Grants Awarded 2003 International Iguana Foundation Announces Grants for 2003
The Board of Directors of the International Iguana Foundation held their annual board meeting in New Orleans on 23 March 2003 and reviewed funding proposals. The Board awarded grants totaling $67,230 (including $30,000 held over from 2002) for the following five iguana conservation projects:
Conservation and Management of the Anegada Iguana: Glenn Gerber, PhD (Zoological Society of San Diego) and Kelly Bradley (Dallas Zoo/University of Texas at Arlington), $25,840 ($15,000 held over from 2002). This project entails a monitored release of 32 iguanas on Anegada and Fallen Jerusalem, iguana population surveys on Anegada, a habitat suitability survey of Fallen Jerusalem, and maintenance and enhancement of the headstart facility. This release will allow a comparison of survival in two cohorts of juveniles released in environments both with feral mammals (Anegada) and without (Fallen Jerusalem). Cyclura ricordi population and habitat surveys in the Pedernales province of the DR: Sixto Inchaustegui (Grupo Jaragua), $11,000. This project will conduct field surveys on one of the two known subpopulation of the Critically Endangered Ricord’s iguana in the Jaragua - El Guano - Cabo Rojo - Pedernales region that includes Parque Nacional Jaragua. This area encompasses 46,900 hectares, much of it potential habitat for C. ricordi. This project was one of the primary recommendations from the C. ricordi Species Recovery Plan workshop conducted in November 2002. The other subpopulation, Isla Cabritos, is better know and is being surveyed using funding from the Indianapolis Zoo. Reproduction and survival in St. Lucian iguanas: Breeding females, dispersing hatchlings and assessing the role of headstarting: Anna TC Feistner (Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust), $5390 for local field assistants salary, expenses and equipment. This study will result in better understanding of location and dispersal of adult females and improved hatchling survival, and allow assessment of head-starting as a viable conservation tool for St Lucia iguanas Expansion of in situ captive facility for Cayman Blue Iguana, and start-up for local revenue measures to staff the facility sustainably: Fred Burton (Blue Iguana Recovery Program, National Trust for the Cayman Islands), $10,000 to help develop a web- based sustainable revenue stream to support the annual salary for the iguana facility manager. The IIF funded the first year salary for this position. Jamaican Iguana Conservation and Recovery Program: Peter Vogel (Jamaican Iguana Conservation and Research Group, University of the West Indies), $15,000 (held over from 2002). Funding for this ongoing field program will provide annual operating costs for the recovery efforts including protection of nest sites, monitoring of nesting females, collection of hatchlings for headstarting and continued surveys and monitoring of the Hellshire Hills.
In ranking grants for funding the IIF gives preference to projects that are components of approved Species Recovery Plans, are included in the ISG’s Conservation Action Plan for West Indian Iguanas or are ISG endorsed, projects that directly contribute to the survival of endangered iguanas and their habitats, and those that are part of established conservation programs.
Rick Hudson
IIF Program Officer |
