CONSERVATION OF THE GOLDEN LANGUR

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This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Objective: To conserve the Golden Langur in India. The Golden Langur Conservation Project is a holistic project that blends conservation, research, education, economic development and community development. We focus on the full range of the golden langur in western Assam, India. We work with more than 130 villages to create forest protection committees and self-help groups that create economic opportunities for villagers. We are stepping up conservation and evaluation efforts at one focal area, the 17.2 sq. Kakoijana Reserve Forest. Project participants, including national forest members and villagers from adjacent communities, plan to measure changes in reforestation, the increase in golden langurs, and changes in economic development within 10 communities surrounding Kakoijana. We aim to provide definitive proof of the success of the holistic community conservation approach by: 1) Providing data supporting the success of the conservation efforts; 2) Creating a monitoring program for one golden langur population; 3) Creating a community-based research program; 4) Gathering data on ecology and behavior of golden langurs in Kakoijana; 5) Training villagers in simple data gathering methods; 6) Encouraging villager interest in the forests, the monkeys and their conservation; 7) Providing community incentives to protect the langurs and their habitat. The project ran from January to December 2008. The Jacobsen grant is funded personnel, including the hiring and training of additional community research assistants, to total 15-20, plus on-site transportation, binoculars and GPS units. Participants mapped the study sites and collected data. Additional data is being taken in 2009 to complete a 12-month yearly cycle. Results: The Golden Langur Conservation Project has caused an increase in the total Indian population of the golden langur. In Kakoijana the population has gone from less than 100 monkeys to almost 500 in 10 years. The forest cover of Kakoijana has gone from about 5% to now 60-70% secondary forest. We will have 2 perhaps 3 censuses (the latter will be over 500 langurs) and ecological data. We also have data on the migration of a partial edge troop that has left Kakoijana looking for a new home and the corridor it moved in. This data will help us create new and/or strengthened corridors between isolated Reserve Forests in the southern range of the langurs. The Lawrence Jacobsen Conservation Award from the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center was a new, annual award established in 2008 to support studies in applied conservation biology that protect non-human primate species and their habitats. Note: Species is Golden Langur (Trachypithecus geei). Publications are pending.