CORRIDORS FOR CONSERVATION

2023 UPDATE

Elbedda Ridge 

On April 17th, 2023, WWCT signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Kelani Valley Plantations PLC (KVP) to preserve an approximately 9.5 km long strip of land–the second of the Corridors for Conservation. This corridor, running along Elbedda Ridge connects the Agra-Bopats Forest Reserve to Elbedda forest. This ridgeline is even higher than the PRFC and features wet zone montane forest sloping up from the lower slopes covered in tea. 

2022 monitoring previously revealed Elbedda Ridge’s photo-capturing occasions to exceed those of the PRFC and Western Ridge, indicating the importance of this area for leopard vitality. Further monitoring in 2023 revealed mating of leopards and new cubs, indicating a healthy population.

Peak Ridge Forest Corridor

In the Peak Ridge Forest Corridor (PRFC), leopard monitoring days increased and the relative abundance of leopards remained consistent with past years–about 7.81 per month. This high land use by leopards indicates the area’s value, as leopards are a cornerstone of these ecosystems.

“Arnold” was WWCT’s most frequently monitored leopard in PRFC since 2016, but he unexpectedly disappeared from PRFC in 2021. Throughout 2022 he was not photo-captured and he was assumed to have died or shifted his range to an unmonitored area. Within a month of his disappearance, two new males known as ”Norman” and “Newton” appeared at a camera station that Arnold had once frequented. The rapid filling of the vaccum left by Arnold shines a light on the communication networks of a species often thought of as solitary.  In 2023, however, Arnold was found during the monitoring of an estate on the edge of Peak Wilderness, reclaiming his spot as the longest monitored leopard.

Habitat restoration

Habitat restoration and reforestation have been more successful in 2023. In 2022, the replanted saplings faced a high mortality rate. But, 997 saplings were obtained, along with 2000 seeds, and they were given more time to grow to combat this. By 2023, higher precipitation allowed saplings to flourish and grow, enabling planting in November. 450 new saplings have now been acquired to use in the next generation of new sites.

Human impact

Snares have increased due to the economic crisis, when protecting crops from wildlife was more valuable to plantations than ever. WWCT and the Department of Wildlife Conservation have pushed awareness and patrolling for snares more in the past year, having removed 12 snares from the PRFC in 2022. The number of snares in this area seems to have increased, likely due to the economic crisis. Many photo-captured animals bear scars from snares.

INTRODUCTION & BACKGROUND

The Corridors for Conservation (CC) initiative is the outcome of years of research by the WWCT team, research which began in 2016.

The death of 10 leopards in Sri Lanka’s southern Central Highlands, that had been caught in snares set for capture of other wildlife, but that had indiscriminately killed leopards, brought to our attention the need for understanding leopard land use and movement in this tea dominated highland landscape.

Having been provided a research base by Resplendent Ceylon-Tea Trails, on one of their tea estates, we expanded and continued with the research.

Our focus shifted to investigating the leopards within, as well as above, the tea plantation landscape. And so the story of 'Above the Tea where the leopard still roams' evolved into 'Amidst the tea where the leopard still roams ' as we started unraveling the mystery of the Highland leopard.

These Corridors for Conservation are the product of this research and a landscape level conservation solution to protecting these mixed use lands in Sri Lanka’s biodiverse Central Highlands.

The identification of these leopard centric Conservation Corridors was the result of this continued research across this mixed forest, tea and other plantation (pinus, eucalyptus) landscape.

Our remote cameras picked up leopards throughout the landscape, with almost all of them detecting repeated presence of leopards. The males more wide spread, using the tea to move through, accessing forest patches, while the females almost exclusively chose to reside within the higher ridges.

It is this data that informs the selection of these corridors, the leopards themselves telling us where we should concentrate the protection of these remnant forest lands.

As such these Corridors are upland linear ridge lands, that hold the remnant patches of montane forests, spectacular forests that once cloaked these mountains, before the onset of coffee and now tea plantations.

Over the centuries of change, wildlife including these leopards, have learnt to navigate these highlands, fitting in their homes where ever they can.