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2000 | |
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 The big news at the end of 2000 is a change of job.
Not a very big change: I will be coordinating the Lincoln training
programme in Sarawak instead of just being a guest lecturer. But it
does mean that I will be leaving the employment of WCS after nearly
10 years with them, first in Batang Ai (Sarawak), then in Sabah and
Laos, now back in Sarawak. In January 2001 I'll start a two-year
contract with Lincoln University (NZ). I've also moved house,
as the Lincoln programme is based at Forest School, 20 km south of
Kuching, while my old house was near Forestry HQ on the north side
of town. |
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Also at the end of 2000 - on December 31st - I was
awarded the degree of MSc in Environmental Management of the University
of London. While I was in northeastern Laos, where there isn't a
great deal to do in the evenings, I had begun working on the
external programme of Wye College, London. Progress was much slower
after moving back to Sarawak, but I did manage to finish within the
five-year dead-line.
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Early November saw me in PDR Korea, where WCS is
involved with a GEF-funded project in Mount Myohyang protected area,
about an hour's drive north of Pyongyang. Tourism has been a
priority up to now, and there is a well-maintained system of trails,
park guides, etc. But it is also important for wildlife, and the
project aims to inject conservation objectives into management
planning, so that it becomes a National Park. My role was to advise
on the training which would be needed, or to be more exact how the
project staff should decide what was needed as the management plan
took shape. This part of Korea was much more urbanised and
industrialised than I had expected, and there is a strong
conservation ethic. Also a good deal colder, especially in November
- frosty days and snow! |
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The second half of the year was dominated by teaching on
the Lincoln Programme, this time the Ecology Module, which we
ran twice. Each run involved a week-long field trip to Samunsam
Wildlife Sanctuary, between the sea and the Indonesian border near
the western tip of Sarawak, and with a range of wildlife. The Module
also included a section on caves and karst, including some of the
geology, cave processes and recreation as well as cave ecology.
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Most of our field sessions were packed into the first half
of the year, and the third session was in Gunung Gading National
Park. Gading is a granite mountain in the western end of Sarawak
and its lower slopes are ideal for growing pepper. This year pepper
prices are really high, so farmers are looking to expand their
gardens - in some cases into the Park! As usual we ran the three
days of formal training then went out to practice in the Park. But
on the third day our survey party heard a chain saw and went to
investigate, finding a tree had been cut inside the Park. The
wildlife training turned into an enforcement exercise! |
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In May we were out again training park staff in survey
techniques, this time in Batang Ai National Park. I had spent
a year here in 1992, when the Park was newly established, doing a
baseline wildlife survey and for the practical work we went back to
a site I had used then. In 1992 we were there in the fruiting season
and saw several orang utan, but no fruits this time so we weren't
surprised to get only one glimpse of an orang. |
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Our first field training of the year was in Similajau
National Park, in a strip of lowland
forest near the coast. After the three days of introductory training
at the Park HQ, we took a boat along the coast and into a small
river where we made our camp. From there we cut four small trails
out into the forest which we then walked every morning - and a few
times at night - to look for large birds and mammals. |
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Early February 2000 I grabbed the opportunity to go back to the
UK for a couple of weeks leave while the weather was still too wet
to be able to plan field trips or field teaching. It 's many years
since I have been in the UK in winter, and it was cold, wet and
blustery. Apart from staying with family in Herefordshire, I went up
North to see old friends there and to take part in a symposium on
networked learning at Lancaster University; very stimulating but not
sure how applicable it is in National Parks, where students lack
internet access. |
| © 1999-2004 Michael E Meredith | |
In between the two Ecology modules I managed to squeeze
in a short trip to the UK, just at the time of the 'fuel
crisis'; one of the main jobs there was to catch up with library
work in Cambridge and at Wye. I also got in a short trip to Mulu to
help with guide training.