Kodkod

"The target agreed by the world's Governments in 2002, "to achieve by 2010 a significant reduction of the current rate of biodiversity loss at the global, regional and national level as a contribution to poverty alleviation and to the benefit of all life on Earth", has not been met."

Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary-General. Conclusion of Global Biodiversity Outlook 3, 2010

Wildlife conservation

A recent UN report has some interesting things to say about the state of the world's biodiversity, and the implications that this has for us: "The loss of biodiversity is an issue of profound concern for its own sake. Biodiversity underpins the functioning of ecosystems which provide a wide range of services to human societies. Its continued loss, therefore, has major implications for current and future human well-being" (Global Biodiversity Outlook 3)

The conclusions of the largest and best-informed international study by top environmental scientists ever carried out is that the best efforts of the 158 countries that are members of the Convention on Biological Diversity have so far failed to reverse the adverse trends in any of the indicators of ecosystem health that were established in 2000 as the minimum that needs to be done to protect our ecosystem.

These are the seven worrying outcomes of the report, that ought to be borne in mind by anybody engaged in any activity that affects biodiversity, such as shopping for food, heating a house, driving to work: ".....

• Species which have been assessed for extinction risk are on average moving closer to extinction. Amphibians face the greatest risk and coral species are deteriorating most rapidly in status. Nearly a quarter of plant species are estimated to be threatened with extinction.
  
• The abundance of vertebrate species, based on assessed populations, fell by nearly a third on average between 1970 and 2006, and continues to fall globally, with especially severe declines in the tropics and among freshwater species.
  
• Natural habitats in most parts of the world continue to decline in extent and integrity, although there has been significant progress in slowing the rate of loss for tropical forests and mangroves, in some regions. Freshwater wetlands, sea ice habitats, salt marshes, coral reefs, seagrass beds and shellfish reefs are all showing serious declines.
  
• Extensive fragmentation and degradation of forests, rivers and other ecosystems have also led to loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services.
  
• Crop and livestock genetic diversity continues to decline in agricultural systems.
  
• The five principal pressures directly driving biodiversity loss (habitat change, overexploitation, pollution, invasive alien species and climate change) are either constant or increasing in intensity.
  
• The ecological footprint of humanity exceeds the biological capacity of the Earth by a wider margin than at the time the 2010 target was agreed.

......"

As Fritz Schumacher said: "Think globally, act locally". These global issues are the sum outcome of countless decisions and actions, locally. Here is where we can make a difference. Now.

"You can make a lot of speeches, but the real thing is when you dig a hole, plant a tree, give it water, and make it survive. That's what makes the difference "

Wangari Maathai (environmental activist, first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize)

Conservation Science Research

Go directly to our conservation science website

Conservation science is the study of biodiversity and the ecological relationships between species, with a view to improving our ability to protect native wildlife and plants, maintain ecosystem health, and conserve our biosphere for future generations. As a business that depends directly on our environment staying healthy, so we seek to find ways to feed back something positive that will help to keep this environment healthy in the long term.

Kodkod is doing this on several levels:

• through providing educational opportunities for future professionals in conservation science;
• Hosting research projects that help us to understand better the needs of native wildlife.
• Giving schoolchildren real-life hands-on experiences to help them understand their position in our ecosystem
• Facilitating research to stimulate international interest and awareness in conservation issues facing the temperate rainforests of Chile
• Demonstrating good practice in Sustainable Tourism, and the integrated management of our tourism and education activities.
• Buying fresh local food from our neighbours that we know care for their environment and do not use pesticides.

We reinvest at least 5% of our sales revenue into supporting these initiatives, and are very happy to accept donations if you like what we do, and feel you would like to support our work.

The conservation science programme at Kodkod is managed and run by Fauna Australis, Wildlife research laboratory of the Catholic University of Chile, which has it's Field Station based at Kodkod. This work has it's seperate website, dedicated to conservation research in the Chilean temperate rainforest, www.temperaterainforests.net, if you would like to know more.

Wildlife conservation

At Kodkod, we take nature conservation seriously, and this commitment begins at home, in the way we manage our activities. We are based in a 5.5ha site, of which about 4ha is continuous native woodland. Our trees are typical regrowth forest, about 50 years old, still recovering from the initial, and catastrophic, process of colonization that affected the whole temperate rainforest ecosystem. The main tree species are Southern beech (Nothofagus oblicua), and Chilean Laurel (Laurelia sempervirens), with many other species mixed in, such as canelo (Drimys winteri), ulmo (Eucryphia cordifolia), and radal (Lomatia hirsuta). Many species of birds are also present, and these have been the subject of long-term studies by Fauna Australis scientists.

We developed a conservation plan to help start to organise different activities in different places, concentrating our impact in a small area, and leaving space without disturbance for wildlife.

Figure 1. A melanic (black), kodkod cat captured on film by our camera trap one night in our park.

 

Zoning
We divided the property into 5 conceptual zones, with the aim that we should have a minimum impact in the areas most important for wildlife.
Figure 1. The 5 management zones at Kodkod.

 

Zone 1.  Constructions and gardens: These are areas of free access for staff and public, without supervision. Vehicles can use the gravelled driveways and parking areas. It is permitted to play sports on the lawn, and to make bonfires and barbecues in the places specified.

Zone 2. Vegetable gardens and livestock: Area dedicated to production of food, herbs and flowers, following organic production principles. Composting of organic wastes from the kitchens, cabins and chickens.

Zone 3. Open woodland, with intensive use: Natural play area for children and grazing of domestic animals.

Zone 4.Managed woodland. Natural woodland, with light public access by way of marked footpaths. These woods are managed for extraction of firewood, colection of wild fungi, control of invasive species, scientific studies and provision of nesting boxes.

Zona 5. Nucleus forest: Minimum disturbance. No extraction of firewood from live or dead trees. No colection of plants or fungi. Avoid all access.

Habitat quality improvements:

The main factors affecting the presence and abundance of wildlife in our park are thought to be: lack of natural water sources, presence of alien invasive species, such as rats, mice and brambles. and possibly a scarcity of nesting sites for birds.

Water: In August 2009, we modified the irrigation water system to ensure that there is a constant flow of water in 2 points in the park - in the woods to the south, where we constructed a small artificial pond with a wetland overflow, and another pond and wetland in front of our restaurant terrace. It is expected that these will be important sources of water for wildlife during the summer months.

Alien invasive species: Fauna Australis scientists undertook two surveys of rodents using Sherman traps during 2009. The study demonstrated the presence of 5 rodent species in the park, 3 of which are introduced, and two are native. The introduced species – Rattus rattus,  Rattus norvegicus y Mus musculus – tend to infest buildings, especially in the autumn, and may be a serious public health risk. In addition, it is highly probable that they predate birds nests. We hope to continue these studies to monitor the changes in populations over the long-term, while we take measures to humanely eliminate the introduced species.

 

Nesting sites
During the winter of 2009, we installed 15 nest boxes around the park. During last summer, half of these were occupied by nesting birds, including house wrens, treerunners and tit-tyrants. We hope to provide more boxes in the future, as our woods are relatively young, with few older decaying trees to provide good natural nest sites. Making nest boxes is now part of our education programme with local schools. The kids that visit learn to make a nest box, and to install it back at school or in their homes.

 

 

 

Wildlife rescue
In January 2010, we released a Concon owl that had been sent to us with severe injuries to its wing, after it was found by a neighbour hanging from a barbed wire fence, on which it had managed to impale itself. The Fauna Australis team decided to send it off to the veterinary centre of the Austral University in Valdivia, where it remained in their expert care for 6 weeks. Following its successful recovery, we brought it back for re-release where we found it.

Native wildlife often meets with accidents, living in such close proximity to humans, and our infrastructure. We are very interested to keep helping out with animals that need our care to survive.

 

 

Wildlife of the temperate rainforests

Compared with the tropical rainforests of South America, the temperate rainforest has relatively few species. This appears to be a result of Chile's geographical isolation - the wet western slopes of the southern Andes are separated by many km of desert and mountain from other humid regions from where species could have come to recolonise after the last ice age (10,000 ago). Most of the species that are here have close relatives in other parts of South and North America, showing us that they migrated down through the Americas at some stage in history to get here. There are just a few animals, though many more plants, that have their origins in the ancient supercontinent of Gondwana, over 120 million years ago.

It is particularly difficult to see the wildlife of the temperate rainforest, as the species are small, shy and present at low densities. However, we have been using camera traps since 2006 to try to find out more about what species are here, what habitats they use, and what their conservation needs may be. Here is a selection of some of the species that we have recorded in the woods around Pucon.

Pudu deer. One of the smallest species of deer in the world.

Puma. The top predator - found throughout the Americas, from Alaska to Patagonia.

Kodkod cat, or guiña. Diminutive leopard, found only in the temperate rainforests.This is the black, or melanic version, which appears to make up about 1/3 of the population here.

Kodkod cat. This is the more common spotted version.

A skunk, or chingue snuffles about, looking for insects and grubs.

A culpeo fox, startled by the flash.

Native woodland is widely used as forage for domestic livestock

A recent arrival is the wild boar, that is now one of the most abundant species. Its impact on native fauna and flora is unknown.

What is known is that wild boar have a prodigious reproduction rate.