FORWARD by Kevin McManigal

FORWARD

Last Stand Landscape. It has a certain ring to it, but unfortunately, for many of the world’s most iconic species, it carries a negative connotation. In wildlife biology, we talk about the carrying capacity of an ecosystem. That is, the aspects of a species’ range that determine the total population able to thrive on that given landscape. It may include variables like available prey, water, landcover, etc., but in all cases, a species has evolved over millennia to capitalize on a specific niche that only exists in a finite area of Earth. Enter humans. In a geologic blink, we have managed to slash, burn, destroy and denude vast swathes of primary habitat that untold species called home. In many cases, we trampled and trashed before we could even count and catalogue. We may never know exactly what has vanished. Since the last ice age, the planet has lost one third of its primary forest, with half of that loss occurring in the last one hundred years. This represents an area twice the size of the United States. Countless species disappeared as the trees fell, not to mention those gone in “developed” wetlands, grasslands, beaches and deserts. The picture painted appears quite bleak.

And now we enter a new age, the Anthropocene. For the last several decades, habitat loss has been considered the largest factor pushing species to the brink of extinction. However, we now find there is no more habitat to lose. For many of the megafauna, like the elephants and rhinos, the bear and buffalo, the lions and tigers, the small parcels of range are all that remain. Within the world’s wildlife refuges, national parks, and protected areas, lie the Last Stand Landscapes for these wonderful citizens of Earth, these animals we proclaim to love. We idolize them, lift them up as characters, logos and mascots, figureheads of our commitment to conservation. Meanwhile, we are slaughtering them in the field. For today, even in the last of their habitat, we allow a greater threat to decimate their kind. Poaching, the new scourge, continues to whittle away their numbers in the wild. Humans have only one choice to make. If we truly care, and want these magnificent beasts to carry on for future generations, for the health of all life on earth, we only need to do one thing; stop killing them. This appears easier said than done.

Let’s take the tiger as an example. Only a century ago, scientists estimate there were over 100,000 tigers in their natural habitat. Today, there are under 4000. One truly depressing statistic claims there are more tigers in captivity in Texas than are alive in the wild. And while there are pockets of healthy populations in the protected ranges of Asia, a recent study found that 1 in 5 wild tigers succumb to poaching every year. This disturbing mortality rate feeds the $23 billion illegal wildlife trade that robs us all of our shared global bio-diversity. Millions have been spent on disproving the medicinal benefits of tiger parts, on raising awareness, on winning hearts and minds. All to no avail. At this point, the only recourse is to stop poachers with highly motivated rangers willing to die for these cats. Anything less, surely means extinction.

So, when there is nothing left to do but fight, fight we must. With clear objectives, and singular focus, the Panthera organization started the Tigers Forever program in 2014. They set a simple goal of doubling wild tiger populations. Working with government agencies, local NGOs, and indigenous people that live with tigers every day, they established a network of existing parks and landscapes, fed by robust source populations, that only needed to be locked down and protected from poachers. The good news; it’s working! Wild populations have risen by over 800 cats, and breeding pairs are establishing ranges in areas previously devoid of any tigers. As the poster to the right depicts, many parks are getting close to carrying capacity, and now the program is funded to keep expanding tiger numbers in new sites.

Maps played a key role. One aspect of effective anti-poaching patrols, is the use of paper maps for efficient wayfinding and navigation. Student cartographers at the University of Montana mapped thousands of square kilometers using the latest techniques of modern cartography to give the rangers an edge in the field. And here we have a collection of maps by other student cartographers, highlighting protected areas around the globe. Imagine all the species hiding in these faraway places, under the rocks, in the canopies, below the waves. Imagine the good these maps can do for the world.

Kevin McManigal Director of Cartography University of Montana, Missoula December, 2021