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During a visit to the Galapagos Islands, financed by an INNOVA-CORFO Project entitled “Ecotourism with a Hand Lens in the Subantarctic Region,” representatives from the academic and tourism sectors from southern Chile and the U.S. held various meetings in Ecuador with the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador (PUCE), the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the Regional Office of UNESCO, the Charles Darwin Foundation (CDF) and authorities from the Galapagos National Park and tourism industry.

Dr. Francisca Massardo, director of the CORFO project, commented that the goal of these work sessions was “to learn the experience gained in the Galapagos by the Charles Darwin Station and the National Park in topics of ecotourism, since they have been going down this road for 50 years and as archipelagic regions confront some of the same challenges, such as invasive species.

In the delegation, participating researchers came from the Universidad de Magallanes (UMAG) and the University of North Texas (UNT) included Andrés Mansilla (UMAG), Francisca Massardo (UMAG/Omora), Ricardo Rozzi (UNT/UMAG), Christopher Anderson (UNT/UMAG), Jim Kennedy (UNT), economist Eduardo Camelio (Fundación Omora), and tourism entrepreneur Nicolás Pivcevic (Lakutaia Lodge), the Vice-President for the IUCN Commission on Protected Areas Eduard Mueller, and civil engineer Andrés Marin (Omora).

As a result of these conversations, several agreements were reached, including the establishment of an exchange of experiences and professionals between the Tourism Program at the PUCE and the UMAG. According to Dr. Andres Mansilla, Director of Research and Graduate Programs at the UMAG, “we will work together with the Masters of Conservation Biology at PUCE and the Masters of Science with Mention in Management and Conservation of Natural Resources in Subantarctic Environments at UMAG to address in a first phase collaborations in courses of mutual interest, using tools such as videoconference or the revision of projects and theses.”

At the same time, a cooperative agreement was signed between the Omora Ethnobotanical Park and the Charles Darwin Scientific Station with the principle objective of carrying out actions that support conservation and sustainability of the Galapagos (Ecuador) and Cape Horn (Chile) Archipelagos.

During the signing of the agreement, Dr. Gabriel López, Executive Director CDF, commented “the inter-institutional cooperative agreement between both organizations will put into place a series of joint collaborations and in the future projects on various fronts, which will generate information between both countries that serves to support conservation in these fragile ecosystems, like the Galapagos and the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve.”

For his part, Dr. Ricardo Rozzi, Director of the Omora Ethnobotanical Park, underlined the importance of this collaboration: “For us, it is very valuable to count on the experience and assistance of the CDF for the protection and conservation of ecosystems that are as fragile as the Galapagos Islands and with a high degree of similarity with what exists in Cape Horn, where we also work to achieve the conservation of biodiversity and sustainability.”

This bi-institutional agreement is of utmost importance, given that it will involve collective work in various spheres, achieving in this way the exchange and technical support for concrete actions that favor the well-being and conservation of areas as relevant for the Cape Horn Archipelago as invasive species, the training of ecotourism guides and the implementation of policies for protected areas to mitigate potential negative effects of the tourism industry.

The University of North Texas is organizing its first ever Travel Learn Trip to the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve to coincide with the inauguration of the Cape Horn Field Station in January 2011. Dianne Gibbons, Travel Learn Coordinator, and the Sub-Antarctic Biocultural Conservation Program have collaborated closely since fall 2010 to realize this goal. The itinerary includes stays in luxury accomodations at the Hotel José Nogeira and the Lakutaia Ecolodge. In addition, participants will navigate with researchers from the Omora Park to Puerto Williams aboard the Stella Australis, seeing first hand the biocultural wonders of the Cape Horn Archipelago. The finale will occur at the Omora Park and Puerto Williams, where a scientific workshop will coincide with the inauguration of the Cape Horn Field Station. For more information, contact Dianne Gibbons (dianne.gibbons@unt.edu) or visit: http://call.unt.edu/tourlist

In 1995, Ricardo Rozzi and a group of colleagues working on Chiloe Island first had the idea of creating a bird guide that would take into account diverse forms of knowing these abundant and diverse creatures. Over the past 15 years, numerous photographers, artists, researchers, poets, students and native elders have worked to produce the the Multi-Ethnic Bird Guide to the Sub-Antarctic Forests of South America. In this unique book, Rozzi and collaborators combine science and traditional ecological knowledge about fifty bird species of southern Chile, providing its names in Yahgan, Mapudungun, Spanish, English and scientific nomenclature, an ecological description, full color photographs and distribution maps. According to Dr. Chris Elphick (co-author of the Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior) this publication is “highly original in its approach of combining information on natural history and biodiversity with information on the region’s human culture and linguistic diversity.”

Dr. Christopher Anderson, coordinator of the Sub-Antarctic Biocultural Conservation Program, noted that “this is the first in a series of publications that Dr. Rozzi has preposed and that our program has undertaken to establish and editorial line in biocultural conservation between the University of North Texas and the Universidad de Magallanes. The goal is to create field guides, translations and original scholarship that facilitates communication and dialogue between the humanities and the sciences and between Latin America and English-speaking America.”

To launch this book, the Sub-Antarctic Biocultural Conservation Program hosted an evening celebration of art, poetry, philosophy and science, which was headlined by co-author, poet and uñumche (Mapuche birdman) Lorenzo Aillapán to UNT to offer his poetry in a public presentation and to various classes. Likewise, Paola Vezzani, designer of the new edition and currently Regional Director of Culture for Magallanes, attended the launching ceremony to talk about the link this book expresses between science and the arts. These events also coincided with the one year anniversary of the Sub-Antarctic Biocultural Conservation Program, which allowed as well the inauguration of the program’s new offices in the EESAT Building, an event attended by the university administration, faculty, student and other friends.

For more information or to order this new book visit UNT Press.

Michael Simanonok first visited Chile as a Tracing Darwin’s Path student in 2008. After that experience he changed his focus within his major in Biological Sciences to concentrate on ecology. Since then, he has worked for the Lewisville Aquatic Ecosystem Research Facility and was recently selected for a Sub-Antarctic Biocultural Conservation Program International Research Experience for Students award, funded by the US National Science Foundation. While on his IRES fellowship, Mike lived in southern Chile and Argentina for 3 months, collaborating with Drs. Guillermo Martínez Pastur and Vanessa Lencinas at the Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas in Ushuaia, Argentina. His research subsequently was transformed into an honors thesis studying the effects of forestry management and invasive beavers on stream ecosystems in Tierra del Fuego. Now, Mike has also been awarded the “Best Poster” in the natural science category at the UNT Scholar’s Day event, a university-wide initiative to highlight undergraduate research at UNT. Congratulations Mike!

Kelli Moses has worked for the Sub-Antarctic Biocultural Conservation Program since before it existed. As the student assistant for the Tracing Darwin’s Path study abroad program, Kelli has been a vital contact between the program and UNT’s study body. For these and other efforts, Kelli was recently selected at a university level for recognition as a “2010 Student Employee of the Year” award. Congratulations Kelli!

In the annual undergraduate Scholars Day at UNT, this year the Sub-Antarctic Biocultural Conservation Program was represented with an organized session of 3 posters that included:

–> Stephen Dillenberg presenting his analysis of the historical trends in conservation research regarding the inclusion of ecological and social criteria. His findings showed a clear bias within academia to consider principally ecological considerations, while broader social criteria are still lacking.

–> Kelli Moses and a host of collaborators for their part presented the Miniature Forests of Cape Horn and how this novel research-conversation program has been able to link local, regional, national and international scales.

–> Michael Simanonok, for his part, gave the results of his honors thesis, which was supported by an NSF IRES grant. His work explored the dual effects of forestry and invasive beavers on stream ecosystems in Tierra del Fuego, finding that well managed forestry practices were able to maintain natural biodiversity and stream function, while beaver meadows exhibited high impacts on streams (see previous story on Mike’s award).

In January 2010, the U.S. and Chilean governments agreed on their binational environmental cooperation agenda. For the first time, this plan includes the implementation of the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve as a priority for both governments. In the meetings held in Washington, Drs. Ricardo Rozzi, Mary Kalin and Kenneth Sewell represented our program’s activities in the governmental meetings, in addition to sustaining talks with the Ecological Society of America and the National Science Foundation. In April, Dr. Jacqueline Tront from the State Department’s Office of Environmental Policy visited the Magallanes Region to hold meetings with the regional government authorities, including the regional director of CORFO (see photo) and the governor of the Chilean Antarctic Province. In addition, she held conversations with University of Magallanes officials and regional tourism operators to understand the meaning and impact of the Sub-Antarctic Biocultural Conservation Program’s effort to link research and sustainability. The State Department is interested not only in supporting this novel venture in Cape Horn, but also taking the lessons learned at this remote wilderness area for application in other parts of Latin America and the world where their office works to mitigate the environmental impacts of trade.

Jaime Ojeda, UMAG M.S. Conservation student and Tamara Contador, UNT Ph.D. Biology student, have both worked at the Omora Park for several years. In 2008, they proposed to their advisers that they apply for funding from the Chilean National Environment Commission to support their research regarding marine and freshwater invertebrates, a grant which they won. The resulting project has allowed them not only to conduct their theses, but also to work in the local school with children and other residents to explore the “hidden” biodiversity of small organisms found underwater. Now, this project has produced a field guide entitled Guide the the Aquatic Invertebrates of the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve. With the aid of Drs. Ricardo Rozzi, Christopher Anderson, James Kennedy, Andrés Mansilla and Francisca Massardo, the students indicate how to identify and describe the role of these small creatures in our subantarctic ecosystems. The book is expected to help educators, tourism operators and the general public get to know these often unknown and unappreciated members of our biotic community. With the support of the University of North Texas and the Universidad de Magallanes, the Omora Park and the Subantarctic Biocutltural Conservation Program is also formalizing an editorial line between UMAG and UNT that will continue to produce these natural history guides for the subantarctic ecoregion, as well as other texts related to environmental ethics and biocultural conservation. Stay tune for news on the launching of the Multi-ethnic Bird Guide to the Subantarctic Forests of Southern South America in May!

With only 2,000 human inhabitants, Cape Horn is quite likely the place on earth with the highest number of Fulbrighters per capita! To the existing cohort of 4, including Juan Harcha, Christopher Anderson, Ricardo Rozzi and James Kennedy, we are now proud to announce that Jean-Paul Zagarola has been selected for a Fulbright Fellowship in 2011 to conduct research in the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve associated with community-based watershed management and the perception and valuation of ecosystem services of watersheds. Mr. Zagarola will be admitted to the Environmental Science Program at the University of North Texas in the fall of 2010, where he will pursue a masters degree under the mentorship of Drs. Anderson and Kennedy. “This is truly an exceptional achievement for JP. In addition, as the first new recruit since our program was formalized at UNT and the Universidad de Magallanes, we are very pleased. If all goes well he will become the first joint masters of subantarctic biocultural conservation student we produce with the UMAG as well”, said Christopher Anderson regarding this news. For more on previous Fulbright winners from Cape Horn click here.

During the 6th Southern Connection Conference, carried out in Bariloche, Argentina from 15-19 February 2010, the Sub-Antarctic Biocultural Conservation Program co-sponsored with its Chilean and Argentine colleagues a symposium to address the use of long-term socio-ecological research (LTSER) sites as a platform to affect conservation and management of the southern temperate forest biome found in Argentina, Chile, New Zealand and Australia. The Southern Connection Conference is a tri-annual meeting of ecologists, geographers, geologists and paleobiologists, begun in 1993 as an effort for the countries that were once part of the Gondwana supercontinent (Argentina, Chile, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand), to have the opportunity to share experiences and to generate collaborations. The invited participants to the LTSER symposium included representatives from Chile, Argentina and Tasmania, in the Program’s broader effort to promote LTSER initiatives in the Southern Hemisphere. In this context, the event co-organized by Dr. Christopher Anderson, Subantarctic Program Coordinator, and Dr. Guillermo Martinez Pastur, a forest ecologist at the Austral Scientific Research Center in Ushuaia, Argentina, was intended to further the ongoing work of the University of North Texas, the University of Magallanes and the Institute of Ecology and Biodiversity to implement a Chilean network of LTSER sites that work also on the integration of academic disciplines and the academy with society. Additionally, the Program will launch in March a special edition of the Revista Chilena de Historia Natural, which shares the proceedings of a previous workshop held at the Omora Park in 2008 about this topic.

On February 12, the Minister of National Lands in Chile Jacqueline Weinstein presided over a ceremony in the Omora Park to give the University of Magallanes a new lease to extend the park’s boundaries. With the incorporation of these new parcels of land, the Omora Park now extends over 1,000 hectares and is better able to fulfill its primary function of protecting the watershed that provides drinking water to the town of Puerto Williams. Furthermore, the new lease includes the summit of Robalo Mountain and ensures a complete altitudinal profile for the long-term research and studies conducted in the park.

In January, Drs. Kenneth Sewell (Associate Vice-President for Research) and Ricardo Rozzi (Director of Omora Park) traveled to Washington D.C. accompanied by Dr. Mary Kalin (Director Institute of Ecology and Biodiversity), to present the Subantarctic Biocultural Conservation Program’s research, education and conservation agenda in the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve for consideration in the deliberations regarding the binational working plan on environmental cooperation. These conversations took place in the context of the Fifth Meeting of the Environmental Affairs Council and Third Meeting of the Joint Commission for Environmental Cooperation. At that time, the Chilean Delegation, headed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Environment Commission, prioritized the Cape Horn project as one of national priority, which now sets the stage to materialize this long-term program goal into a concrete action plan for strengthening this binational partnership. In addition to the meetings at the State Department, Drs. Sewell and Rozzi also met with the Executive Director of the Ecological Society of America, Program Officers at the National Science Foundation, the Finnish Embassy and were hosted for a breakfast by the Chilean Ambassador to the United States (see photo).

In its 5th version Tracing Darwin’s Path, the Subantarctic Biocultural Conservation Program’s premier field experience for Chilean and US students, took on the challenge of integrating art, philosophy and ecology. With the collaboration of Magallenic artist Paola Vezzani students utilized techniques from drawing and the arts to enhance their observation, description and comprehension of biological and cultural diversity in the subantarctic ecoregion. This year also for the first time, Melissa Armstrong, SEEDS Program Manager from the Ecological Society of America, participated with the course sharing her experience promoting diversity in ecological education, but also collaborating in a formal evaluation of the course. Subsequently, 8 students remained in southern Chile and Argentina to conduct independent research as part of an NSF-funded project to provide international research experience to students.

The University of North Texas (UNT: www.unt.edu) seeks a Senior Level Ecosystem Ecologist (rank open, preference full professor) with a Ph.D. in ecology or related field and research and teaching activities in a specific subdiscipline, such as biogeochemistry or similar area, to be part of an interdisciplinary program in Sub-Antarctic Biocultural Research and Conservation (www.chile.unt.edu), focusing on ecology and culture in southern Chile. Coordinated by the Departments of Biological Sciences and Philosophy & Religion Studies, the Program has numerous collaborations, including the Chilean Institute of Ecology and Biodiversity (www.ieb-chile.cl) and the Universidad de Magallanes (www.umag.cl). For posting details and how to apply visit https://facultyjobs.unt.edu/applicants/Central?quickFind=50629. For more information: Dr. Christopher B. Anderson, christopher.anderson@unt.edu. UNT is an AA/ADA/EOE.