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SAVING WILDLIFE & WILD PLACES Wildlife Conservation Society Bronx Zoo, 2300 Southern Boulevard Bronx, New York 10460 718.220.5100 www.wcs.org WCS 41 trees preserved for the future 118 lbs waterborne waste not created 17,401 galllons wastewater flow saved 1925 lbs solid waste not generated 3791 lbs net greenhouse gasses prevented 29,015,600 BTUs energy not consumed Additional savings for using paper manufactured with 100% windpower 1924 lbs ghg emissions not generated 2 barrels fuel oil unused not driving 1905 miles planting 131 trees

FROM NEW YORK CITY TO THE WORLDfscdn.wcs.org/.../95ui53eifw_WCS_General_Brochure_2011.pdf · 2015-07-24 · parks in Bolivia: Madidi National Park and Kaa-lya del Gran Chaco National

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Page 1: FROM NEW YORK CITY TO THE WORLDfscdn.wcs.org/.../95ui53eifw_WCS_General_Brochure_2011.pdf · 2015-07-24 · parks in Bolivia: Madidi National Park and Kaa-lya del Gran Chaco National

SAVING WILDLIFE & WILD PLACES

Wildlife Conservation Society Bronx Zoo, 2300 Southern Boulevard Bronx, New York 10460718.220.5100

www.wcs.org

WCS

41 trees preserved for the future

118 lbs waterborne waste not created

17,401 galllons wastewater flow saved

1925 lbs solid waste not generated

3791 lbs net greenhouse gasses prevented

29,015,600 BTUs energy not consumed

Additional savings for using paper manufactured with 100% windpower

1924 lbs ghg emissions not generated

2 barrels fuel oil unused

not driving 1905 miles

planting 131 trees

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[ COVER ] Baby Pende, one

of many western lowland

gorillas born and bred at the

Bronx Zoo.

[ INSIDE COVER ] A southern

elephant seal rests on the

coast of Península Valdés in

Argentina. The region falls

within one of more than 75

landscapes and seascapes

WCS works to conserve.

The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS)

saves wildlife and wild places worldwide.

We do so through science, global conservation,

education, and the management of the

world’s largest system of urban wildlife

parks, led by the flagship Bronx Zoo.

Together these activities change attitudes

toward nature and help people imagine

wildlife and humans living in harmony.

WCS is committed to this mission because

it is essential to the integrity of life on Earth.

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FROM NEW YORK CITY TO THE WORLD

A hippopotamus in the

Luangwa River. Since 2003,

WCS’s COMACO program has

worked to simultaneously

improve rural livelihoods and

restore local wildlife populations

in Zambia.

Since our inception, WCS has dispatched leading conser-vationists to all corners of the globe and developed five world-class zoological parks in New York City. The first and most famous of those parks, the Bronx Zoo, was established in 1899. Within a decade, we aided the American bison’s recovery by sending some of our Bronx-bred animals to western prairies. Today, we continue to harness the power of our parks and our fieldwork to protect wildlife and wild places in perpetuity.

Each year in New York City, more than 4 million people visit our wildlife parks—the Bronx Zoo, Central Park Zoo, Prospect Park Zoo, Queens Zoo, and New York Aquarium. Within the zoos and aquarium, our award-winning exhibits fascinate the public with naturalistic settings and infor-mative graphics. Our animals are ambassadors for the protection of their wild relatives and native habitats. Our visitors encounter the planet’s amazing biodiversity and learn how they can help secure its future. Our educators reach students and teachers in New York and around the world. Our veterinarians and other experts provide the best care available to our parks’ wildlife collections while contributing to our conservation work abroad.

Across four of the world’s continents and all of its oceans, WCS conducts more than 500 conservation proj-ects. Our staff work on the ground in the often remote locales of 60-plus countries. We do so to protect priority landscapes and seascapes, and the species that depend on them. We are committed to protecting 25 percent of

the world’s biodiversity. The gorillas of Africa, the tigers throughout Asia, the macaws in South America, and the sharks and turtles traveling through our planet’s seas benefit from our foresight.

To fulfill our mission, WCS does not shy away from adversity or the complex demands of working in conflict and post-conflict areas, such as Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and South Sudan.

WCS WAS FOUNDED IN 1895 AS THE NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY AT THE URGING

OF CONSERVATIONIST AND FUTURE PRESIDENT THEODORE ROOSEVELT. MORE THAN

A CENTURY LATER, IT IS THE PREEMINENT SCIENCE-BASED WILDLIFE CONSERVATION

ORGANIZATION IN THE WORLD.

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WCS’s strategy addresses conservation at every angle.

With a dedication to science-based conservation and wildlife education, our 4,000-plus team fosters environmental stewardship within schools, communities, governments, and corporations. To save wildlife and wild places, we address four global issues: climate change; natural resource extraction; the relationship between wildlife health and human health; and the connection between sustainable development and local livelihoods.

Simply put, WCS’s strategy addresses conservation at every angle. The knowledge we gain in the field, in the lab, and in the classroom serves to sustain key species and wild places, to safeguard humans, livestock, and wildlife from disease, and to keep local economies thriving.

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1897 NYZS

undertakes its

first expedition

to Alaska.

1899 The Bronx

Zoo (formally,

The New York

Zoological Park)

officially opens.

1901 The Bronx

Zoo hires its

first full-time

zoological park

veterinarian.

& 1902 NYZS

takes over

management of

the New York

Aquarium in lower

Manhattan.

& 1907 The American Bison

Society transfers Bronx Zoo

bison to protected lands in

the American West to restore

the species' decimated

populations.

1908 NYZS work

to protect fur

seals in the Bering

Sea’s Pribilof

Islands begins,

resulting in a

1912 international

treaty outlawing

open-ocean

seal hunting for

the first time.

1913 NYZS Director

William Hornaday helps write

language in Underwood Tariff

Act, prohibiting importation

of bird plumage for use

in hats.

1916 A fully-equipped zoo-

based animal hospital opens

on Bronx Zoo grounds.

1916 NYZS

Curator of Birds,

William Beebe

opens a tropical

research station

in British Guiana.

NYZS establishes

the Department of

Tropical Research

there in 1923.

1890s 1900s 1910s

A CONSERVATION LEGACY

1894 Theodore Roosevelt,

as Boone and Crockett

Club president, appoints

a committee asking New

York State to establish

a zoological society in

New York City.

1895 The New York

Zoological Society

(NYZS) is founded.

& 1922 NYZS

begins campaign

against the killing

of “vermin”

species: eagles

and other birds,

bears, and wolves.

1930 NYZS officers head

a campaign against the

misguided slaughter of

thousands of wild ungulates

in Zululand, South Africa to

eradicate tsetse fly.

1923 William

Beebe leads his

first expedition

to the Galapagos

Islands.

1929 NYZS passes

resolution to oppose

introduction of non-native

animals in U.S. national

parks and urges the National

Park Service to prohibit all

such introductions.

1929 After 10-year

battle, the Migratory Bird

Conservation Act passes,

calling for 14 sanctuaries

across the U.S.

& 1929 The Bronx Zoo opens

its first wildlife education

department, teaching zoology,

conservation, and natural

history to visitors and students.

1931 NYZS analysis of

whaling logs illustrates

distribution and seasonal

migrations of whales and

becomes foundation of later

cetacean conservation work.

1934 William

Beebe completes

record-setting

3,000-foot dive in

bathysphere off

Bermuda's coast.

1924 Congress

passes new code

of game laws for

Alaska as a result

of NYZS pressure.

1930s1920s

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1950s 1960s1952 NYZS supports

research by A. Starker

Leopold and Frank Fraser

Darling on wildlife conditions

in Alaska, focusing on forest

destruction, overgrazing,

and wolf eradication.

1956 NYZS supports biologist

George Schaller's expedition

with Olaus and Margaret Murie

to Alaska’s Brooks Range. They

later urge Congress to create the

Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

1957 New York Aquarium

opens in Coney Island,

moving from its original

Manhattan location

after a 16-year hiatus.

1958 Through

efforts by NYZS’s

Carleton Ray, the

world’s first land

and sea park

is established

at Exuma Cays

in the Bahamas.

1959 George Schaller

conducts first ecological

study of mountain gorillas in

Virunga Volcano landscape.

1960 Bolivia's Laguna

Colorada Reserve is

established pursuant

to NYZS surveys and

conservation proposals

for James’s flamingos.

1965 George

Schaller

conducts first

ecological and

behavioral study

of Serengeti

lions.

1966  NYZS

establishes

Institute of

Research in

Animal Behavior

at Rockefeller

University that

professionalizes

conservation

work and gives a

home to leading

scientists in

the field.

1966 NYZS

biologist Thomas

Struhsaker

begins study

of a primate

community within

the Kibale Forest,

fostering an

association

with wildlife

conservation

and scholarship

in Uganda that

continues today.

1967 NYZS

supports Sir

Iain Douglas-

Hamilton’s

ecological

survey of

elephants in

Tanzania’s

Lake Manyara

National Park.

1967 Dian

Fossey continues

George Schaller’s

work on mountain

gorillas with

NYZS support.

1969 WCS work

in Argentina

between

1960-1969

leads to six

coastal reserves,

including Punta

Tombo and

Península Valdés.

& 1941 With its

African Plains

exhibit, Bronx

Zoo begins

grouping animals

by continents

or ecosystems,

rather than

genetic orders

and families.

1946 NYZS establishes the

Jackson Hole Wildlife Park

to exhibit Rocky Mountain

fauna. It becomes part

of Grand Teton National

Park in 1962.

& 1947 The

100 millionth

visitor attends

the Bronx Zoo.

1948 The Conservation

Foundation is founded

to handle NYZS’s ever-

expanding conservation

program. The foundation

later fledges as a

free-standing entity.

1948 The Conservation

Foundation & NYZS study

effects of pesticides on

animals, 14 years before

Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring.

1948 NYZS President

Fairfield Osborn writes Our Plundered Planet, calling

attention to environmental

destruction by humankind.

1940S 1970s

1970 Recording of

humpback whale

communications

by NYZS biologists

Roger and Katie

Payne generates

wave of public

interest in these

mammals and

contributes to

the movement to

ban commercial

whaling.

1972 New York City’s first

native-born gorilla, Pattycake,

is delivered at what will

become NYZS’s Central Park

Zoo. She is the first of many

gorillas to be hand-reared

at the Bronx Zoo.

1973 Studies of

field ecology and

animal behavior

help design the

management for

Kenya's Amboseli

Masai Game

Reserve.

1977 Wild Asia opens

at the Bronx Zoo.

1979 NYZS

establishes the

world’s first wild

gorilla tourism

program in

Rwanda’s Virunga

Volcanoes.

1980 George

Schaller begins

long-term study

of giant panda in

China’s Wolong

Natural Reserve.

1981 The Bronx

Zoo becomes

first to perform

embryo transfer

from gaur to

domestic cow.

1984 NYZS

helps create

world’s first

jaguar reserve,

in Belize’s

Cockscomb

Basin.

1985 NYZS builds

the Wildlife Health

Center, one of

the first modern

zoo hospitals, at

Bronx Zoo.

1985 The Bronx

Zoo's JungleWorld

opens, becoming

the first zoological

exhibit of tropical

monkeys in a

naturalistic setting.

& 1987 NYZS

design department

(EGAD) works

with Kenya Wildlife

Service on plans

for what will

become Nairobi

Safari Walk –

EGAD’s first global

design project.

1988 NYZS assumes

management authority over

NYC zoos, under contract

to Department of Parks and

Recreation. Central Park Zoo

becomes a NYZS park in

1988, followed by Queens

Zoo in 1992 and Prospect

Park Zoo in 1993.

1989 NYZS

elephant research

and advocacy

contributes to an

international ban

on ivory trade.

1989 In the heart

of Brazil’s flooded

forest, NYZS

launches the

Mamirauá Lake

Ecological Station,

which becomes

Brazil’s first

Sustainable

Development

Reserve.

1989 NYZS initiates

the first ever

zoo-based field

veterinary program.

1980s

& 1972 The World of

Birds exhibit opens

at the Bronx Zoo.

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& 2000 WCS rescues

Tanzania’s last populations

of Kihansi spray toads, just

as they faced extinction in

the wild by dam construction.

2001 The Robert

W. Wilson Charitable

trust begins

an eight-year

conservation

challenge to WCS,

resulting in $310

million raised for

global field work.

2002 WCS

commissions

architectural

firm Ayers, Saint

Gross to begin a

master plan for

the Bronx Zoo's

renaissance.

2003 Alien

Stingers exhibit

opens at the New

York Aquarium.

& 2004 With land donated by

Goldman, Sachs & Co., WCS

shepherds creation of Chile's

1,160-square-mile Karukinka

Reserve.

2004 WCS

establishes

One World-

One Health™,

promoting

collaborative

strategies to

prevent disease

transmission

between wildlife,

livestock, and

humans.

& 1992 NYZS work helps

establish 5,300-square-mile

Okapi Wildlife Reserve within

Ituri Forest in present-day

Democratic Republic of Congo.

1995 NYZS leads

effort to establish

two important

parks in Bolivia:

Madidi National

Park and Kaa-lya

del Gran Chaco

National Park. The

latter is the first

such area in the

Americas initiated

by an indigenous

group.

1998 The New

York Zoological

Society (NYZS)

officially changes

its name to

the Wildlife

Conservation

Society (WCS).

1998 WCS

becomes first

conservation

group to work

in Cambodia

after fall of

Khmer Rouge.

1999 WCS biologist

Mike Fay completes

1,200-mile

megatransect walk

across Congo Basin.

1999 Bronx Zoo’s

Congo Gorilla Forest

exhibit opens, raising

more than $800,000

in each successive

year for conservation

in central Africa.

2000s

2003 The Bronx

Zoo's renaissance

master plan is

adopted and

refurbishment

of its historic

landmarks begins.

2003 Tiger

Mountain opens

at the Bronx Zoo.

1990s2002 A documentary

by WCS and WWF

persuades the

Gabon government

to establish 13 new

national parks. WCS

executives and U.S.

Secretary of State

Colin Powell meet in

Gabon to launch the

Congo Basin Forest

Partnership.

2010s

2005 WCS

revives American

Bison Society

to restore

the species’

ecological role,

with support

from other

conservation

groups, Native

Americans,

government

agencies, and

private ranchers.

2007 WCS-led

research helps

define expansion

of Canada’s

Nahanni National

Park, inspiring

a six-fold

expansion of the

park—protecting

wilderness over

three times

the size of

Yellowstone.

2007 Cambodian prime

minister declares the Seima

forests a protected area.

It is the fourth protected

area resulting from WCS’s

Cambodia work.

2007 WCS surveys reveal

that the second largest land

migration (of 1.3 million

antelope and other species)

survived decades of war

in southern Sudan. WCS

becomes wildlife advisor to

the provisional government.

2008 WCS efforts lead

to creation of first federally-

designated U.S. wildlife

migration corridor, the Path

of the Pronghorn, to protect

the longest land migration

in the lower 48.

& 2008 Madagascar! exhibit

opens in Bronx Zoo’s former

Lion House, transforming

it into a LEED gold-certified

green building – the first NYC

landmark to receive that rating.

2008 WCS work in Patagonia

leads to creation of marine

protected area, Golfo San Jorge,

a key habitat for Magellanic

penguins and their prey.

2008 WCS partners with

Tanzania Wildlife Research

Institute to conduct national

survey of elephants and

frame a national strategy

for their conservation.

2008 WCS discovers

125,000 western lowland

gorillas in Republic of Congo,

more than half of world’s

population of this great ape.

& 2009 Allison Maher

Stern Snow Leopard

Exhibit opens at Central

Park Zoo.

2009 The LEED-certified

WCS Center for Global

Conservation opens at

the Bronx Zoo.

2009 WCS

conservationists

discover nearly

6,000 Irrawaddy

river dolphins,

among the rarest

species of marine

mammals, in

Bangladesh.

2009 WCS

successfully

concludes

Gateways to

Conservation,

a $650 million

capital campaign

launched in 2004,

with a total of

$663 million.

2010 WCS

policy efforts

help protect

170,000 acres of

Alaska’s National

Petroleum

Reserve near

Teshekpuk

Lake, land vital

for caribou and

migratory birds.

2010 WCS returns

Bronx-bred Kihansi

spray toads to a

breeding facility

in Tanzania.

2010 WCS leads

international effort

to protect the 3,200

last remaining wild

tigers.

& 2011 New York Aquarium

opens Conservation Hall,

as part of A Sea Change,

a 10-year public-private

partnership.

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SAVING WILDLIFE AND WILD PLACES

Fiji’s Totoya Reef was declared

“sacred” in 2011. WCS works

with local islanders to implement

sustainable fishing practices,

helping to ensure the island

society’s rich culture, traditions,

and livelihoods endure.

LANDSCAPES AND SEASCAPES

Protecting wildlife and the wild places in which they live: this is WCS’s core conservation strategy. Our renowned fieldwork informs local, national, and international policies that address widespread threats to the planet’s ecological integrity. WCS is on the ground in more than 75 important landscapes and seascapes. These premier sites are biologically outstanding and within them, the prospects for conserving species and ecological processes over the long-term remain high. Protected areas are at the heart of many of these landscapes and seascapes, and since the early 1900s, WCS has helped establish more than 150 of them across the globe. In all, we have worked to conserve upwards of 2 million square miles of some of the Earth’s wildest places, from the grasslands of Mongolia to the coral reefs of Belize.

SPECIES

About 25 percent of the world’s species rely on the land-scapes and seascapes where we work. Our commitment to conserve this biodiversity is broad, but it runs deep. Our efforts focus on safeguarding a suite of global priority species. These species are vulnerable to extinction, impor-tant to humans, and powerful symbols of nature. WCS is dedicated to protecting iconic wildlife across their ranges and over the long term. At local, national, and international levels, we work to ensure these species thrive and contribute to their ecosystems, so they continue to enrich our planet’s diversity of life.

[ ABOVE ] An American bison in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.

A WCS veterinarian examines a juvenile Galapagos turtle at the

Bronx Zoo.

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To sustain Earth’s biodiversity into

the future, WCS addresses issues that

influence ecosystems worldwide.

Climate Change

With each passing year, climate change is

transforming the playing field for conservation.

We have made it our job to anticipate these

changes. From Indonesian coral reefs to central

African forests, WCS research and projects

combat the effects of climate change on

wildlife and human communities. A WCS

hallmark is to hold long-term commitments

to, and historical knowledge of, specific areas.

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A WCS hallmark is to hold long-term commitments to, and historical knowledge of, specific areas.

Global Health

WCS strives to lessen the impact of disease

on wildlife through better understanding of the

nexus of human, wildlife, and domestic animal

disease. We do so through research, preventative

education, and clinical care, conducted in our

parks and in the field. At state-of-the-art wildlife

health facilities, our veterinarians, training

programs, and research combine to provide the

highest quality care to the animals within our

zoos and aquarium. To address animal health

issues in the wild, we established a first-of-

its-kind field veterinary program in 1989. Now

from Patagonia to central Africa, we conduct

cutting-edge disease investigations and work

to prevent the transmission of pathogens—such

as avian influenza, West Nile virus, and Ebola

virus— between wildlife, domestic animals,

and humans. In order to anticipate and mitigate

potential health threats to ecosystems and

communities, WCS collaborates with in-country

health experts. Together, we create local training

programs and formulate disease prevention

guidelines and policies.

Local Livelihoods

WCS conducts conservation in remote places

where many of the world's poorest people

reside. These communities depend on natural

resources and local ecosystems for their food,

their shelter, and their livelihoods. Investing in

the quality of life within these societies is sound

conservation practice. WCS aids communities

across the globe in developing economic

activities that are profitable, sustainable, and

coincide with conservation. Collaborating with

community members and their leaders, we

help to ensure their legal tenure, nurture new

agricultural products and practices, implement

better fishing techniques and management

practices, and generate ecotourism and other

financial opportunities. In addition, WCS helps

communities and ecosystems recover within

areas devastated by natural disasters or

violent conflict.

This enables us to implement conservation

strategies that will help species and ecosystems

adapt to new climate conditions. Working with

local people, corporations, and governments,

WCS aims to reduce global carbon emissions

by protecting the world’s remaining forests

and peat bogs from destruction. Our holistic

approach goes beyond the fences of protected

areas to combine conservation, sustainable

development, and human livelihoods into one

integrated climate adaptation agenda.

Natural Resource Extraction

Natural resource extraction—mining, logging,

fishing, and oil and gas development—occurs

in many areas where we work. Reducing the

impact of these activities, and ensuring the

persistence of wildlife in the face of these threats,

are key to our conservation efforts. WCS assists

extractive industries in adopting business

practices that minimize their influence on wildlife

and habitats. Additionally, we encourage

companies to help offset the impact of their

actions through support of wildlife conservation.

[ OPPOSITE ] West Indian

flamingos off Inagua Island

in the Bahamas, where WCS

conducts field research on

these colorful birds.

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PARKS AND PEOPLE

A porcupine in the Queens

Zoo’s aviary is one of many

WCS animals that bring

ecology lessons to life for

students and teachers.

OUR PARKS

WCS’s four zoos and aquarium comprise the world’s largest urban complex of wildlife parks. Our cutting-edge exhibits attract people in the millions to the Bronx Zoo, Central Park Zoo, Prospect Park Zoo, Queens Zoo, and New York Aquarium each year. The purpose of the parks is manifold. They connect visitors to nature and serve as hubs for environmental education, as facilities for perpetuating endangered species, and as research centers for wildlife health and international conservation.

WCS researchers in New York City exchange insights with their field colleagues that benefit wildlife at the parks and in the wild. Zoo-based research has aided vaccination efforts in African wild dogs, helped monitor jaguars in Guatemala, and provided optimal nesting grounds for maleos, an endangered bird species, in Indonesia. Our thoughtfully designed exhibits ensure the connection between the parks and the field is ever present for our guests. In the Bronx Zoo’s Congo Gorilla Forest, visitors can direct their admission fee to support the WCS fieldwork of their choice in central Africa. So far, the exhibit has raised more money for field conservation than that of any other zoo. More broadly, our parks’ combined focus on research, education, and action exemplifies WCS’s unified approach to conservation.

The Next Generation of Conservation StewardsWith more than 1,300 species and interactive exhibits spread

over 308 acres, the parks serve as an informal science

classroom for visitors and students.

WCS, the Urban Assembly, and the NYC Department of

Education created the Urban Assembly School for Wildlife

Conservation for grades 6 to 12, with curricula themed on

wildlife conservation. Located in the Bronx, it is the first

school of its kind. A sister institution, the Rachel Carson

High School for Coastal Studies in Coney Island, is likewise

affiliated with the New York Aquarium.

Each year, more than 100,000 students and 2,000 teachers

participate in WCS’s award-winning education programs—from

on-site academic programs to school field trips to day camp.

WCS’s Distance Learning Expeditions provide programming

for more than 60,000 students in 36 states and 8 countries,

including Canada, Mexico, Great Britain, the Dominican

Republic, and Honduras.

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[ ABOVE ] In 2010, a total of six cubs (three Amur tigers and three

Malayan tigers) were born at the Bronx Zoo.

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OUR CONSERVATION FOOTPRINT

Legislation and Treaties

WCS was a founding member of the

International Union for the Conservation of

Nature (IUCN) and helped create important

regimes for protecting wildlife: the Interna-

tional Migratory Bird Act, the Pribilof

Fur Seal Treaty, the Convention on the

International Trade in Endangered Species

(CITES), the Great Apes Conservation Fund,

the Marine Turtle Conservation Fund, and

the 2009 Semipostal Stamp Act for the

Multinational Species Conservation Fund.

Milestones and DiscoveriesOn land: So far, WCS has helped

create more than 150 protected

areas—including the U.S. Arctic

National Wildlife Refuge, Brazil’s

Mamirauá-Amaña (the Amazon’s

largest flooded forest reserve),

Ecuador’s Galapagos National

Park, Tibet’s Chang Tang Reserve

(the world’s third largest terrestrial

reserve), Tanzania’s Tarangire

National Park, South Africa’s Kruger

National Park, and Gabon’s pro-

tected area network that comprises

10 percent of the country’s land area.

At sea: WCS was instrumental in

establishing the world’s first land-

and-sea park at Exuma Cays in the

Bahamas, the largest no-take zone

in Fiji, the Hol Chan Marine Reserve

in Belize (and the subsequent

national network of marine protected

areas there), and the first marine

reserves in Argentina, Gabon,

and Madagascar.

In our parks: WCS is a leader in

captive breeding and spearheaded

the idea of the Species Survival

Plan. Zoos around the world use

these plans, and others like them,

to protect wildlife from extinction

and ensure the genetic integrity of

populations in captivity.

Our research: WCS conservationists

have conducted the first ecological

studies on many species, including

mountain gorillas, humpback

whales, giant pandas, tigers, lions,

snow leopards, Iranian cheetahs,

Tibetan antelope, Bactrian camels,

and Mongolian gazelles.

In communities: WCS helped

establish Bolivia’s Kaa-lya del Gran

Chaco park by assisting indigenous

people in acquiring rights over their

ancestral lands. The park is the first

in the Americas to be co-managed

by an indigenous organization.

Conflict areas: Through times of

civil unrest in Uganda, Rwanda,

Democratic Republic of Congo, and

Afghanistan, WCS was the sole con-

servation organization that stayed

to continue their work. After decades

of war in South Sudan, WCS was the

first wildlife NGO to return to the region,

where we discovered the world’s

second largest land migration had

remained intact through the conflict.

Climate change: In Madagascar’s

Makira Forest, WCS established

one of the first REDD (Reducing

Emissions from Deforestation and

Forest Degradation) projects. These

initiatives address climate change

by reducing CO2 emissions from

deforestation while they support

local, sustainable livelihoods.

Species discoveries: WCS conser-

vationists were first to identify: the

Madidi monkey in Bolivia; Mura’s

saddleback tamarin in Brazil; the

black-and-gold salamander and

bare-faced bulbul in Lao PDR; the

Mekong wagtail in Cambodia; the

leaf deer in Myanmar; the Arunachal

macaque in India; the kipunji in

Tanzania; and many others.

Habitat connectivity: For pronghorn

in the western United States, WCS

helped create the first federally

protected migration corridor.

Where We Work

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Page 11: FROM NEW YORK CITY TO THE WORLDfscdn.wcs.org/.../95ui53eifw_WCS_General_Brochure_2011.pdf · 2015-07-24 · parks in Bolivia: Madidi National Park and Kaa-lya del Gran Chaco National

PHOTO CREDITS cover: Dennis DeMello/WCS; inside cover: Julie Larsen Maher/WCS;

page 4: Julie Larsen Maher/WCS; Timeline*; page 12: Keith A.

Ellenbogen; pages 13-17 (5): Julie Larsen Maher/WCS; inside back

cover: Julie Larsen Maher/WCS; back cover: Alex Dehgan/WCS

*Timeline, 1890-1929 (7): © WCS; 1931: Julie Larsen Maher/WCS;

1934-57 (4): © WCS; 1959: © Peggy O’Shaughnessy; 1970- 72 (2):

Dennis DeMello; 1987-2011 (10): Julie Larsen Maher/WCS

[ INSIDE BACK COVER ] A savannah

elephant in northern Uganda.

Throughout much of the species'

remaining habitat, WCS works

to develop novel approaches

for reducing human-elephant

conflict and poaching for ivory.

[ BACK COVER ] One of six crystal

blue lakes in Band-e-Amir,

Afghanistan’s first national

park. WCS assisted in the

park’s establishment in 2009,

and we have since helped

create the nation’s first-ever

protected species list.