Nusa Penida 2009 Qtr 2

NUSA PENIDA, BALI
2nd Quarter Report – Year 2009
March – April – May

Wildlife Protection, Habitat Restoration & Community Wellbeing

Nusa Penida Bird Sanctuary – Overview
Good news! Our bird release protection program has shown pleasing results during this second quarter. This was obvious from the increased number of birds that have been observed, both those that have been released by us as well as the native species of Nusa Penida.

The Bali Starling (Leucopsar rothchildi) program which is funded by Begawan Foundation has been the most successful with continued sightings in the wild. As well, we have had success with the Mitchell’s Lorikeets (Tricoglosus haematodus mitchellii) and Parakeet (Psitacula alexandri). We have also released another Lesser Sulphur Crested Cockatoo. This species has not shown positive results up to the current period, as we have been unable to verify the existence of the birds that have been set free.

Apart from the fauna program, our activities have included land rehabilitation, conservation education and community development. These continue to provide essential support to the success of our wildlife conservation work.

Bali Starling (Leucopopsar Rothschili) Monitoring
Our staff continue to monitor the Bali Starling with support from the Faculty of Biology University of Udayana, Bali. The monitoring by the biology student union UNUD was focused on two main release sites at Batumadeg Village and Ped. Of a total of 12 releases, six showed good results. At two release sites the number of birds has increased from 73 to 84. Our count is based on birds that were flying freely from the nest, and does not include any chicks that are possibly still in the nest.

On April 25 and May 29 2009 two Bali Starling chicks were hatched in the wild at Banjar Bondong village and our office. Unfortunately the chicks were found dead. This was probably due to heavy rain washing them out of their nest following which they were likely attacked by local animals.

In June two chicks were hatched and shortly after were observed flying out of their nest. From June 2006 till June 2009, the total number of chicks hatched in the wild that have been monitored and survived was 60.

The post releases at Batumadeg village, Puncak Temu and Puncak have not shown any reproductive activity.

Mitchell’s Lorikeets (Tricoglosus Haematodus Mitchellii) – Observation
The two Mitchell’s Lorikeets that were released on April 11 2008 by Wayan Candra are currently not seen with the Red Lories (Eos Borneo). They have rarely been visible around our office at Ped. It is hoped that this is a good sign that they have chosen their own habitat.

Lesser Sulphur-Crested Cocatoo (Cacatua Sulphurea Parvula) – Population not confirmed
At the end of the second quarter, we still have no news on the fate of the Lesser Sulphur-Crested Cockatoos that were released on December 2008 by FNPF staff. It is assumed that the birds were victim of a predator. We hope to release more of these birds to give us an opportunity to restore the population in Nusa Penida.

Moustache Parakeets (Psittacula alexandri) – Release
Three Moustache Parakeets that had not been seen for some weeks, reappeared near their original release sight. Since then we have opened the pen where there were two additional birds. This has allowed them to enter and leave the pen at any time.

Since the birds are breeding their behaviour did not show a readiness to be released without access to food. We have provided food for them once a day at their pen.

The provision of food was stopped in the second week of May as the birds ceased going to the pen to seek food. Only two or three birds have been observed frequently near the pen. These have spent more time south of the FNPF office. We believe these are positive signs that the bird’s released will survive well in nature.

Additional Activities Reports…

Conservation Education
On June 5 we cooperated with the faculty of Biology MIPA UNUD to launch a compost fertilizer training scheme. The training builds on the conservation education we began in 2005. We have focused on high school students of SISPALA SMA N1 Nusa Penida. We hope that the skills learnt will be spread throughout Nusa Penida. The training is implemented in the mornings at the FNPF office at anjar Bodong, Ped.

Land Rehabilitation
The land rehabilitation activity in the second quarter has focused more on the propagation and maintenance of seedlings than on planting.

Although most of Nusa Penida has had rain fall the area around Tanglad Village in Banjar Julingan had only minimal rainfall. To compensate, we have maintained the seedlings’ growth by covering them with mulch and watering periodically by hand. It needs at least 15-20 of local labourers to water all plants.

In this quarter around 26,536 seedlings have been sown and are ready for planting. There are 18 species including Big Leaf Mahogany (Swietanaia macrophylla), Gamhar (Gmelina arborea), Silk Tree (Albizia chinensis), Strawberry tress (Muntingea calabura), Monkey Pod (Albizia saman), Kassod tree (Cassia siaea) and others.

The seedlings increasingly requested by the community are aimed at “agro-forestry”. We continue to provide seedlings that are multifunctional for cattle feed, survive in the conditions at Nusa Penida as well as have a high economic value. It is our hope that this activity will provide a benefit to the local community as well as nature. We especially hope that they will increase the resources for the birds and other wildlife.

Julingan, Tanglad Village – Tree Planting
Most of our land rehabilitation at Nusa Penida has shown good results except at Julingan in Tanglad Village where serious work has had to be undertaken to address the problem with termites, in addition to that of low rainfall. The termites have attacked some of the Strawberry tree (Muntingia calabura) seedlings. Despite our efforts of not using any pesticides we have reluctantly had no choice than to use them in this case to stop the number of dying plants.

The major activity of the second quarter has been the laying mulch as well as watering the plants. Over 30 hectares were planted with the assistance of volunteers from local government, police department, army and navy as well as students. The local community is sponsored by PT Pertamina, PT Warisan and John Hardy Limited.

PT Pertamina has sponsored ten hectares of land themed “Neo Habitat of Bali Starling. This land has been planted with mostly Strawberry trees (Muntingia carabula). The Strawberry trees number 1,156 of a total of 3,800. The remainder of the trees include Piling (adenanthera microsperma), Banyan tree (Ficus Benyamina L), Big Leaf Mahongany (Swietania Machropylla), Monkey (Albizia saman), and Kassod tree (Cassia siamea).

John Hardy Limited, who have in the last two years supported our community development program through Bamboo planting have this year also supported our reforestation program in Julingan. On the 10 hectares of land that they have sponsored there are 3,602 trees that have survived. The number includes 1,374 bamboo plants including Bambusa vulgans, Dendrocalmus gaster, Gigantochioa apus while the remainder are forest trees.

On the other ten hectares we have only planted forest trees with 3,312 surviving. Of these ten hectares PT Warisan sponsored almost three hectares. Maya Ubud Hotel, W Gallery and other private donors sponsored the remaining hectares.

At the end of June 2009 the total trees that have survived on Julingan Hill totals 10,714.They consist of 9,340 trees and 1,374 bamboos on 30 hectares of land. We expect that next year the total number of trees surviving will reach 9,600 as we have promised to donors.

Community Development
Our community development activity has been carried out by FNPF in an effort to maintain the support from the Nusa Penida community. This is essential to the successful future of the bird sanctuary on Nusa Penida.

In anticipation of our requirements of bamboo seedlings for the next rainy season, we have put in a great effort to increase the number of seedlings. By the end of June, we had 19,927 bamboos available. These consisted of Bambusa vulgaris, Dendrocalmus gaster, and Gigantochloa apus.

Apart from preparing bamboo seedlings to distribute to the community, we also need to produce additional bamboo seedlings for the 30 hectares of the local government land at Julingan, Tanglad village. John Hardy Limited supports the financial aspect of the bamboo seeding and planting.

By the end of the planting season 2008-09 we had planted and distributed 14,331 bamboos with a success rate of 83%.

There are nine pilot projects involving bamboos plantings. In every hectare in the pilot project there is one water catchment system and each farmer planted at least 400 bamboos.

Seeds for Bali Program
The program “Seeds for Bali”, sponsored by Bank Danamon and American Express (AMEX), is focused on10 hectares at Puncak Temu. It has now been through one dry season and the success rate for trees planted is more than 80%. The growth of plants in this area varies on the location and soil fertility. In the more marginal area the height of plants have reached 50cm while in the flatter and more fertile area, the plants have reached a height of more than 3m.

In the 2008-09 planting season, the new site for planting was Dusun Adegan at PED Village. Planting was done on three hectares and consisted of three kinds of trees. Among them were Sandalwood (Santalum albun, Mahogani (Swietania machrophylla) and White teak/Gambar (Gmelina arborea). Each participant requested more than 100 seeds. An additional 400 trees were planted than were planned. By end June 2009 there were 1200 trees planted. Of those there was a survival rate of 91% seedlings. These results continue to show that agro-forestry is possible on critical and marginal land on Nusa Penida.

Dance Classes for Children
Dance classes for children continue to be held in two different localities on the island – at Ped and Batumadeg villages – twice a week. At Ped village the classes are held in front of FNPF at Banger Bodong on Mondays and Thursdays. At Batumadeg they are held on Tuesday and Friday. The total participants from both villages are between 40-50 children on each day. The skill level of participants is growing and there is great enthusiasm from the participating girls.

Batik and Natural Dye Course
Due to the lack of finances at the current time, we have been unable to hold the course of batik cloth using natural dyes. However, we have volunteers standing by to hold these courses once we have donors willing to fund this important activity.


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