On October 25, 2001, Dr. Michael Fay of the Wildlife Conservation Society spoke before a crowd of about 900 at the University of Redlands in Redlands, California. Both students and members of the community were enthralled by Fay's passion for preserving some of the virgin ecosystems of Central Africa, and contributed more than $4,000 to the Wildlife Conservation Society to help create Langoué National Park. (See "Rescuing the Earth's Most Remote Gorillas and Giant Forest Elephants" on page 1 of the Fall 2001 ArcNews or www.esri.com/congo for more information on Mike Fay and the Save the Congo project.)

Human-Wildlife Ecosystem Interface

Fay described at length his encounters with wildlife and the information he was able to gather from the reaction of wildlife to a human presence. He noted that reactions depended not only on whether or not the animal had encountered humans before, but also on the location of the animal during the encounter. In general, the further the animal is from human habitats, the more territorial the animal becomes about standing its ground. This is particularly true with elephants because they travel long distances and are more likely to have encountered humans than other species.

Fay further noted that wildlife has its own infrastructure, largely created by elephants. "The elephants have created clearings over thousands of years where all species congregate," he said. "They also have networks of trails two to three meters wide. Without the elephants, all cleared land would revert back to thick vegetation very quickly."

Human Impact

Fay said that as he hiked the Megatransect he started to see the complexity of these large ecosystems like a puzzle and became increasingly aware of how one bulldozer could go to the center of the deepest wilderness in a matter of weeks and start a chain reaction. As bulldozers remove trees, animals that require the tree canopy for protection are exposed to predators. New roads change the sophisticated infrastructure of elephant trails.

"After a while it was all I thought about," says Fay. "It's still about all I think about."

Since Fay completed the Megatransect in December 2000, there are already more roads and camps approaching the wilderness. "We [humans] can penetrate very deep into what used to be virgin ecosystems," notes Fay. "Camps go up overnight and towns follow. The wildlife goes first."

In fact, in the next 15 to 20 years, up to 90 percent of the area through which Mike Fay and his team passed risks being consumed by logging companies. In order to prevent such an outcome, Fay and the Wildlife Conservation Society are collaborating intensively with the Gabonese government, logging firms, and the local people, and are committed to conserve this critically important natural resource.

"We must seize this unique opportunity to establish this protected area to preserve populations of chimpanzees, elephants, and gorillas who thrive in these isolated forests," said Fay. "Without intervention, the forests we passed, many with trees more than 1,000 years old, will all be secondary forests in 15 years. One of the reasons for doing the Megatransect was to document what may not exist tomorrow."

Creating the Park

Fay is quick to note that he is not advocating complete human absence from Central Africa. "You can't avoid exploiting natural resources, but what you can do is create a protected area system. We need to be globally responsible. We can't exploit resources without being responsible.

"In Central Africa we have an opportunity to create a system of national parks working with the locals. You can change the way people think about the landscape, about logging, and about where people should and shouldn't be. We have saved two million acres so far, and we can see that the human wave of influence can go around these areas."

Fay adds that, in Africa, national park status is taken seriously. He points to Kenya which, despite a high population density and low income, has 15 national parks. He also noted that six months ago about 60,000 acres were added to the Nouabalé Ndoki National Park originally set up by Fay and his team in 1993. "It gives you hope," says Fay. "We really can make progress. Governments are listening. Logging companies are listening. We can't lose hope that we can create something here."

For more information or to make a contribution, please visit www.savethecongo.org This Web site has links to many valuable resources containing more information about the Megatransect and the fund-raising effort.