This essay is extracted from the complete Wild Wednesday photo essay for 15 November 2023, which appeared on BCI board member Walt Anderson’s Facebook page. The original essay also included details on the author’s other service involvements, including Save the Dells and Granite Dells Preservation Foundation.
These are tense times. There are active wars in Europe and the Middle East, political polarization is extreme, and climate change is leading to disasters all over the world. Anxiety is pervasive.
Yet there are reasons for hope, and connections with nature can provide the antidote to despair. Veterans’ Day this past week and the approach of Thanksgiving have both given me reason for introspection. It’s been over 50 years since I returned from serving in Vietnam. Even though most of us were drafted into a war we questioned, we did our duty but were hurt by the lack of support when we returned. Times have changed, and when someone learns that I was in the Army, their response is invariably “Thank you for your service.”
Service comes in many forms, and it seems to be the driving force that keeps me active despite “retirement.” My love for nature demands that I do what I can to protect the great web of life within which we humans are but one player, albeit one with an enormous impact on the rest of the world. That disproportionate effect we have on ecosystems should be a call for us to exercise reason and take responsibility for our actions, minimizing overall harm as much as we can.
Today in the service of enlightened planetary management, I want to reflect on some conservation efforts in which I have been involved. These are stories of vision, persistence, resilience, and hope. Without hope that we can achieve a good outcome, we can fall into the quicksand of apathy. A friend of mine who achieved amazing conservation successes on the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius told me, “There are no hopeless cases, just people without hope.” I hope you’ll join me as I reflect on a few select initiatives and that you will add your efforts to inspire hope and achieve wins in a world that needs both.
One of my Prescott College students, Alan Whitehead, founded Biocultural Conservation Institute (BCI) and asked me to be chair of the board, a role I served for many years. I continue on the board, and we have three projects going in Africa. The first project involved working with a Maasai group at the edge of Amboseli National Park in Kenya. When the park was created, the lush springs fed by snow melt on mighty Mount Kilimanjaro, created an oasis for wildlife and the pastoral Maasai, who co-existed together. The burgeoning tourism industry, however, did not find the Maasai cattle, sheep, and goats as “attractive” in a national park as elephants and other wildlife, so the Maasai were relegated to living outside the park boundaries, where water was less reliable and conflicts with wildlife became more prevalent. Alan and some friends created a guide-training school for the Maasai, and it was a big success. In my visit to Amboseli last February, I met the chief, Logela, whom I first knew in 2006. He is a member of the BCI board and works hard to represent the people and wildlife in his community.
I also met the chief naturalist at Amboseli Lodge, who was one of the graduates of that first guide school, and I learned about the successes of the other guides that BCI trained. This individual above was a Maasai man that I met in Amboseli one year, and I hope he has had similar opportunities for personal and community advancement like the students BCI taught. I am impressed with the intelligence and adaptability of the Maasai I have met—people who want to retain their cultural traditions while gaining the education needed to survive in a world where the challenges of pastoralism (droughts, floods, encroachment by other cultures) continue to grow. BCI hopes to help facilitate a new guide school there to be taught by the graduates of that first program.
One of the projects that community members there have done is a research program on giraffes. There are now four recognized species, and all are endangered. The Swahili word for giraffe is “twiga,” and the participants in the research were given the moniker “Twiga Trackers.” You can see from the elephant and giraffe photos here that this is a tough landscape for trying to make a living—whether you are a human or a wildlife species.
I visited Logela’s village and saw the children eager to learn despite having schools with minimal resources; this is poverty that most of us could not have imagined. At noon, the children lined up on the bare ground in the sun to receive a single cup of gruel for lunch. Representing BCI, I delivered a small library of field guides that can help interested students become knowledgeable naturalists and perhaps future guides (a respected and relatively lucrative job in this society). I also left a cash donation, as anything will go a long way to improve their lives. BCI sends money to this community every year, and our goal is to provide some human needs that in turn will reduce wildlife-human conflicts.
We have two projects in Uganda that we feel are very important. Bwindi Impenetrable National Park was created to protect the world’s largest population of the endangered Mountain Gorilla, and it supports incredible diversity of other primates, forest elephants, and stunning birds. The two central photos show how clearing and agriculture go right up to the national park boundary. There is no question that preservation of biodiversity, as well as CO₂ storage, depends on large natural areas like this. Without preserves, the world would be a poorer, hotter place.
However, the Batwa pygmies who lived as hunter-gatherers in the forest were forcibly removed without just compensation, and today they are some of the poorest, most neglected, people in the world. Without significant land holdings themselves, they live in the shadows, barely getting by, and if things get really bad, they have no choice but to go back into the forest to survive, though the government then brands them as criminals.
I have seen Bwindi in person, as well as the conditions that the Batwa are forced to endure. We at BCI are supporting two wonderful NGO’s in Africa that are helping the Batwa survive with improved dignity. Our goal is for them to achieve a sustainable and fulfilling lifestyle while avoiding conflicts with the national park and wildlife.
One project is led by amazing humanitarian Luke Twinamasiko. He started Green Mountain Initiative, a non-profit, and BCI is a partner. Funds that we and others have raised have resulted in the building of a significant number of clean-water sites, which have reduced diseases and greatly cut travel times for women and children sent out for long treks to obtain water. We also annually have funded a Christmas feast for many Batwa families who rarely are able to get meat. Watching their gratitude over Zoom has been so rewarding. Luke is actively raising funds to support children in school. You can designate donations for Luke’s projects at our website or simply indicate that we can use the funds where most needed.
Our other Ugandan partner is Byomugabe Alex, who started, with our financial support, a non-profit called Sanuriro Batwa Community Development Association. His emphases include education and agriculture to provide subsistence living for many people. You can donate to this project directly or to our funds at Biocultural Conservation Institute.
I worked closely with ABUN to set up a project called “Believing in Bwindi” and provided many of the photos that the international group of artists created for the cause. ABUN and BCI raised important funds to support the Batwa who were displaced from Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. I donated the entire sale of the colobus monkey on the right and still have the chimpanzee, ready to go to a home in exchange for a $1000 donation to BCI.
We also have an online shop to raise money for our projects in Kenya and Uganda. I am pleased that some of my artwork is featured on these high-quality products. Lisa Kaplan’s stunning original painting of Rafiki, a well-known silverback male Mountain Gorilla, is available for a donation of $1000. Check out the shop. Any purchase helps.
I began this photo essay as a reflection on hope and gratitude. I am immensely grateful for the life I have been able to live in close, repeated contact with nature. That even helped get me through the trials of serving in Vietnam. Service is the key word, and research shows that people who engage in service live longer, more fulfilling, less stressful lives than those who do not.
It is indeed giving season, and I trust that you are giving this some thought. We are so privileged to live in a beautiful world, even though it is marred by strife and conflict. The biggest handicap to getting money or activism for worthy causes is the inability to ask for it. Thus I am stepping out of my comfort zone to ask for your help if it appeals to you. I support Save the Dells, the Granite Dells Preservation Foundation, Artists and Biologists Unite for Nature, Artists for Conservation, Biocultural Conservation Institute, and a host of other charitable organizations. I hope you find fulfilling opportunities to contribute to causes that move you too. Thanks.
