Country ZEST & Style Summer 2022 Edition

Page 6

Out in Africa: On Behalf of Man and Beast

W

By Jodi Nash

hile humans erect walls and fences, animals aren't constrained by the geopolitical boundaries drawn by man to separate ourselves from each other. Long-time Delaplane resident Matthew Sheedy knows that better than most. For many years, he’s been working with several non-profit foundations operating across approximately a dozen countries in the south of Africa, with roughly 250 million acres of conservation land to preserve and protect, in a prodigious effort to re-establish lost ecosystems and provide wildlife security to threatened species. A Harvard MBA, Matt spent years with a large commercial real estate firm until the market tanked in the early 1990s. That, and the death of his mother were an epiphany. He pressed the reset button and decided to follow his bliss. Passionate even as a teenager about wildlife conservation, a three-week trip to Tanzania and Kenya during college was transformative. “Africa is primal,” he said. “I had this immediate sense of belonging.” He started his own commercial real estate business, MJS Properties, and took advantage of natural breaks to travel the globe on the conservation “volunteer plan,” mostly with Earthwatch. Participating in field research expeditions, Matt got up close and personal with bears and tigers in Nepal, crocodiles in South Africa, jaguars in Brazil, snakes in India, sea turtles in Costa Rica, and chimps in Uganda. After a month or so of arduous volunteer work, he wandered vagabond style via youth hostels through a region to experience its culture and people. At a benefit event in 2015, he met Jason Paterniti, founder of GEOS, a non-profit dedicated to animal and habitat conservation. When “Rhinos Without Borders” (RWB) transported 100 at-risk rhinos from South Africa by airplane to Botswana in 2014, the GEOS Foundation assisted with some of the funding. Jason (like Matt), an entrepreneur with a farm in The Plains, was already planning a trip to Mozambique, the epicenter of rhino poaching, and Matt joined him. On other first day in Mozambique, close to the South African border, their group intercepted poachers. Their journey included gunfire, living in a concrete Quonset hut, sleeping in tents on patrol in the bush, and 100-degree temperatures. It was a gritty hand-to-mouth existence, embedded with ten special forces rangers from Mozambique. The grimmest horror encountered was a gruesomely wounded rhino in utter agony. “They shoot or dart them, spine-slice them, cut their faces off (for their horns), and leave them to die,” Matt said. “If the baby rhino comes back to the mother, they take his horn, too. “A major problem is we sanitize the horror of things like war, crime, poaching…and as a result, sometimes become complacent. It’s very dangerous work, and the Rangers who do it every day for low pay and in brutal working conditions are the real heroes.” Jason and Matt also wrote personal checks, raised funds from donors at home, worked pro bono, and applied their financial and business acumen to man-age the planning and personnel needed for their counterpoaching operation. This led to a highly strategic association with Col.

Lionel Dyck, the legendary founder of Dyck Advisory Group (DAG) Conservation Trust, an all-African nonprofit focused on anti-poaching, security, explosive disposal, de-mining, and wildlife conservation. Under Dyck’s leadership in 1990, the Rhino Rescue Trust’s anti-poaching mission in Zimbabwe resulted in a 50 percent reduction in poaching in just a threemonth period. Applying a similar tactical plan, “Early Detection, Rapid Re-action,” Dyck and GEOS operated on a lean annual budget of $600,000, resourc-ing funds effectively to provide boots, uniforms, weapons, communications equipment, dog tracking teams, Ranger training and, most importantly, helicop-ters. From 2015 to 2016, they reduced rhino poaching by almost 75 percent in their 180,000-acre area, though

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MIDDLEBURG SUSTAINABLE COMMITTEE| Summer 2022

Trying to keep rhinos alive and well.

Matt Sheedy out in the bush.

their “sphere of influence” reached beyond that to the entire Greater Libombos Conservancy (600,000 acres). Their work caught the attention of another extraordinary forward-thinking global organization, Peace Parks Foundation. Founded in 1997 to facilitate the establishment of peace parks, or Transfrontier Conservation Areas (TFCAs) in southern Africa, Peace Parks engages with governments, private citizens, and a score of agencies to secure and connect vast swaths of conservation land straddling the borders of two or more countries. Their mission: re-establish and protect an-cient migratory routes, preserve genetic diversity of species, and re-wild areas decimated by war, poaching, and mining. Werner Myburgh, CEO of Peace Parks for 14 years, spearheads an organi-zation of more than 200 employees and 250 contractors (park rangers and seasonal workers), while partnering with 130 donors. “We’ve integrated Col. Dyck’s and GEOS’s antipoaching model and pro-tocols, expanding it from approximately 60,000 acres. to eight million acres in four areas in Mozambique, two areas in Malawi, and two in Zambia,” Werner said. Peace Parks will launch its own rhino translocation project this year, re-introducing two species of critically endangered rhinos to Zinave National Park in Mozambique. Locally extinct for more than 40 years, it’s a colossal undertaking, but essential to offset poaching for profit of rhino horns. Most of the world’s remaining rhino population, about 16,000, remains in South Africa. Werner is optimistic about the species survival elsewhere because of similar projects. “Peace Parks’ work is the most incredible largely untold story in conservation,” Matt said. “Their upperlevel stuff is the key going forward, so much more than our boots on the ground.” Said Werner, “We believe we are doing something in Africa that will have a far-reaching impact on the world.” For more information, go to http://geos.foundation/ contact-us/.


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LETTER from PARIS: Someone’s in the Kitchen with Roma, Just Not John

6min
page 70

DOC WEEK MIDDLEBURG

2min
page 69

Country ZEST & Style Summer 2022 Edition

1min
page 68

Coming of Age With Room Service Please

3min
page 67

Art of the Piedmont

1min
page 66

A Modern Link to Early 1900s Farming

4min
page 65

Tales from The Hunt Field: Melvin Poe and the Big Red Fox

3min
page 64

Nutrition That Makes Great Sense for Horses

3min
page 63

Pooch Perfect at Four Leaf Clover Bakery

3min
page 62

LOSING A LOCAL LEGEND

6min
pages 60-61

HORSEY NEWS & NOTES

1min
page 59

A Fargis Golden Rule: The Horse Comes First

5min
page 58

Middleburg Horseman Helps Jockey Make Kentucky Derby History

3min
page 57

Sporting Pursuits

1min
page 56

A Day in the Life at Upperville 2021

2min
page 54

Country ZEST & Style Summer 2022 Edition

4min
pages 52-53

VINEYARD VIEW: Melanie Natoli Makes Wine, and History

4min
page 51

Warrenton Sports a Glorious New Restaurant

3min
page 50

Perspectives on Childhood, Education and Parenting: That Sixth Sense May Not Be What You Think

3min
page 49

A One-Stop Shop at Upperville Farm and Feed

3min
page 48

Everyone Just Tickled About Pickleball

3min
page 47

Middleburg’s Mount Defiance: A Battle in Your Backyard

3min
page 46

PROPERTY Writes: A Whitewood Road Renovation for The Ages

2min
page 45

MODERN FINANCE: A Not So Stable Stablecoin

3min
page 44

PAMPER PERFECT PLACE FOR THE BRIDE

4min
page 43

90 Percent Half-True, a collection of short stories by Keith Patterson

2min
page 42

Laurie Crofford: Managing a Park for All People

3min
page 41

HERE & THERE

1min
page 40

Back in Middleburg and Always Giving Back

3min
page 39

Matt Blunt: From A Missouri Governor's Mansion to Middleburg

4min
page 38

Some Enchanted Evening: Windy Hill Gala 2022 - Subtle and Creative

2min
pages 36-37

PINK IS THE COLOR OF THE DAY

1min
page 35

David Mars is Salamander Resort’s New General Manager

3min
page 34

Middleburg Safeway Celebrates

4min
page 32

From Aldie to Hamilton, a New Home for Mattingly’s

3min
page 31

Cherishing the Bull Run Mountains

3min
page 30

The Hill School: A Day at the Races

1min
page 29

A Pinch of Time Can Help Save the Day

3min
page 28

A Golden Opportunity Once in Fauquier County

5min
pages 26-27

For Sandy Danielson, It’s All About the Art

3min
page 24

Singing the Praises of a Reluctant Coal Miner’s Daughter

2min
page 23

THIS & THAT

1min
page 22

A Mysterious Writer Loves Her Virginia Wine

2min
page 21

Middleburg Spring Races at Glenwood Park

1min
page 19

Donna Devadas: It’s All Memorable

4min
pages 16-17

GOING FOR THE GOLD

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page 14

Fighting Food Insecurity in Loudoun One Acre at a Time

4min
page 12

For Lt. Shaun Jones, The Beat Goes On

3min
page 11

Fox & Pheasant Expands Exponentially

2min
page 10

Some Movie Magic Created at Hill and Foxcroft

3min
page 9

A Special Delivery for the Middleburg Post Office: 20118

3min
page 8

Out in Africa: On Behalf of Man and Beast

5min
page 6

FLOWER POWER ON DISPLAY

3min
page 4

SWAN DIVE

3min
page 3

Middleburg Horseman Helps Jockey Make Kentucky Derby History

3min
page 57

For Jim Donegan: A Lifelong Love Affair With Trees

4min
pages 52-53
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