
Environmental education and Public Awareness today is a matter of Survival and
needs to be taken outdoors as well as being taught in schools.
Outdoor learning is the extension of the learning experience beyond the four walls
of the classroom, it is exciting and brings the WRITTEN WORD TO LIFE.
Part of the aim of The Trust’s Environmental Programmes is to develop proper
resource-use conscious citizens. We need to create a more caring and
environmentally conscious people, whether doctors, lawyers, politicians or
industrialists.

P-a-P Wildfowl Trust
Back in Tobago!
Climate Change,
What You Can Do?
Scarborough R.C. School
Bishop High School
In the past year the PaP Wildfowl Trust
partnered with the Embassy of the Federal
Republic of Germany to visit schools in
Tobago. Our Educators visited schools to
share information with the children of
Tobago and show them ways to minimize
and adapt to changes in the environment.
The trip to the Sister Isle was very well
received and the Trust hopes to visit more
schools in the coming year to continue to
strengthen the ties between islands as well
as to help encourage ways of protecting all
our natural resources.
Signal Hill Secondary School
Wildfowl Trust

P-a-P Wildfowl Trust
Back in Tobago!
The Importance of Wetland
Conservation
Signal Hill
Government
Primary
For the first time, The Trust was able to partner with the New Zealand High
Commission to visit schools in Tobago to talk about Wetland Conservation.
Education Officers Tamara Goberdhan and Silene Noel spoke with students of both
Primary and Secondary Schools on the many functions and roles of Wetland
Ecosystems. Students were privy to presentations and videos showcasing methods of
wetland conservation and the importance of such actions. Students were very
receptive and the Trust Educators were honoured when students of Harmon School
of SDA decided to form their very first Environmental Club, vowing to make a
difference in their school and community.
Harmon
School of
S.D.A,
Scarborough
Wildfowl Trust

Canadian High Commissioner visits the PaP
Wildfowl Trust
Her Excellency Carla
Hogan Rufelds, High
Commissioner of Canada
visited the Pointe-a-
Pierre Wildfowl Trust.
She was greeted by
Molly Gaskin (President)
and Karilyn Shephard
(Vice President/ Hon.
Treasurer) along with
the Trust Team. Book
gifts were proudly
presented.
H.E. was then taken
on a Nature Walk to
see first hand the
beauty of our
constructed wetland
inside Trinidad and
Tobago’s biggest
Petroleum Complex.
And also signed our
visitors’ book.
Gulf War Hero, Robert John Agard returns home
with family to visit the PaP Wildfowl Trust

Art Exhibit: The P-a-P Wildfowl Trust in
collaboration with The Art Society of Trinidad and
Tobago
H.E. Jules Bijl, Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
In December 2016, the PaP
Wildfowl Trust collaborated
with the Art Society of
Trinidad and Tobago to host a
Fund raiser for the Trust.
Many supporters came out to
view the art pieces and photos
based on the Flora and Fauna
seen at the Trust. “Thank you”
to all who purchased pieces in
support of the work of the
Trust.

BIOBLITZ with UWI Biological Society in
Port of Spain.
The P-a-P Wildfowl Trust joined with other NGO’s & Government Ministries in the
Nature Fair at the Botanical Gardens, coordinated by Mike Rutherford as a part of
the Port of Spain BIOBLITZ over 2 days.
Trust Educators participated in the species count in and around Port of Spain
coming up with a total of 730 species in all families reported by all groups.
Trust Education Officers show curious children the beautiful birds at the Trust
Trust display table, showing some medicinal plants.
Above: His Excellency and The Trust’s Honorary Patron: The President of the
Republic of Trinidad and Tobago Anthony Thomas Aquinas Carmona SC, ORTT
with the P-a-P Wildfowl Trust Team and Trust volunteer, Dr. Maurice Frank,
DVM.

World Wetlands Day 2017
For the entire day,
visiting
schools
celebrated World
Wetlands Day with the
team of the Trust.
Different activities
were designed and
implemented with each
school. The children
created wetland models
and also explored our
wetland habits. There
was also much
animated discussion on
their many values.
Wetlands are the best lands!
A Pretty Picture!
The Staff of the PaP
Wildfowl Trust
created Wetland
Models to
demonstrate the
importance of these
natural ecosystems.
Students were able
to see and observe
the different
dynamics of
wetlands and how
they serve to
protect, not only the
wildlife that live in
them, but US as
well. From forests to
flood plains to sea
coasts and coral
reefs students were
exposed to the roles
and functions of
each area.

World Environment Day 2017
“Connecting People to Nature”
Celebrating World Environment Day, Trust Education Officers visit Biche
Presbyterian Primary School and Biche Secondary School to talk about Climate
Change and celebrate World Environment Day!
Pre-schoolers from Cedar Grove Private
school “connect with nature”, exploring
outdoors in our wetland habitat with
Trust Education Officers.
TASTY!!! Students of St. Joseph
Government Primary experience
the taste of Pomerac flowers as
Snr. Education Officer Tamara
Goberdhan explains the uses of the
flower and fruit at the Trust.
Happy Hill Hindu Primary visited the Trust
and enjoyed making their own ‘Connections’
with self- decorated “paper people”

Scarlet Ibis Hatchings
Left: Doting mother & Ibis Chicks
Above: Juvenile Ibis beginning to
attain adult plumage.
Below: Ibis chicks waiting for their
next meal.
Scarlet Ibis (Eudocimus ruber). First
breeding at PaP Wildfowl Trust in 1991
with 105 bred to date; 2 releases, 1999
& 2007. A total of 78 birds released in
the wild, West coast Trinidad. A few
pairs bred & released at the PaP
Wildfowl Trust stayed around for
approximately 2 years, nested and
bred in the Trust's environs before
flying off eventually with their fledged
young to join other flocks. In 2017, the
Trust welcomed two more Ibis babies.

Debe Secondary School Scouts
The Pointe-a-Pierre Wildfowl Trust has always been actively involved in having
volunteers learn about Environmental Conservation. Annually, the Trust has an
active volunteer and internship programme. From March 2017, the Trust continued
with its role as mentor in environmental conservation with the Debe Secondary
School Scouts Group. To gain their Conservation Badge the Scouts participated in a
number of the Trust's Environmental programmes.
Painting the pots to “show-off” the plants
and their beautiful flowers
Giving the Aviculture Team’s workstation
a ‘face-lift’
On a Nature Walk and exploring the Trust’s Hiking Trail, Forest Walk with
Trust Educator Jaleen West.
Forest Walk, an interpretative trail, designed to focus on the value and linkages of
Forest Trees is used in our Environmental Education Programme. Forests have
sustained life on earth from time immemorial. They supply food, medicine, energy,
shelter, wood and non- wood products. All species of plant life are used in some way
by wildlife and by humans.
Home to many forms of life, they play an essential role environmentally, in
particular to maintain biodiversity, conserve soil and water and stabilize our
climate. They also sustain and are linked to other ecosystems, from plains and
savannahs to wetlands and coral reefs.

Arthur Ashe Institute collaborates
with Wildfowl Trust
Below:
At UWI St Augustine,
Trust Education Officer
Silene Noel offers a few
words of encouragement
to the students who
participated in the
Arthur
Ashe
Programme. Every
year, AAIUH partners
with The PaP Wildfowl
Trust and other NGOs to
conduct
programmes.
research
Dr. Maurice Frank,
DVM: “Public Health and
Disaster Management”
Participants in the Programme
Left: Reanna Ramkeesoon and
Shamaii Gaspard, students who
worked with the PaP Wildfowl
Trust through the AAIUH posing
with their poster designed to
portray their research findings.

Red- Bellied Macaws (Ara manilata)
In August 2017, the PaP Wildfowl Trust Team became aware of a sound not
usually heard, made by the avian residents of the Trust. Upon further
investigation we all spied a pair of Red-Bellied Macaws, and we realized that the
pair had come to make a home in the Moriche palms that grow at the Trust. It
was soon after that, that we noted the pair was actually a family of four!
An intrinsic part of the avian fauna of the Nariva Wetlands includes the
endangered Blue & Gold Macaws (Ara ararauna). This species, bred at the Trust
has been re-introduced into the Nariva Wetlands. The population of Red-Bellied
Macaws(Ara manilata) has diminished severely over recent years.
The struggle by the PaP Wildfowl Trust to save the viability and the ecosystem
services of this valuable coastal wetland together with the community of smallscale
rice-farmers, fishermen and farmers included the need to conserve the high
species diversity there. The Forest Act of the Government of T & T declared the
Nariva Wetlands as a Protected Area in 1968. Further as a result of the
persistent lobbying of the P-a-P Wildfowl Trust, the Nariva Wetlands was made
our first RAMSAR site in 1993 and an Environmentally Sensitive Area in
2006 under the EMA Act.

New Zealand High Commissioner visits
the Trust
The New Zealand High Commissioner
Her Excellency Jan Henderson and
assistant Rachel Pringle are
welcomed by Trust President, Molly
Gaskin, Vice President, Karilyn
Shephard and Senior Education
Officer Tamara Goberdhan.
H.E. meets Frankie, the Trust’s Blue and Gold Macaw who features in our Awareness
and Education Programme about locally Endangered species.
H.E. on a Nature Walk around the Trust’s Main Breeding Lake with the Trust’s Senior
Education Officer Tamara Goberdhan.
In recognition of H.E.’s presentation of a beautiful book featuring New Zealand,
Molly and Karilyn presented H.E. with a copy of the Trust’s 50 th Anniversary Book.

Climate Change, Sea Level
Rise affecting Chatham,
Granville, Cedros & Icacos
Through the funded Climate Change
Programme with the Embassy of the
Republic of Germany, the P-a-P
Wildfowl Trust’s Education Officers
travelled with a group of students to
Cedros, Icacos, Chatham and
Granville to see for themselves,
study & report the effects of Sea
Level Rise, Global Warming &
Climate Change in these coastal
areas as part of the Trust’s
Educational and Public Awareness
Programme on Climate Change.
This workshop excursion is a
component of the Trust’s Climate
Change Programme that has been
funded by this Embassy for the past
6 years.
Chatham
Granville
Icacos

Butterflies of the Trust
Monarch Butterfly,
Danaus plexippus
Donkey Eye
Junonia genoveva
genoveva
Ricini Longwing,
Heliconius ricini
Gold Rim Swallowtail,
Battus polydamus
polydamus
Postman Butterfly
Heliconius melpomene
Banded Banner,
Pyrrhogyra
neaerea)
Malachite Butterfly,
Siproeta stelenes
Coolie/ Red Peacock,
Anartia amathea
Green-banded Urania,
Urania leilus
White Peacock,
Anartia jatrophae
Sweet Oil Butterfly,
Mechanitis lysimnia elisa
Southern Tiger
Pierid Butterfly,
Perrhybris pamela
malenka

Copper- Rumped Himmingbird
(Amazilia tobaci ) at the Pointea-Pierre
Wildfowl Trust on the
Vervain Plant (Stachytarpheta
jamaicensis)
Our very special thanks and acknowledgement to those who have helped us with our
50 th Anniversary celebrations. The Office of the President of the Republic of Trinidad
and Tobago, the Rt. Hon. The Baroness Scotland of Asthal PC QC. Commonwealth
Secretary General. Atlantic, the Inter-American Development Bank, Caribbean Airlines,
Shell Trinidad Ltd., The Massy Foundation, Trinidad and Tobago Postal Corporation,
Parc Disposals Ltd., the Petroleum Company of Trinidad and Tobago Ltd, Mr. Philip
Marshal, Mr. Jeremy Matouk, Mr. Christian Moutett, Mr. Joseph Fernandes, Mr. Thomas
J. Williams, Mr. Clayton De Freitas, past President of the Art Society of Trinidad and
Tobago and his executive and the participating Artists.
Many, many people are important to the Trust, to our Patron Mr. Fitzroy Harewood,
your support means a lot to us, thank you! A special thanks to many Petrotrin
employees for their support; Suzanne Dean, Clyne La Borde, and his team, Rawle
Samlal; Pump Department Team; Mr. Wellington and his team; Superintendent Kamaldeo
Ramkissoon, Acting Chief Security Officer and the ESU Team, Petrotrin Security, Samson
Paul and his team; Dion Mclean-Gittens, Ray Mitchell, Bearl Yuille and the ICT team;
Cadman Myers, Gillian Friday and her team.
Many thanks to Nicholas Hassanali, Mark Boosooboy, Rishi Goordial, Anthony Le
Gendre, Dr. Annushka Seemungal, Fayard Mohammed, Larry Khan, Silene Noel and
Jaleen West for your photographs.
To the previous Shell Country Chairman, Mr. Luis Prado and Mr. Mark Regis Head
Government Relations and Corporate Communications, Shell, warmest thanks. To Mr.
Gerard Mitchell and Nigel Martin thank you for your long standing and unstinting
support.
Mr. Gordon Dean, Mrs. Toni Sirju- Ramnarine, Mr. Derek Daniel, Mr. Anil Seunath and
Mrs. Susan Benaserie- Kerue. Mr. Nicky Maharaj, Mr. V Bissessar, Mrs. Sharon Gunness-
Balkissoon, Mr. Christian Moutett, Ms. Gail Sandiford, Ms. Alison Sinanan, Mr. George
Haloute and family, Mr. Ronald Cabral, Mr. Peter Daniel, Mr. Eugen Tiah, Mrs. Cheryl
Edwards, Mrs. Yvette Maynard Greenidge, Ms. Ann Marie Isaac, Mrs. Pamela Niamath,
Mr. Peter Mc Cartney, Mrs. Sian Aboud, Mr. Luke Sheppard, Mr. Bruce Roberts, Mr. Chris
Khan, Mr. Stephen Badrie, Ms. Kathya Chacon, Mr. Allen Neptune and Mr. Keith
Thompson, our sincere thanks for your support year after year.
To Rory and Bunty O’Connor and George De Verteuil, for their unwavering help and
commitment and for keeping Forest Walk and the Boardwalk Hillside planted with many
important and beautiful trees. To Dr. Thalia Martin DVM and Michael Diptee DVM, Mr.
Glen Cheeseman, Jeremy and Michelle Matouk, Mrs. Stacy-Lee Daniel, Mr. Russell
Martineau QC, Prof. Richard Brathwaite, our warmest thanks. To Peter and Chauncey
Moll, the late Sandy Gibson, Mr. David Coelho, Mrs. Sally Callender, Mrs. Nicole Joseph
and family, Mr. Rick Lambkin, Mrs. Pat Villafana, Mr. David Pampellone, Roy and
Rosanna Peake, Mrs. Vianda Guevarra and Mr. Rhett Gordon, Thank you for your help
through out the Years.
Special thanks to Mr. Sterling Frost First Citizens Bank (FCB) and to their Corporate
Communications team for their support.
To all those who have supported us from the very beginning, We could not have done it
without you!