August 17th Update regarding Earthwath-SLWCS Program in Wasgamuwa, Sri Lanka

August 17, 2006

 

Dear Earthwatch Members,

 

The month of July was a hectic month in more ways than one and was also a good learning experience for some. 

 

I arrived in Wasgamuwa on Friday the 21st of July.  As Saturday was a holiday all of the volunteers had gone to visit Polonnaruwa, the second historical Capital City of Sri Lanka. Georgina, an Earthwatch team member, Lisa the Co-PI in charge of the Leopard Research Project and Helen one of our long term volunteers had preferred to stay at Wasgamuwa to rest.  In the afternoon Helen fell ill and since her condition was not improving, after a quick consultation with Chandeep, I decided to take her to a hospital in Colombo.  Field Scout Leader Thushara and his assistant Mahesh were left in charge while I took Helen to hospital.  I was thankful that Georgina and Lisa accompanied me since this made Helen feel more comfortable and also made sure her needs were taken care of at the hospital as I wouldn’t have been able to stay with her during some of the medical examinations.  Helen was released about a week later from hospital and the problem was a gastric problem that Helen had chosen not to disclose to her doctor or parents.  This is a very good example why it is vitally important that volunteers signing up to work on our projects inform us about all and any medical issues they might have. 

 

As a contingency plan we had to move everyone temporarily from our Irriyagasulpotha field base site to the Pussellayaya field base.  We made the decision to bring everyone to one field site to ensure their safety as well as to make sure their needs were taken care of.  At Pussellayaya we used tents for 5 days. The tents were provided with mattresses and all the men had to sleep in the tents.  A standby vehicle was also arranged for any eventuality and I kept in constant touch with Thushara.

 

After admitting Helen to the hospital I left for Wasgamuwa the following day, Sunday, July23^rd.  When I arrived at Pussellayaya I was informed that one of the Earthwatch volunteers had brought alcohol to the field site and had been drinking continuously since yesterday. He had not participated in the research work either for obvious reasons.  In fact he was still drinking when I arrived at Pussellayaya that evening.  As the PI of the project I had to reprimand him severely and stressed his behavior will not be tolerated and that I would take action to inform Earthwatch as well as evict him from the field site if this behavior continued.  I also held a meeting to ensure that the other volunteers understood the gravity of indulging in this kind of behavior which is a direct contravention of our Code of Ethics.  The afore mentioned volunteer understood the gravity of the situation, apologized for his behavior and promised not do it again.

 

I am mentioning this in this update so that everyone understands the importance of adhering to our Code of Conduct since it is there to provide guidance for volunteers to get the maximum enjoyment from their experience at our project.  Additionally we have been working in the area since 1997 and it is our responsibility to ensure the safety, security and privacy of our village hosts, thus we have to be vigilant and strict that all SLWCS project staff, volunteers and visitors abide by our Code of Conduct. .

 

Apart from the above incident, the second half of the program was highly productive. We were able to continue the road and trail transects started by previous Earthwatch teams.

 

Tank monitoring was conducted in four tanks and we observed a significant increase in the number of dung piles at Weheragalagama tank.  The dung count has increased from 24 to 89 individual piles. This could be due to the prevailing dry season and to the fact that water is getting scarce inside the forest.

 

We spent four nights in the tree hut during the second half of the program. One team observed two bull elephants by the tank and two teams heard trumpeting and the sounds of elephants feeding close by to the tree hut.

 

Fifteen households were surveyed for our Citrus Project which is a pre-evaluation survey to understand villagers’ perspective about the project.   Almost all the volunteers were very interested in interviewing villagers as it allowed them to interact with them closely and enabled them to understand their way of life to a certain extent.

 

On the last evening I had a meeting to summarize the work that the volunteers had done and explained to them how their work contributes to the overall research and conservation efforts.  We also spent time getting feedback and answering questions about the project and SLWCS.  This was very productive since by then they were familiar with the research activities and were able to clear any doubts they had on the methodologies that we were using.  The team members also got a good understanding of how the data which they collected could be used and the importance of it for our elephant conservation work.

 

I look forward to meeting the seven members of Earthwatch Team 4 and returning Earthwatch Team 2 member, Katie, who will be using her expertise and knowledge about the various insurance policies to help develop an insurance scheme for us to offer farmers whose crops are damaged by elephants. We will be staying at the campsite this time.

 

Wishing you all the very best,

 

Sincerely,

 

Harsha

 

Update from Wasgamuwa - Team 3

July 21, 2006

 

Dear Earthwatch Members,

 

I was pleased to be at Wasgamuwa to welcome the 6 members of our latest Earthwatch team. We had decided to use both of our Wasgamuwa bases for this project to give us better access to the leopard and elephant research sites. After the teams arrived we took them to the Irriyagasulpotha campsite for their orientation and dinner. On Monday morning we split into two teams. Ali, Ben and Georgi went on Tank Monitoring to the Weheragalagama Tank, which does not seem to be used much by elephants at the moment. Jacqueline, John and Virginia went on the Leloya-Pallegama Transect which is 6 kilometer with Lisa and Chandima where they found 4 dung piles. Two weeks ago Team Two found 81 dung piles along this same trail. This is interesting as the elephants could be simply moving through the area or have resided there for a few days/weeks and then moved out. This is the type of research activity where having a consistently high number of volunteers is a huge help since we are able to do such transects weekly to get a better understanding of elephant movement patterns over the year.

 

Unfortunately on Tuesday night both Harsha and myself had to leave as Harsha's 1-year old son was very ill and needed immediate medical attention/hospitalization. I came down with a serious bronchial infection that totally incapacitated me.  I am writing this while recuperating from my bout of illness. Chandima, our well experienced Project Manager for Biodiversity and GIS and Chinthaka our Wasgamuwa Logisitics and Operations Manager will be leading the teams along with the field scouts until Harsha returns on the weekend.  Prior to leaving on Tuesday night Harsha took the whole team to the Park where they saw 51 elephants and got "mock" charged.  Last week Lisa Haberl who is leading our leopard research project had a similar hair-raising experience when the Land Rover she was in was charged on three occasions.  The last one by a bull measuring over 10 feet and weighing close to 10,000 lbs. Lisa who has worked in the Serengeti Lion Project says even in Africa she had never had such an exciting experience.

 

Since we left the team members continued work on our citrus project, elephant density surveys and transects. Cellular phones working on the local CELLTEL network now work in the field and the team can be reached on 072-4655022 and (072) 465-5086 as well as on the numbers that were given previously. Harsha's son is better now and he left for Wasgamuwa this morning.

 

The whole team has just left for Polonnaruwa and will be there the whole of Saturday for a well deserved rest.

 

Chandeep

Earthwatch-SLWCS Team 2 -Final Update.

Dear Friends,

It was a great pleasure to host Earthwatch team members, Charish, Kate, Katie and Angela at our project sites at Wasgamuwa. Due to the birth of my firstborn baby girl (Mishaal) I was unable to join them in the field where so much had been accomplished during their stay of two weeks. During these 2 weeks in the field we were able to do 9 transects of which 4 were totally new trail transects where 4 leopard scat were collected. On the Galgedawela transect we came across a leopard kill of a Sambar (Cervus unicolor) which is the largest deer species in Sri Lanka. Unfortunately it was in this same area where we lost 2 cameras previously so no cameras were set up but full details of the kill were collected, including photos from all possible angles and samples of tissue and hair.

During the past two weeks we also started to monitor a new tank (Kongolla), which had over 15 dung piles around it. One night was spent camping in the Wasgamuwa National Park to increase our chances of spotting that elusive leopard. The advantage to camping in the Park is that it allows us to travel in the park until late sometimes as late as 7 or 8 pm and also gives us the opportunity to leave very early in the morning to the core areas where there is the most likelihood of spotting leopards. We will be also starting a secondary leopard survey where the game guards of the Wasgamuwa National Park will be asked to record all sightings of leopards so that we will have a good understanding of their movements inside the park. Hopefully if we can find the funds we will provide them with low cost digital cameras to photograph the leopards they come across. By analyzing the different spot patterns on their faces, body and tails we will be able to find out how many leopards inhabit certain parts of the Park as well as their sex composition and population structure. During one of the nights spent in the tree hut one of the teams was lucky to observe elephants.

All the other routine research activities were conducted according to the regular schedule. From our Elephant Damage Surveys it is becoming increasingly clear that if we are to continue with these surveys we need to provide some direct help or aid to the affected families - otherwise it will be difficult for us to continue to survey them – especially homes that have been affected repeatedly. An Earthwatch volunteer from the last team who is involved in insurance has offered to look at the possibility of setting up an insurance scheme for farmers who suffer from elephant depredations. A program to distribute thunder flashes for affected farmers is in the development stage and we hope to implement it soon.

As a result of the information gathered from the ongoing fence monitoring, we were aware that the Weheragalagama electric fence had been continuously damaged by elephants due to the lax maintenance of the villagers and was in a non-operating state for over a year. As a result there was an increase in crop raiding which has now convinced the villagers to value the electric fence they were given by the SLWCS five years ago. The villagers have again formed themselves in an organization and given the SLWCS the assurance that they will from now on continue to maintain the fence properly over the long term. As a show of good faith and goodwill SLWCS agreed to provide the “L” irons for the fence posts and technical support to rebuild the fence at a cost of over US$5,000 in addition to the $65,000+ that has already been spent.

The Earthwatch team members also got an opportunity to help us distribute clothes and school equipment that were donated to us by former volunteers. This was a great day for the Earthwatch team members, SLWCS staff and the Weheragalagama community to spend some quality time in social interactions. Photographs of this are attached.

All in all the volunteers had a great and safe time in Sri Lanka despite the uncertain security situation prevalent in the country. No one felt that they shouldn't have come or felt threatened or insecure during their 2 weeks at Wasgamuwa or while traveling around the country.

All of us at SLWCS are already looking forward to the 6 members of team 3 in 2-weeks time and we are already busy organizing and planning new activities in anticipation of their arrival.

I encourage all past volunteers to post/send us your photographs, articles and comments regarding your experiences with us to http://slwcs-ew.blogspot.com and email to volunteer@slwcs.org. All update emails are archived on the website.

All the best,

Chandeep

Update #1 -Team 2 (June 22nd, 2006)

Dear Friends,

I recently got the following update regarding Team 2 in Wasgamuwa.

Harsha picked the 4 person all female team at 8am and left for Wasgamuwa after a short pre-orientation regarding the trip to the project site. They got to our field base in Pusseleyaya village at about 3pm after having lunch enroute. A full orientation and risk assesment/emergency protocols was done where team 2 was introduced to Chinthaka (who manages the volunteer and teaching projects in Wasgamuwa), Chandima (our Biodiversity and GIS project manager who is setting up a avifaunal survey and helping out), Lisa (a Masters student from the US who is helping Mark by leading the Leopard project and looking at some parasitological aspects) and most importantly our Field Scouts (who are rural youth trained in conducting in-situ research) and logistics personnel (drivers, housekeeper and cook). It is all these people that really make the project work.

On Monday the 19th all 3 teams went out into the field to start work. Due to EW's presence Team C went on a new (previously unexplored) transect where they came across 6 dung piles and unconfirmed leopard signs. Team A and B did Elephant Density Surveys and Fence Monitoring. The next day it was raining but they tried another new Transect to Ratne Ela waterfall. No dung was found but there were some possible signs of leopard again. In the last few days Lisa had collected 3 fecal samples which is very interesting. Harsha spent the night on the Tree Hut but didn't see anything although there were some rustling sounds.

Everyone is safe and doing well in Wasgamuwa. We have a fixed phone there now +94-66-5675888 which volunteers can be contacted on at any time. We are in the process of connecting this to our laptops so that we will have (very slow) internet access at site. Unfortunately solar power has been limited due to the cloudy conditions but that does make work in the field easier as it is not as hot. You can email wasgamuwa@slwcs.org and the messages will be passed on. Please DO NOT send images or large files. The team will continue working as scheduled till Saturday and have a day off on Sunday.

I am not joining Team 2 as my wife just had our first child (a girl named Mishaal Corea).

thanks,

Chandeep Corea

Earthwatch - SLWCS Volunteer Updates

This blog is for updates and pictures from earthwatch volunteers on SLWCS projects