Our next blog from an EDGE training course participants comes from Badri Vinod Dahal. Badri is the Assistant Conservation Officer at Makalu Barun National Park which is the world’s only protected area with an elevation gain of more than 8,000m encompassing tropical forest as well as snow-capped peaks. As part of his job, Badri is involved in species monitoring, habitat management, conservation education, law enforcement and community development but he also has a particular interest in gymnosperms (a future priority for the EDGE programme).
It’s has been a very exciting time for me with the EDGE team at Chitwan National Park. I spent almost 16 years as a national park employee and this is the first time I was able to learn what is conservation biology, its values, and scientific management techniques of natural resources and wildlife. This training is a source of inspiration and provides me with courage to go ahead in my work with great enthusiasm.
During the training course, I was able to learn the fundamentals of conservation biology, ecological monitoring, CEPA, basic statistics, camera trap techniques, reptile and amphibian monitoring, line transect survey, small mammal trapping and handling and so on… I also learned to use computer software that ultimately helps me to analyze the observed data.
I was assigned to prepare a presentation regarding Tigers – Prey-Base Surveys in Barandabhar Corridor forest- in a group with Arun, Khadananda and Chandan. We processed the data that was taken by ourselves and previous data that were taken from NTNC. We were wondering about the abundance of their prey species particularly spotted deer (Axis axis). We found more than 4600 individual prey species within 87.9 Sq.Km, which is sufficient for at least a population of 4-6 tigers.
Unfortunately, people are disturbing the habitat regularly. We were able to catch a photo of a tiger using camera trap survey, but the activity of humans inside forest is quite disrupting.
During our jungle walk trip, we were lost for couple of hour in the heart of the Chitwan National park. Though we were in group the tall grass coverage made us disappear. We were with our Senior Biologist Dr. Raj Amin and he continually inspired us not to worry. And sure enough later on, we found our way. It was one of the most exciting days of the training.
This training has satisfied my thirst for conservation. In coming days, I will implement the skills I learned here for the conservation of earth and hope for continue support of information and technology.
I am grateful to the EDGE team: Dr. Rajan Aman, Carly Waterman, Jeff Dawson and Cath Lawson for shaping my feelings and attitude to conserve the biodiversity of the world forever.
Find out how you can support the EDGE Fellows initiative here!