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Wild Places


A varied selection of projects, all working to protect valuable biodiversity and precious habitats in wild places and landscapes around the world. 

 
Please read though the details below of the projects looking for your vote, and then select the one you would like to receive funding from EOCA.  A difficult choice as they are all very worthwhile projects!

SPRING VOTING WILL RUN FROM 20 APRIL TO 4 MAY 2022
 

Looking For Your Support

Black Stork nest

Feel Good at "Talgud": Practical Nature Conservation, Estonia

Website: http://www.talgud.ee/en

In Estonian, ‘Talgud’ describes unpaid, large-scale physical work carried out in groups, which ELF has successfully implemented through its conservation camps with volunteers for 21 years. This project aims to involve 100-150 volunteers over 10 camps at 5 island and mainland locations popular with hikers and kayakers to protect endangered Estonian flora and fauna. Working in semi-natural habitats, brushwood and invasive species will be removed to restore open landscapes. Brushwood will be removed from the coastal areas of Ruhnu and Rammu islands, providing feeding space in coastal meadows for the baltic dunlin and, pines, left over from the Soviet Union’s reforestation campaign of the 1980s will be removed on Rammu Island to protect black crowberry moor, which only grows on a few North Estonian islands. Cowpens will be built on Osmussaar island to ensure appropriate grazing on alvars and protect wild orchid habitat . Finally, brushwood will be removed from the banks of Lusika and Piiruoja creeks to help black storks gain access to feeding sites whilst nesting.

Voting has ended
Lesotho, Kingdom of the Bearded Vulture

Maloti-Drakensberg’s Vanishing vultures, South Africa

Website: http://projectvulture.org.za

The Maloti-Drakensberg Park (a UNESCO World heritage site) represents the last, southernmost, stronghold for the region’s Critically Endangered Bearded Vulture. There are fewer than 100 breeding pairs left in these mountains, which is also a vital site for the Endangered Cape Vulture. Threatened by poisoning, collisions with energy infrastructure, and habitat loss, the population of vultures relies on livestock carcasses as most of their original, wild food source has been lost. The project will develop self-sustainable conservation hubs around hides and feeding sites to educate and empower community members and visitors, helping communities manage their land and livestock in vulture-friendly manners, removing threats over 150,000ha. Local vulture champions and monitors will manage each site, raising awarensss of the conservation and economic/tourism value of vultures and other local wildlife. River cleanups and production of eco-bricks for construction of hides, will reduce pollution on at least 65 km of senstitive highland river habitat and reductions in the amount of grassland burning will improve soil, reduce erosion and improve carbon sequestering capacities.

Voting has ended
Wild Landscape

Protecting the Endangered Siberian Marmot, Mongolia

Website: http://www.wildlifeinitiative.org

The Mongolian–Manchurian Grassland Ecoregion is characterised by extensive grasslands and categorised as critically endangered. The change from a centralised to an open market in 1990s enabled continual growth of the cashmere market in Mongolia, causing a huge increase in cashmere goats, and a negative effect on the steppe system and its wildlife. Overgrazing and the increased presence of shepherds and dogs are threatening the globally endangered Siberian marmot, which is crucial for the survival of rare species such as the Pallas’s cat, which uses its dens. This project will work with local nomadic families, who are already assisting Wildlife Initiative with monitoring by camera traps. Involving local herders will help to encourage them to move more often, reducing pressure on the habitat. They will also help translocating and re-establishing 10 marmot colonies in the area and fencing off areas around the new colonies to protect them from grazing and disturbance. The project will also work with the herders to introduce alternative livelihoods such as guiding in climbing and hiking areas.

Voting has ended
The endangered Huemul

Reducing Tourism Threats to the Endangered Huemul, Chile

Website: http://www.tdplegacyfund.org

Almost exclusively found in southern Patagonia, there are fewer than 1,500 huemul (south Andean deer) left. In Torres Del Paine, the huemul is increasingly threatened by habitat fragmentation and disease, caused primarily by tourism and livestock. Intensive use, overcrowding, gaps in education and man-made fires have placed significant strain on the region’s unique flora and fauna, its aging infrastructure, and limited trail system. The Base of the Towers Trail runs alongside one of the last remaining huemul habitats and populations, yet, to avoid flooding on the main trail, walkers have created numerous different side paths in some sections and destroyed much vegetation. This project will realign and repair the existing trail in the public portion of the national park, allowing renaturalisation of damaged areas. The project will launch a community education campaign to agree guidelines for huemul conservation, and hold workshops with local guides to create content for interpretative panels on the huemul and provide visitors with actionable information about this iconic species as they hike this iconic trail.

Voting has ended
 
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Projects

If you are an individual who loves the great outdoors and would like to support our projects, please click the donate button below.
The funding is enabling us to repair a damaged section of the iconic Three Peaks long distance footpath and restore an area of internationally important upland habitat. Voting for our project was a simple but highly effective way for our supporters to show how strongly they felt about improving access and protecting the landscape of this wonderful area. Thank you, EOCA!
Don Gamble, Yorkshire Dales Millenium Trust