REGUA’s Park Guards © REGUA

Rainforest at the REGUA reserve  © REGUA

Wildlife: Woolly Spider Monkeys © Paula Chaves

November 19, 2014

Few in Brazil’s REGUA reserve perform more important work than its nine forest guards.

When the reserve was established in 2001, it was clear that patrolling its forests for poachers would be crucial to guarantee the conservation of its biodiversity. Over the years this has proved true.

To find suitable forest guards, REGUA identified several local hunters willing to change their ways. Candidates were carefully selected for stamina, understanding, and tracking skills.

Surprisingly, the ex-hunters chosen by REGUA took up their responsibilities with much gusto.Preventing hunting has been the principle, continuous task of REGUA’s forest rangers. Hunting is very much a traditional activity in Brazil’s Atlantic Rainforest and the tracking skills REGUA’s guards developed as hunters are indispensable resources; they are now used to detect the presence of poachers.

To facilitate detection of hunters, a system of trails has been created at REGUA, which allows for regular patrols. The hard work done by forest guards, coupled with REGUA`s education and protection program, has significantly reduced poaching. At the same time wildlife has become much more abundant and critically endangered species like Woolly Spider Monkeys have been sighted.

In addition to conducting patrols, forest guards use the reserve’s trail network to guide researchers and visitors on trips to observe the rainforest and its wildlife.

The opportunity to talk with visiting students, researchers, and tourists about wildlife has caused a profound change in forest guard attitudes and has deepened their commitment to protecting REGUA’s forest by helping them see how important their role is to make the reserve succeed.

REGUA’s forest guard program is not only a way of generating employment but it also is helping to change local customs that have historically led to dramatic damage of the Atlantic Rainforest.For example, REGUA guards, some of whom readily admit that they contributed to rainforest destruction, have begun to participate in reforestation efforts. As a result of the restoration program, however, they are able to tell their children that they were involved in establishing forests and compensated for past mistakes.

Besides the hard physical work of planting trees, guards also collect the seeds of rare native trees during forest patrols. The results of their reforestation efforts are impressive and have helped guards feel even more involved in the future of the reserve and proud of the heritage they are creating.

By David Peek and Nicholas J. Locke