Animal Welfare Madagascar Project #35841

Protecting Threatened Lemur Habitat in Madagascar

Project Report | Mar 31, 2020
Project Ala's Planting Strategy

By Emma Irving | Project Development Intern

Cleared Corridor

As Project Ala nears the end of its first year, it is an exciting time to celebrate the progress of our innovative planting strategy so far. Project Ala is using a Framework Species Method to reforest land between some of the last remaining fragments of the littoral forest in Sainte Luce. In January 2020 we completed an important step, planting eleven different species of native pioneer plants. These species are adapted for colonising degraded landscapes, and were chosen for their ability to grow quickly, their resilience to strong sunlight, and being favoured by native seed dispersers including lemurs and bats.

Planting fast-growing, sun-loving, non-native species three metres apart allowed room for two native seedlings to be planted for each non-native seedling. Using this system, we aim to achieve maximum forest regeneration through natural seed dispersal from neighbouring forests, using a minimal amount of artificial planting and future management effort.

This strategy is proving to be a success. One-month survival surveys found both non-native and native pioneer seedlings in each corridor to have a survival rate of greater than 75%. This is a fantastic result, especially given that our predicted survival rate for seedlings is 50%!

Following survival surveys at one-month, six-month, and annual intervals, any seedlings that have died are replanted to ensure we give the corridors the best chance of establishment during the project timescale.

Looking ahead to the next year of Project Ala, we plan to continue to establish a diverse and multi-layered forest structure within the corridors by planting a further 12 native plant species. These are characteristically slower growing and favour forest gaps and the shading of canopies, and so will require the growth of pioneer species to create these conditions.

Once the corridors have been established with the non-native species for three years, landowners will be able to sustainably log the species, providing an alternative income in return for their involvement. This will also benefit the corridors by opening the forest up to enable dormant native seeds to germinate. In the long term, Project Ala hopes to establish mature corridors of littoral forest to connect the remnant forest fragments and maintain the health of the whole ecosystem.

A note on coronavirus

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, most project activities planned will be postponed until further notice in an effort to prevent the spread of the virus to the vulnerable communities where we work. In the meantime, the corridors will continue to grow and establish as nature intended and activities will be resumed as soon as possible.

Native Species

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Jan 10, 2020
Long-Term Conservation Through Education

By Samantha Ambler | Forestry Specialist

Children painting at SEED's after-school club

Since October 2019, Project Ala has been lucky enough to work with young people from the local community to help change attitudes towards conservations and sustainability. By engaging youth about the forest threats and lemur conservation taking place on their doorstep, SEED Madagascar can help create the stewards of the forest who will preserve this unique habitat for future generations.

Project Ala has been working with Club Atsatsaky (or Club Gecko) an afterschool club run by SEED Madagascar, which reaches over 100 local youth every week. These sessions are delivered by Malagasy education specialists and are a favourite for the youth of Sainte Luce. The young people receive presentations, containing exciting audio-video material and always end in educational games. These interactive games have helped teach things such as tree anatomy, habitat connectivity, plant lifecycles, and different conservation strategies, which they would not usually get the opportunity to learn about. The young people have also been on forest adventures with our local guides to see the trees and animals that they have been learning about

During World Lemur Day 2019, the young people of Sainte Luce participated in quizzes to test their knowledge on lemurs. The day proved very popular, especially as there were prizes of notepads, crayons, and educational books for answering questions currently on lemurs and their habitats. Plans are already being made for World Lemur Day 2020 to make it an even bigger success!

The task of changing attitudes towards conservation and sustainability in Sainte Luce is a difficult one, but by engaging the youth of the community we can make a long-term positive impact on the future guardians of this unique forest.

Interactive games during World Lemur Day

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Oct 15, 2019
Planting Our First Seedlings!

By Samantha Ambler | Forestry Specialist

The fragmented habitats we are working to reforest

What an exciting few months we have had with Project Ala! The project was officially launched in July, and this was shortly followed by our first planting event. With our first seedlings planted, we are a big step closer to saving this fragmented habitat.

Planting events are very busy occasions for Laza, our Project Coordinator: community members must be employed, land cleared, holes dug and seedlings and compost carried, all before the seedlings are finally planted. With one of Project Ala's corridors being 222m in length, there is a lot of work to be done and the team needs lots of helping hands to undertake the physical labour involved.

Members of the local community begin work several days before planting commences. They start by clearing the land, removing the ground vegetation – which in our case is mostly an invasive heather species – to make way for digging the holes. Holes are dug 3m apart, and without technology or fancy equipment in the field, a piece of rope marked at every 3m is used to help decide where to dig the holes. Then it is finally time to plant the seedlings.

Tree planting can be a lively event, with everyone mucking in to get their hands dirty. Women from the local community receive training on how best to plant the seedlings, to increase the chances of their survival. When the planting begins, all the women are conversing about their week and the local goings-on – it is a great chance for SEED’s Conservation and Research Program (SCRP) volunteers to speak to members of the community, learning their names and practising their Malagasy!

Now that planting is underway, we’ve begun field research on Project Ala too, and are excited to have found a very promising survival rate among our seedlings in the first two forest corridors. We’ve also been collecting data about the lemurs, amphibians and reptiles living in the forest remnants, which will help us to assess the success of these new corridors going forward.

Over the next couple of months, Project Ala has a lot to look forward to. We will be beginning our youth education sessions in local communities, clearing up firebreaks around the protected area and erecting fire mitigation signs. We will also be planting the last two corridors, so watch this space for more updates!

Carrying seedlings to the corridors for planting

Invasive heather needing clearing before planting

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